Colonel William A. Phillips

Haley Maria Stevens[1] (born June 24, 1983) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Michigan's 11th congressional district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Stevens was elected to represent the 11th district in the 2022 election, defeating 9th district incumbent Andy Levin in the primary and Republican nominee Mark Ambrose in the general election. Her district includes many of Detroit's northern and western suburbs, including Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Troy, Royal Oak, Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, West Bloomfield, Farmington, Farmington Hills, and Pontiac.

Early life and career

Stevens grew up in Rochester Hills, Michigan, and graduated from Seaholm High School in Birmingham. She attended American University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and philosophy, and a Master of Arts in social policy and philosophy.[2] She became involved in politics in 2006, working for the Michigan Democratic Party as a volunteer organizer. She worked on Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's presidential campaigns in 2008, beginning with Clinton before the primary.[3]

In 2009, Steven Rattner hired Stevens to join the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, and she served as his chief of staff.[3] She worked for the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute in Chicago, returning to Michigan in 2017.[4]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2018

Over January and February 2017, Stevens moved back to Rochester Hills. She announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives seat in Michigan's 11th congressional district in April 2017. The district had been represented by two-term Republican Dave Trott.[5]

Trott announced his retirement in September 2017, making the 11th an open seat.[4] Stevens defeated state Representative Tim Greimel in the Democratic Party primary election[6] and Republican businesswoman Lena Epstein in the general election.[7] Her victory, and that of Elissa Slotkin in the neighboring 8th district, made it the first time since the 1930s that no Republicans represented Oakland County in the House.[8] She also became the first Democrat to represent the 11th for a full term since it assumed its current configuration in 2003.

Stevens and Colin Allred, both alumni of the Obama administration, were selected as co-presidents of the House Democratic Freshman Class of the 116th United States Congress.[9]

2020

Stevens ran for reelection. She was unopposed in the Democratic primary.[10] In the general election, she defeated the Republican nominee, Eric Esshaki, by less than expected.[11]

2022

Stevens defeated Andy Levin, 60%-40%, becoming the first woman to represent the 11th District.[12][13] As a result of population loss, Michigan lost a seat in the United States House of Representatives. The newly drawn 11th District put Stevens and fellow Congressman Andy Levin in the same district. The redrawing of the district covered more of Stevens's earlier electoral base.[14][15] She reportedly outspent Levin by a factor of five.[14] Her victory was aided by $5 million from EMILY's list[15] and by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which invested $4 million targeting Levin and hailed her victory as proof that "being pro-Israel is both good policy and good politics".[16][17][18] Changes in generational and gender dynamics are also said to have played an important role, with a long term Oakland Democrat trend to favor women, and the impact of the Supreme Court's overturning the Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey precedents regarding abortion.[19]

Tenure

Stevens voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.[20]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Electoral history

Democratic primary results, Michigan's 11th congressional district, 2018
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Haley Stevens 24,309 27.0
Democratic Tim Greimel 19,673 21.8
Democratic Suneel Gupta 19,250 21.4
Democratic Fayrouz Saad 17,499 19.4
Democratic Nancy Skinner 9,407 10.5
Total votes 90,138 100.0
Michigan's 11th congressional district, 2018
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Haley Stevens 181,912 51.8
Republican Lena Epstein 158,463 45.2
Libertarian Leonard Schwartz 5,799 1.7
Independent Cooper Nye 4,727 1.3
Total votes 350,901 100.0
Democratic gain from Republican
Michigan's 11th congressional district, 2020
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Haley Stevens (incumbent) 226,128 50.2
Republican Eric Esshaki 215,405 47.8
Libertarian Leonard Schwartz 8,936 2.0
Total votes 450,473 100.0
Democratic hold
Democratic primary results, Michigan's 11th congressional district, 2022
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Haley Stevens 70,508 59.91
Democratic Andy Levin 47,117 40.04
Total votes 117,681 100.0
Michigan's 11th congressional district, 2022[24]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Haley Stevens (incumbent) 224,537 61.32
Republican Mark Ambrose 141,642 38.68
Total votes 366,179 100.0
Democratic hold

Personal life

Stevens lives in Waterford.[5] She and Rob Gulley, a software engineer she met in high school, became engaged in June 2020.[25] They married on September 3, 2021.[26] On October 5, 2022, Stevens and Gulley announced their divorce.[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ "City of Chicago FOIA Request Log" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  2. ^ "House website About section". Representative Haley Stevens. December 3, 2012. Archived from the original on October 9, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Detroit Free Press endorsement: Elissa Slotkin and Haley Stevens for Congress". Detroit Free Press. October 31, 2018. Archived from the original on November 7, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Michigan native comes home for run against Rep. Trott". Detroitnews.com. April 27, 2017. Archived from the original on November 9, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Jonathan Oosting (April 27, 2017). "Michigan native comes home for run against Rep. Trott". The Detroit News. Archived from the original on November 9, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  6. ^ "Lena Epstein and Haley Stevens will compete for 11th Congressional District seat | Local News". theoaklandpress.com. August 7, 2018. Archived from the original on November 7, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
  7. ^ "Haley Stevens defeats Lena Epstein in race for open U.S. House seat". Freep.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  8. ^ Laitner, Bill (November 8, 2018). "Republican and Patterson's hold on Oakland County may be at an end". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on April 10, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019. All four congressional districts with a footprint in Oakland County will be held by Democrats come Jan. 1, with both the 8th District and the 11th District flipping from Republican on Tuesday.
  9. ^ Balz, Dan. "A leader of the Democratic Class of 2018 confronts the challenges of governing". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 4, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  10. ^ "2020 Michigan Election Results". Michigan Secretary of State. Archived from the original on March 31, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  11. ^ Spangler, Todd. "Haley Stevens holds off Eric Esshaki in U.S. House 11th District race". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  12. ^ "Michigan 11th Congressional District Primary Election Results". The New York Times. August 2, 2022. Archived from the original on August 8, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  13. ^ "Haley Stevens beats Andy Levin in Democratic battle for congressional seat". Archived from the original on August 9, 2022. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  14. ^ a b Andrew Lapin, 'AIPAC-backed Stevens ousts Levin in race seen as bellwether on US-Israel politics,' Archived August 5, 2022, at the Wayback Machine The Times of Israel 3 August 2022.
  15. ^ a b Jonathan Allen, Rep. Haley Stevens ends Levin political dynasty in brutal Democratic primary,' Archived August 5, 2022, at the Wayback Machine NBC News 2 August 2022
  16. ^ Chris McGreal, 'Pro-Israel groups denounced after pouring funds into primary race,' Archived August 4, 2022, at the Wayback Machine The Guardian 4 August 2022
  17. ^ Ali Harb, 'Levin v Stevens: AIPAC targets prominent Jewish-American lawmaker,' Archived August 2, 2022, at the Wayback Machine Al Jazeera 2 August 2022
  18. ^ Andrew Lapin, ‘Jewish political dynasty ends as Rep. Haley Stevens ousts Rep. Andy Levin in Michigan Democratic primary,’ Archived August 19, 2022, at the Wayback Machine Jewish Telegraphic Agency 3 August 2022
  19. ^ Zack Stanton, 'Why a Michigan Democratic Political Dynasty Just Fell,' Archived August 8, 2022, at the Wayback Machine Politico 8 August 2022,
  20. ^ Bycoffe, Aaron; Wiederkehr, Anna (April 22, 2021). "Does Your Member Of Congress Vote With Or Against Biden?". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  21. ^ "Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party - 118th Congress Profile". Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  22. ^ "Members". New Democrat Coalition. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  23. ^ "Featured Members". Problem Solvers Caucus. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  24. ^ "2022 Michigan Election Results - General". Michigan Secretary of State. November 28, 2022. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  25. ^ Spangler, Todd (June 8, 2020). "Rep. Haley Stevens' boyfriend proposes on romantic Orchard Lake boat ride". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on June 8, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
  26. ^ @HaleyLive (September 5, 2021). "On September 3rd, Rob Gulley and I said forever and ever and I became his adoring wife. Blessed beyond belief and e…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  27. ^ Nann Burke, Melissa (October 5, 2022). "Rep. Stevens, husband getting divorced after year of marriage". Detroit News. Archived from the original on November 10, 2023. Retrieved October 6, 2022.

External links

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Michigan's 11th congressional district

2019–present
Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States representatives by seniority
281st
Succeeded by