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High-profile Democrat breaks with party, embraces key pieces of Trump agenda

2026-09-15T18:00:00-04:00 / Fox News

The Michigan Democrat endorsed the Ratepayer Protection Pledge and public equity stakes in firms like Intel and MP Materials

By Robert Schmad Fox News

Published September 15, 2026 6:00pm EDT

Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens talks Trump policies she agrees with

Rep. Haley Stevens, a Democrat, signaled support for the president’s approach to data centers, rare earth minerals and taking stakes in industries.

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DETROIT, MICHIGAN — Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., threw her support behind three of the Trump administration’s signature economic policies in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Collaboration between ratepayers and data center developers, public stakes in high-growth industries and loan guarantees for critical mineral extraction are all areas where the Michigan congresswoman says the Trump administration is charting the right course. She also pointed to bolstering American manufacturing and deterring the nation’s adversaries from hostage taking as areas where she believes bipartisan collaboration is possible.

“It’s not just about taxation,” Stevens told Fox News Digital when asked how revenues can be raised to fund healthcare and infrastructure programs. “If federal dollars are used, like what Mr. Elon Musk got from the federal government, so potentially this current administration could be right that ownership stakes should be on the table.”

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Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., speaks during the House Democrats’ news conference to introduce the Taxpayer Data Protection Act in the Capitol on Thursday, February 6, 2025.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The Trump administration has increasingly pursued direct equity stakes, alongside grants and loans, to steer capital into industries it considers strategically important, such as semiconductors and critical minerals.

For instance, the administration converted $8.9 billion in federal funding into a 9.9% nonvoting stake in Intel, while the Pentagon took a 15% stake in rare-earth producer MP Materials. Both investments have increased in value since the government took them, although those gains are not realized until the shares are sold.

While Stevens thinks stimulating economic growth is part of the equation for balancing the federal balance sheet, she did say that the “wealthiest of the wealthy” should “absolutely” pay more in taxes.

Stevens rose to national prominence during her primary contest against Abdul El-Sayed, who has since become the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan. She cast herself as a more moderate alternative to El-Sayed, who she accused of unfairly singling out Jewish Americans.

[DEMOCRATS’ CIVIL WAR HEADS TO MICHIGAN WHERE PROGRESSIVES FACE BIGGEST TEST YET IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE SHOWDOWN]

UNITED STATES – MAY 6: Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., speaks during a rally on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol to support research and policies for breast cancer treatment that are at risk by proposed Medicaid cuts, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Though the primary feud between the two was intense, Stevens endorsed El-Sayed following a narrow primary defeat and signaled that, while she may agree with President Donald Trump on some things, she still sees his broader agenda as dangerous for America.

“I personally think [Republican nominee] Mike Rogers is going to continue to rubber-stamp Donald Trump’s chaotic agenda,” she said in an interview after endorsing El-Sayed. “People are going to make a personal and private decision. I am not on the ballot in Michigan.”

Likewise, the White House isn’t particularly warm towards Stevens.

“It’s rich that Haley Stevens claims to support President Trump’s proven economic agenda after voting against the President over 80 percent of the time in Congress – including on the Great One Big Beautiful Bill, which is the largest working-class tax cut in history,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital.

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Rep. Haley Stevens and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed are vying for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Michigan.(Scott Olson/Getty Images; Finn Gomez/Getty Images)

Though Stevens is a loyal Democrat, she says that doesn’t prevent her from working across the aisle, especially on local issues.

For that reason, she threw her support behind the Trump administration’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a collaborative framework bringing together utilities, data center developers, cooperatives and state governments to keep energy prices down amidst the massive buildout of AI infrastructure.

“I think collaboration is always a promising first step and path forward,” Stevens told Fox News Digital when asked about the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. “Before I was in Congress, I had also worked on the bipartisan auto-rescue task force in the Obama administration. I was an Obama appointee, but there were also Bush appointees who stayed on, and there frankly were Republicans who were on the task force. And the reason I’m mentioning the auto task force is that we coordinated at the local level. We coordinated large-scale federal resources.”

Later in the interview, Stevens stressed to Fox News Digital that she is “really fired up about critical minerals,” arguing that America makes itself vulnerable to China by failing to increase domestic production. She listed loan guarantees for mining firms, a policy currently being carried out by the Trump administration, as something she supports.

[WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS TURN POLLUTED MINE WATER INTO CRITICAL RARE EARTH MINERALS]

US President Donald Trump, left, and Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Trump is hosting CEOs and industry leaders who have committed to investing in the US at the “Invest in America” event. Photographer: Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg

The White House did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

Looking forward, Stevens — who has a strong record of bipartisan work — highlighted a few areas she believes are fertile ground for Republicans and Democrats to work together.

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“[Rep.] French Hill, who’s a Republican from Arkansas and a great congressman, French Hill and I have passed considerable pieces of legislation to stand up to America’s enemies, to stand up to our detractors, and that continues to be an area where I believe that we will see more bipartisan collaboration,” she told Fox News Digital. “I also feel very strongly and I’m very proud to serve as the bipartisan caucus chair of the manufacturing caucus, our industrial sector, and one of the areas of great success for me in the Congress was, as a midwesterner, working with colleagues on the other side of the aisle to grow our manufacturing economy.”