Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens, a candidate in the U.S. Senate race in Michigan, has come under fire for pushing a fake endorsement from some key players in the Democrat Party. The issue caused enough of a kerfuffle that Axios had to clarify who had even endorsed the congresswoman in the first place.
ModSquad is proud to endorse @HaleyforMI. She's been relentless in her fight for Michigan workers – and polling shows she’s the Democrat best positioned to win in November.
— ModSquadUS (@ModSquadUS) March 20, 2026
While others chase headlines, Haley delivers. pic.twitter.com/p4s5T04AF6
Scoop: Michigan Democrat Haley Stevens is picking up the endorsement of moderate Senate Dem group, ModSquad.
— Stephen Neukam (@stephen_neukam) March 20, 2026
👀 Catherine Cortez Masto, who many think could be interested in a senate leadership bid, is the chair of ModSquad
CCM sniped at the other candidates in the Michigan…
When the news broke yesterday, it seemed that Stevens had secured the endorsements of the members of the ModSquad, some of the most powerful moderate Democrats in the Senate, like Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, as well as Michigan’s Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters. In reality, she only managed to wrangle the endorsement of the group’s chairman and PAC.
Important note: This doesn’t serve as an endorsement from all ModSquad members, but from the group and its leadership https://t.co/TSmXtzZeY3
— Stephen Neukam (@stephen_neukam) March 20, 2026
The story is even more bizarre considering that both Slotkin and Peters publicly stated that they would not back any of the Democrats on the ballot during the primary season.
Slotkin and Peters are **NOT** endorsing in #MISen
— umichvoter (@umichvoter) March 20, 2026
If they are a part of a "group", that does not mean individual endorsements. Only Leader @CortezMasto (D-NV) is an individual endorsement at this time
Slotkin has made it clear she wont endorsehttps://t.co/h5wVvvrvHr
With no other members of the ModSquad willing to publicly support Stevens, Axios was required to correct their reporting on the issue, and clarified it on social media.
Axios corrects their ModSquad endorsing Stevens in Michigan item:https://t.co/PIIcBV8AcV pic.twitter.com/oVUYm7fugr
— Adam Wren (@adamwren) March 20, 2026
We've deleted a previous post for this story that said moderate Senate Democrats are endorsing Stevens. The endorsement is from a PAC that supports moderate Senate Democrats.
— Axios (@axios) March 20, 2026
This isn’t the first time that Stevens has been caught up in a fake endorsement saga. Her campaign had bragged about bagging an endorsement from Commissioner Chokwe Pitchford. Pitchford responded by saying that “I have literally never endorsed her or heard a word from her team…or even hinted that I would be open to endorsing her.”
weirdly not the first time Poochie has touted a fake endorsement 🥴 https://t.co/btEMATIbBv pic.twitter.com/uYgcx1Rdbo
— Sarah Gallagher (@sgallz_) March 20, 2026
If the polls are to be believed, Stevens looks like she is desperate to earn these endorsements to even make it into a run-off election as she isn’t faring well against her two Democrat opponents.