Democratic Senate hopeful Haley Stevens faces barrage of online trolling
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a Michigan Senate candidate seeking to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), has become a go-to political punching bag of the 2026 midterm cycle.
The establishment favorite is the subject of constant online trolling, much of it instigated by the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, in her quest to win the Democratic nomination and take on Trump-backed Republican Mike Rogers.
Since Stevens’ entry into the race last April, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has used a Pablo Escobar meme to highlight her lack of endorsements from Senate Democrats, created a tongue-in-cheek mixtape using campaign footage, and coined her the nickname “Poochie” after a childhood friend’s dog that Stevens once referenced, among other mocking posts.
Republicans are accentuating what they consider to be the lawmaker’s awkward nature, using content from Stevens herself, giving way to a steady stream of conservative and liberal rivals poking fun at the Senate hopeful as she dukes it out in the primary against more progressive challengers and electability concerns mount in the establishment wing.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel with anything. We’re really just pushing out things that she’s already posted herself,” said a source familiar with the NRSC’s social media strategy, who was given anonymity to speak candidly. “Honestly, it’s like the most bipartisan Twitter trend of the cycle so far.”
“It writes itself,” another GOP operative said. “She makes it pretty easy for us.”
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But while Stevens may be the butt of the jokes, recent polling shows she would present the greatest threat to Rogers’s ability to flip the battleground seat that Republicans are eyeing to expand their 53-47 majority.
Stevens is in a hotly contested three-way primary against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed, both of whom are running to her left. But critics on both sides of Stevens have used her as a political punching bag by promoting posts by the NRSC and others.
“This seems to be the one issue that is creating bipartisanship here in our state,” said Jamie Roe, a Michigan-based Republican political consultant who’s advised Rogers.
The Stevens campaign characterized the social media tactics as an attempt by Republicans to distract from Rogers, who is making a second attempt at a Michigan Senate seat after losing in 2024 to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
Haley Stevens waiting for a Senate …
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a Michigan Senate candidate seeking to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), has become a go-to political punching bag of the 2026 midterm cycle.
The establishment favorite is the subject of constant online trolling, much of it instigated by the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, in her quest to win the Democratic nomination and take on Trump-backed Republican Mike Rogers.
Since Stevens’ entry into the race last April, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has used a Pablo Escobar meme to highlight her lack of endorsements from Senate Democrats, created a tongue-in-cheek mixtape using campaign footage, and coined her the nickname “Poochie” after a childhood friend’s dog that Stevens once referenced, among other mocking posts.
Republicans are accentuating what they consider to be the lawmaker’s awkward nature, using content from Stevens herself, giving way to a steady stream of conservative and liberal rivals poking fun at the Senate hopeful as she dukes it out in the primary against more progressive challengers and electability concerns mount in the establishment wing.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel with anything. We’re really just pushing out things that she’s already posted herself,” said a source familiar with the NRSC’s social media strategy, who was given anonymity to speak candidly. “Honestly, it’s like the most bipartisan Twitter trend of the cycle so far.”
“It writes itself,” another GOP operative said. “She makes it pretty easy for us.”
View this post on Instagram
But while Stevens may be the butt of the jokes, recent polling shows she would present the greatest threat to Rogers’s ability to flip the battleground seat that Republicans are eyeing to expand their 53-47 majority.
Stevens is in a hotly contested three-way primary against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed, both of whom are running to her left. But critics on both sides of Stevens have used her as a political punching bag by promoting posts by the NRSC and others.
“This seems to be the one issue that is creating bipartisanship here in our state,” said Jamie Roe, a Michigan-based Republican political consultant who’s advised Rogers.
The Stevens campaign characterized the social media tactics as an attempt by Republicans to distract from Rogers, who is making a second attempt at a Michigan Senate seat after losing in 2024 to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
Haley Stevens waiting for a Senate …
Democratic Senate hopeful Haley Stevens faces barrage of online trolling
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), a Michigan Senate candidate seeking to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), has become a go-to political punching bag of the 2026 midterm cycle.
The establishment favorite is the subject of constant online trolling, much of it instigated by the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, in her quest to win the Democratic nomination and take on Trump-backed Republican Mike Rogers.
Since Stevens’ entry into the race last April, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has used a Pablo Escobar meme to highlight her lack of endorsements from Senate Democrats, created a tongue-in-cheek mixtape using campaign footage, and coined her the nickname “Poochie” after a childhood friend’s dog that Stevens once referenced, among other mocking posts.
Republicans are accentuating what they consider to be the lawmaker’s awkward nature, using content from Stevens herself, giving way to a steady stream of conservative and liberal rivals poking fun at the Senate hopeful as she dukes it out in the primary against more progressive challengers and electability concerns mount in the establishment wing.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel with anything. We’re really just pushing out things that she’s already posted herself,” said a source familiar with the NRSC’s social media strategy, who was given anonymity to speak candidly. “Honestly, it’s like the most bipartisan Twitter trend of the cycle so far.”
“It writes itself,” another GOP operative said. “She makes it pretty easy for us.”
View this post on Instagram
But while Stevens may be the butt of the jokes, recent polling shows she would present the greatest threat to Rogers’s ability to flip the battleground seat that Republicans are eyeing to expand their 53-47 majority.
Stevens is in a hotly contested three-way primary against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed, both of whom are running to her left. But critics on both sides of Stevens have used her as a political punching bag by promoting posts by the NRSC and others.
“This seems to be the one issue that is creating bipartisanship here in our state,” said Jamie Roe, a Michigan-based Republican political consultant who’s advised Rogers.
The Stevens campaign characterized the social media tactics as an attempt by Republicans to distract from Rogers, who is making a second attempt at a Michigan Senate seat after losing in 2024 to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
Haley Stevens waiting for a Senate …
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