These are the candidates running for Michigan’s open Senate seat in 2026

A slew of candidates have jumped into the race to replace U.S. Sen. Gary Peters following his January announcement that he would be retiring at the end of his term next year.

Whomever voters choose to be Peters’ successor will join Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who won the election to replace former Sen. Debbie Stabenow in 2024. Democrats have had a tight hold on Michigan’s two Senate seats for three decades; the last Republican elected was former Sen. Spencer Abraham in 1994.

There’s still time for more candidates to jump into the fray: The deadline for Republican and Democratic candidates to file is April 21, 2026, and for candidates without party affiliation, the filing deadline is July 16, 2026.

Here’s what you need to know about the people running to be Michigan’s next senator in 2026.

Democrats

Haley Stevens

Haley Stevens is currently serving her fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. She was first elected in 2018, when she flipped a Republican-held district in southeast Michigan. Prior to that, she served as chief of staff on President Barack Obama’s Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, which in 2009 oversaw the financial bailout of General Motors and Chrysler during the great recession. A Center For Automotive Research study released in 2013 estimated that the auto bailout saved 1.5 million U.S. jobs.

During her time in Congress, Stevens has voted in favor of the CHIPS and Science Act, which supported domestic semiconductor production and research, and she sponsored the House version of the Building Blocks of STEM Act, which directed the National Science Foundation to fund science education research for young children.

Abdul El-Sayed

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has made a name for himself as a public health official in Michigan; he was Detroit’s executive health director from 2015-2017 and the executive health director of Wayne County from 2023-2025.

He resigned from his position with the city of Detroit in 2017 to run for governor. He placed second in the Democratic primary, losing to current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by about 22%. He resigned from his job in Wayne County shortly before launching his campaign for Senate in April.

He’s running for Senate because he believes it shouldn’t be hard for working class Americans to get by, according to his campaign website. If elected, he said, he would support abolishing medical debt and passing anti-monopoly laws.

Mallory McMorrow

Mallory McMorrow, a former industrial designer and a Royal Oak resident, has served in the Michigan Senate since 2018. McMorrow has been a prominent Democratic voice who has helped to pass legislation to strengthen gun control laws, ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth, and repeal the state’s abortion ban.

McMorrow’s national profile grew in April 2022 when she gave a speech on the state Senate floor responding to Republican attacks on her for supporting LGBTQ youth. A video of the speech went viral on social media, even reaching former President Joe Biden, who called McMorrow with words of support. She appeared onstage at the Democratic National Convention last August, hoisting a giant copy of Project 2025 and warning about “its plan to turn Donald Trump into a dictator.”

Joe Tate

From the NFL to becoming the first Black speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, Detroiter Joe Tate has a diverse resume. He was also a U.S. Marine Corps officer and served two tours in Afghanistan. One of the most notable bills he sponsored as a legislator helped to reopen Michigan’s only historically black college, the Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design in Detroit, in 2022.

If elected to the Senate, Tate says, he “will show up and be a leader who will get things done for Michiganders.”

Republicans

Mike Rogers

Mike Rogers is taking another shot at the U.S. Senate after narrowly losing to Slotkin in last year’s race. He received an endorsement from President Donald Trump in his first Senate campaign and is currently the most well-known candidate in the Republican primary field.

Rogers’ career of public service began when he joined the U.S. Army in 1985. He was a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations from 1989 until he was elected to the Michigan Senate in 1994. After six years in the state Legislature, he went on to serve 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.

During his time in Congress, Rogers voted against the 2010 Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, and repeatedly voted to repeal the law. He also voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law to prevent sex-based wage discrimination in the workplace, in 2007 and 2009.

Frederick Heurtebise

Frederick Heurtebise is a former Dover Township clerk and a welding engineer from Luther.

In his Senate campaign platform, Heurtebise invokes some of the same talking points as Trump, such as “drain the swamp” and “America first.” According to his campaign website, he’s in favor of mass deportations and abolishing the federal income tax.

Independent

Lydia Christensen

The sole independent candidate in the race thus far, Lydia Christensen says she is “Michigan’s Unchained Voice.” She’s a Wisconsin native who currently resides in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Christensen, the founder of a Bitcoin mining business, says on her campaign website that the waterfalls in the U.P. inspired her to fight for the state’s future in her Senate bid. The issues she’s campaigning on include protecting Michigan’s environment, defending LGBTQ rights, and raising the federal minimum wage.