State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) discussing her data privacy legislation. Nov. 12, 2024. Photo by Jon King

LANSING — It’s probably the worst kept secret in Michigan politics: State Sen. Mallory McMorrow is running to be the state’s next U.S. Senator.

After more than two months of speculation and overt hints, McMorrow made it official Wednesday that she wants to replace U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, who will not seek reelection in 2026. McMorrow stakes her claim as a new type of Democrat in her campaign video that takes not-so-subtle swipes at the current party leadership, mockingly referencing the “little paddles” Democrats used at President Donald Trump’s congressional address last month and disdaining “the same old crap out of Washington.”

While the outsider brand is nothing new in politics, the Royal Oak Democrat believes her own lived experience will resonate with Michigan voters disillusioned with the status quo. “I graduated right into the recession. I had a great internship that did not lead to a job. I had tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. I spent a couple of nights sleeping in the backseat of my car. And what I know is that there are so many people who simply do not believe that the American dream is possible for them anymore,” McMorrow told the Michigan Advance.

In 2024, Democrats lost control of the U.S. Senate while Peters chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Republicans hold a 53-47 advantage this term. Democrats managed to hang onto Stabenow’s seat in 2024, as now-U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) narrowly defeated former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake). While Democrats hope to retake the upper chamber in 2026, Peters’ decision makes that task considerably harder for the party that will have to defend another open seat. A previous possibility, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, took himself out of the running in March. On the Republican side, Rogers has hinted at another run in 2026.

McMorrow’s announcement, including a website launch, comes at a time of deep discontent on the part of many Democratic voters, with a recent CNN poll of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents finding the party with a record-low 29% favorability rating. However, McMorrow says her call for new leadership in the party is predicated on it being result-oriented. “I’m not somebody who fights just for the sake of fighting and I think people get really sick of that as well,” McMorrow said. “Replicating what we see on the Republican side does not actually get us out of this mess.”

McMorrow has achieved a certain level of national recognition, largely based on her viral video moment in the Michigan Senate in 2022, when she spoke forcefully against transphobic comments made by state Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton Township). McMorrow’s campaign video highlights that speech in which McMorrow turned what had been meant as an attack on her into a critique of Republicans focusing on culture war issues at the expense of providing better roads and lowering healthcare costs. Her response drew praise from national pundits she received in its aftermath.

She also got a primetime speaking spot at the Democratic National Convention last year, lugging an oversize bound copy of Project 2025 and offering a warning of what it portended, which in retrospect seems rather prophetic. “If Donald Trump gets back into the White House, he’s going to fire civil servants like intelligence officers, engineers, and even federal prosecutors, if he decides that they don’t serve his personal agenda,” she said to the convention delegates. “They’re talking about replacing the entire federal government with an army of loyalists who answer only to Donald Trump.”

“We can point to things like expanded childcare. That we are on the path to universal pre-K, universal school meals, which I hear all the time from parents, more than the cost savings is the amount of time that it saves them to get ready and get their kids ready and out the door. Repealing the seniors retirement tax. We just have so much that we can show that we’ve done in Michigan and I want to take that into the U.S. Senate,” McMorrow said.

What she would prefer to offer is a vision of the American dream that cuts across ideological lines, which her ability to provide has been compared to another Midwestern state senator whose oratorical skills took him from the Illinois statehouse to the U.S. Senate, and ultimately the White House. And while McMorrow doesn’t claim to be the next Barack Obama, she does aspire to emulate his power of persuasion.

“Everytime I heard Barack Obama speak, I was inspired and I was inspired to do more. One thing he did, and does exceptionally well, is not let the listener be passive. There is an acknowledgment that we all have to work together.,” McMorrow said, adding that when Obama endorsed her state Senate candidacy in 2018, it was one of the most deeply moving days of her life. “If I can make anybody feel the way that he made me feel, then we’re going to be better off,” she said.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.