BURSTMichigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D) has formally entered the race for U.S. Senate after much speculation, citing the “fear and anger and uncertainty” facing the country as her motivation.
McMorrow kicked off her campaign with a video posted Tuesday that starts with references to various moves from the Trump administration, including the mass layoffs of federal workers, the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s attempts to cut into federal agencies and President Trump’s looming tariffs on numerous imports.
“There are moments that will break you,” McMorrow said. “This is not that moment. This moment will challenge us, test us. And if it all feels like too much? That’s their plan.”
Her announcement is no surprise after she had already strongly indicated she was considering a run to replace Sen. Gary Peters (D), who said he would not seek another term in office.
McMorrow cited her record serving in the state Senate, having ousted an incumbent Republican in 2018 in an upset. While in office, she noted that a fellow state senator accused her of wanting to “groom” and “sexualize” kindergarteners for advocating for LGBTQ rights.
The Democratic candidate's response to those accusations in the state Senate received nearly 10 million views online, during which she said hate would “only win if people like me stand by and let it happen.”
She mentioned accomplishments during her time in Michigan state government like expanding the earned income tax credit, implementing universal background checks for firearms and repealing the state’s right-to-work law and 1931 abortion ban.
“I know there’s a lot of fear and anger and uncertainty right now about people in power who frankly who have no business being there,” she said as clips of Trump, Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Showed.
McMorrow said the “same old crap out of Washington” won’t fix the problem, featuring a clip of the paddles that congressional Democrats held up during Trump’s joint address to Congress last month.
She added that the country needs new leaders, and she is running because “we don’t have a minute to wait.”
The state lawmaker is the first major Democrat to jump into the race in the Great Lakes State, but she may be joined in the primary as several possible candidates have expressed interest in running. Rep. Haley Stevens (D) has said she would decide this month whether to run.
McMorrow previously received national attention at the Democratic National Convention last summer, when she held up and read from the Heritage Foundation's conservative Project 2025 agenda, which Democrats have argued offered a blueprint for the president's second term.
If nominated, she would also likely face a highly competitive race in a battleground state that voted for Trump in November.