Democrats are locked in a three-way primary battle in the race for U.S. Senate. The candidates are Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Congresswoman Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow.

Stevens spoke to WDET about her plans for Michigan’s issues and her campaign for Senator.

Stevens: Oh my gosh, I’m writing a love letter to Michigan, and I’m having a blast, so something must be going well. But it’s obviously also a serious moment. We’re talking about the future of Michigan after kind of getting hammered these last couple years under the Trump administration, and we all know that Michigan needs a fighter and also someone who’s going to win for Michigan, and that has been me every step of the way. I’m frustrated by what I’m hearing from Michiganders, what we’re experiencing: rising gas prices, job insecurity, job loss in some instances, rising health care costs because of cuts coming down from Donald Trump. But then we can also look at how we’re going to create the economy of the future. I’ve got a vision for that, around 21st century industrial policy, things that I want to do for Michigan’s supply chain, ways in which I believe we can immediately lower costs like no tariffs on groceries and taking on the utility companies who are raising rates.

McNamara: DTE Energy had an announcement today talking about how they’re putting over a billion dollars into battery energy storage. Is that part of the clean energy future that you’re talking about? Because they’re promising to not raise rates or at least ask for a rate hike for two years.

Stevens: Well, one of my deep frustrations, and something that Mike Rogers, who’s also running for US Senate as a Republican, will go along with is the bad tax policy that is coming out of this administration. They got rid of the clean energy tax credit that left the consumers holding the bag. I’m deeply frustrated that rates continue to go up, and I don’t appreciate when Michigan taxpayers dollars are going to federal agencies that then give money to companies like DTE or consumers, and then they turn around and raise our rates. That’s actually a double tax. So I have written legislation to say, hey, if you’re going to get federal funds, then you’re going to either have to lower rates or cut executive pay, that is written legislation that I put forward as a House member that I will take to the United States Senate. I have also written legislation from the 118th session of Congress into this session of Congress focused on power outages and power outage relief, because what happens is power goes out, and consumers are again left holding the bag on the cost. There’s no insurance that’s going to bail them out. The utility company will send them maybe $35 when they’ve been out of house and home, their food has been spoiled. Small businesses have also been deeply impacted, and that’s where I started with my legislative solution, but I will just tell you that the tax bill that Trump and Co. passed last year, they called it the big beautiful bill, we called it the big ugly bill. It was voted on on party lines that didn’t work for Michigan consumers, that did not work for our energy future. In terms of battery storage, I’ve been proud to pass bipartisan legislation, actually going back to my first term in Congress as a member of the Science Committee on that front, and that was picked up by the legacy of the previous administration in terms of how we do a clean energy future.

McNamara: I want to talk about polling. You, so far, have been polling very well among African Americans in the state of Michigan. You had a couple of events in Detroit the other day. If the whole Senate thing doesn’t work out, would you consider running for Detroit mayor?

Stevens: Well, I love Detroit, and it’s been kind of going down memory lane. I was on the Avenue of Fashion on Memorial Day for the 100 men fashion event put on by the Bartells, and I was talking to my mom about it, and she’s like, your aunt, who I’m really close to, it’s my mom’s sister, she lived right off of Stoepel, and my aunt had a business for years in Detroit, and she loved the Avenue of Fashion, and there’s incredible history, obviously. There’s Motown, Motor City, the sports, all that, and I very much believe Michigan deserves a hands-on senator, and that means Detroit needs a hands-on senator.

McNamara: A couple years ago, you had a tough primary battle with Andy Levin, you’re in another tough primary battle. How does that differ from something like the general election? Because you’ve won contested general elections before, now it’s back to back tough primaries. How do you like some of the sort of mudslinging that comes along with that?

Stevens: Well, look. The deliberation of our democracy, the process of putting your name on the ballot and being out there, as you know, in our 250th year of existence as a nation, is still one of the purest forms of civilian service, right? You put up your hand to run, and I love it. I love campaigning. I’m grateful to be up there for Michigan. I’m proud of my record. I’m proud that I put up my hand to fight for Michigan, and I win for Michigan. I’ve been recognized as one of the most effective Democrats in the Congress, the most effective for Michigan, and this is something we need to think about. When Mike Rogers says that he wants to rubber stamp Donald Trump, well, then that means he’s not going to stand up to him when he’s saying that he’s going to keep the Gordie Howe Bridge permanently closed, or he’s going to put into place all these erratic tariffs, a different tariff announcement every day that has serious impacts on jobs and continuity, and of course costs, and so I’m just Michigan’s workhorse, doing the best I can to fight for us and to deliver for us, and that’s why I’m putting out my hand in this moment, and look, at the end of the day, we all know that there has been a rise and an uptick in extremes in politics, I mean, even with the senators from Minnesota, the state representatives getting ambushed, and just the governor – they were going to kidnap her—and that’s in some respects been sobering for people, and I go back to a lesson that my dad taught me, he was a small business owner, but he was also a kindergarten and first grade teacher, and his mantra, when he taught in Detroit Public Schools, was “Give out love and love comes back.” And you know, I do want to exude this love of Michigan, this love of community, something that we see all around us. I’m certainly not going to be giving a rubber stamp to an administration that’s hurting our state and hurting people who I care about, and that’s another reason why I’m standing up in this moment.

McNamara: So, as someone who likes to give love, you sound like someone who’s not overly comfortable with the whole primary process.

Stevens: Oh gosh, I knew we were going to have a tough race. I’m no stranger to them, and that’s what I’m getting at. It’s actually an amazing thing to be up there. I had a six way primary when I first ran for Congress, and I remember at the end I just thought, hey, we need to nominate the person who will get the nomination, whoever gets it, and then we got to go and win, and I’m in my heart of hearts a dedicated public servant. I will say, I do love nerding out and walking out for Michigan, and you gotta campaign too, and so I put my messages out there, just like the best of them.