Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer waded into her state’s divisive Democratic Senate primary Friday, endorsing Rep. Haley Stevens.
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“As governor I’ve had one strategy: Get things done. And that strategy informs everything that I do, and that’s why I’m endorsing Haley Stevens for the U.S. Senate,” Whitmer said in a video Stevens shared on X. “Just like me, Haley will do whatever it takes to get things done for the people of Michigan, and we need her now more than ever.”
Whitmer is backing Stevens in the Senate primary over former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, whom she beat in the 2018 Democratic primary for governor. Whitmer’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In her post accompanying Whitmer’s video, Stevens said she is “absolutely thrilled” to have the support. Whitmer, Stevens added, “is a champion for our state, she understands the stakes of this race and why it’s so important we elect the strongest Dem in this primary, and she gets stuff done for Michigan.”
Whitmer’s endorsement could be a windfall for Stevens. The governor, who is prevented by term limits from seeking a third term this year, remains popular with Michigan voters. A May poll by the Detroit Regional Chamber measured her job approval rating at 52%.
A more recent poll of 500 likely Democratic primary voters, conducted this month by the Detroit News and WDIV-TV, found that half of those undecided in the party’s Senate primary said a Whitmer endorsement would make them more likely to support a candidate.
Hints that Whitmer might be weighing an endorsement came earlier this week, when the governor expressed concern about “some of the rhetoric” in the primary between Stevens and El-Sayed.
“The corporate establishment has closed ranks and made their pick — now, Michigan voters will get to make theirs,” El-Sayed spokesperson Roxie Richner wrote in a text message to NBC News after Whitmer’s endorsement landed.
El-Sayed, who is running on a more progressive and left-leaning message that criticizes Stevens’ support for Israel, has endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez rallied for him last weekend in a series of stops across the state.