Haley Stevens collects $1 million from K Street lobbyists while criticizing Abdul El-Sayed over financial transparency
Victor Skinner
The Midwesterner
July 1, 2026
As some Michigan U.S. Senate candidates proudly tout campaigns devoid of corporate PAC funds, Congresswoman Haley Stevens has taken a different route.
The Birmingham Democrat has raked in nearly $2.3 million in corporate PAC donations since taking office in 2019, as well as more than $1 million from influential K Street lobbyists, campaign finance records show.
In addition, Stevens has employed several lobbyists in her D.C. office.
Sammi Goldsmith worked as senior policy advisor for Stevens for four years before leaving to work for MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.
After her departure, Goldsmith lobbied for House Resolution 6088, the Restoring Food Security for American Families and Farmers Act of 2025, which was co-sponsored by Stevens.
Logan Basch, Stevens’ congressional communications director, previously worked for Exact Science Corp., and lobbied for House Resolution 6000, which landed in the House Education and the Workforce Committee Stevens chaired in 2021.
There’s also Casey Denoyer, a former manager for strategic engagement at the Ford Motor Company, who joined Stevens’ congressional office in January 2019 as a senior policy advisor.
The details about Stevens’ close ties with D.C. insiders follow criticism over support for her campaign from the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The group’s main super PAC, United Democracy Project, has reserved $15.8 million in ads in support of Stevens, which is on top of $10 million from other outside groups, according to AdImpact data analyzed by The New York Times.
Stevens, notably, is the only Democratic candidate in the race to replace Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Twp., who supports continued sales of American weapons to Israel’s military.
Stevens’ competition, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, and former Wayne County Health official Abdul El-Sayed, have both promised not to accept corporate PAC funding, though both are benefiting from millions in spending from other PACs.
The Fighting for Michigan PAC – backed by National Nurses United, Common Defense Action Fund, Working Families Party and American Priorities – have launched “a multimillion-dollar independent expenditure campaign” to promote El-Sayed through direct mail, digital ads, and organizing efforts, according to Axios.
McMorrow, meanwhile, received a $4.9 million advertising boost this month from the nonprofit Yes MI Action Committee, whose donors are not disclosed, The Detroit News reports.
The big spending comes as Stevens has attacked El-Sayed, the current frontrunner in the race, for not releasing his personal financial disclosure before the August primary, according to WLNS.
El-Sayed was granted an extension for his 2025 disclosure, prompting Arick Wolk, communications director for Stevens’ campaign, to complain Michiganders “deserve to know what else El-Sayed is hiding about his finances.”
…
U.S. House financial disclosure records show Stevens has leveraged the same extension to delay her own disclosures every year from 2018 to 2024, including multiple extensions in 2022.
McMorrow led the race in campaign fundraising for the first quarter of 2026, taking in more than $3 million, compared to $2.3 million for El-Sayed, and $2 million for Stevens.
…
###