Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) launched her candidacy Tuesday for Michigan’s Senate seat next year, becoming the third prominent Democrat to throw their hat in the ring to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D). 

Stevens joins a quickly busy race for the seat after state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D) and former health director Abdul El-Sayed entered earlier this month. The four-term House member who was first elected in 2018 emphasized her background growing up in Michigan and experience advocating for the state’s workforce in her announcement video. 

“Growing up in Michigan meant being surrounded by innovation, ingenuity, and pride in hard work,” she said in the video. “And from our farmers to our nurses to our manufacturers, Michigan has the best workers in the world.” 

Stevens pointed to her time as chief of staff to then-President Obama’s auto rescue task force as helping to save 200,000 Michigan jobs amid the Great Recession. She slammed President Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs as “reckless,” arguing that it puts “tens of thousands” of Michigan jobs at risk. 

She specifically called out Trump’s comment he made in March that he “couldn’t care less” if auto companies raise their prices because of his tariffs because people will start buying American-made cars. 

“Well, as someone who spent my time in Congress fighting for Michigan jobs, Michigan families, and Michigan workers, I couldn’t care more,” she said. 

A release from Stevens’s campaign states that she would work to bring down costs for Michigan families, boost the state’s manufacturing and auto industries and oppose the “chaos agenda” of Trump and Elon Musk, pointing to the administration’s tariff policy. 

Stevens brings strong fundraising prowess to the race, having raised $1.1 million during the first quarter of the year and put up strong totals in past elections in a competitive battleground district. But McMorrow has also been a skilled fundraiser. 

Meanwhile, El-Sayed, who seems likely to run in the progressive lane in the primary, quickly secured the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). 

The primary race could expand even more with rumored candidates like state Attorney General Dana Nessel and former state House Speaker Joe Tate. 

Peters announced in January that he wouldn’t seek a third term in office, opening up the race to fill the soon-to-be-vacant seat. The race is expected to be highly competitive in the battleground state that voted for Trump in November but elected Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin at the same time. 

On the Republican side, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) launched his campaign for the seat this month after narrowly losing to Slotkin by less than 20,000 votes. A few other candidates have expressed interest for the seat like former GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon and Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.). 

The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates the race as a “toss up.”