Debbie Stabenow


Deborah Ann Stabenow is an American politician who served from 2001 to 2025 as a United States senator from Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, she was Michigan's first female U.S. senator.
Before her election to the Senate, Stabenow was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Michigan's 8th congressional district from 1997 to 2001. Previously, she served on the Ingham County Board of Commissioners and in the Michigan State Legislature.
Stabenow was reelected to Senate in 2006, 2012, and 2018. She became the state's senior U.S. senator upon Carl Levin's retirement in 2015. Stabenow chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee from 2011 to 2015 and again since 2021. She became chair of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee in 2017. At the start of the 118th Congress, Stabenow became the dean of the Michigan congressional delegation, upon the retirement of Representative Fred Upton. On January 5, 2023, she announced that she would not seek reelection in 2024.

Early life and education

Stabenow was born in Gladwin, Michigan, the daughter of Anna Merle and Robert Lee Greer. She grew up in Clare, Michigan. She graduated from Clare High School, where she was president of her junior class, the first female class president at the school. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University in 1972. Also from Michigan State University, she earned a Master of Social Work magna cum laude in 1975.

Early political career

Ingham County politics

While a graduate student at Michigan State University in 1974, Stabenow ran for public office for the first time, inspired by the threatened closure of a local nursing home. She won her first election in November 1974, becoming just the third woman elected to the Ingham County Board of Commissioners, on which she served from 1975 to 1978. Stabenow was the first woman and youngest person to date to chair the board of commissioners in 1977 and 1978. She was preceded as chair by one of her political mentors, Ken Hope. She was also instrumental in establishing a women's commission in Ingham County.

State legislature

In 1978, Stabenow challenged Michigan State Representative Tom Holcomb in a primary election. She won the primary and eventually the general election for the 58th House District. Stabenow served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1979 to 1990. She became a force in state Democratic politics and the first woman in House leadership to preside over the House. In 1990, Stabenow ran for the Michigan Senate seat being vacated by William A. Sederburg. She won the election, taking office in 1991 and serving one term through 1994.

1994 gubernatorial election

In 1994, Stabenow ran in Michigan's Democratic gubernatorial primary to challenge incumbent Republican John Engler in the general election. U.S. Congressman Howard Wolpe won the primary with a plurality of 35% of the vote to Stabenow's 30%. After the primary, Wolpe chose Stabenow as his running mate, and she appeared on the general election ballot as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor. Engler defeated the Wolpe–Stabenow ticket, 61% to 38%.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1996, Stabenow ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives, challenging incumbent Republican U.S. Congressman Dick Chrysler for the opportunity to represent Michigan's 8th congressional district. She defeated Chrysler 54%–44%. In 1998, she was reelected with 57% of the vote. In the House, Stabenow served on the Agriculture and Science Committees.

U.S. Senate

Elections

2000

Stabenow did not seek reelection to the House in 2000, choosing instead to challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham. She won the Democratic primary unopposed. In the general election, Stabenow defeated Abraham 49.5%–48%.

2006

Stabenow was challenged by Republican Michael Bouchard, Oakland County sheriff and former State Senate Majority Floor Leader. Stabenow defeated him 57%–41%.

2012

Stabenow was unopposed in the Democratic primary and defeated Republican nominee Pete Hoekstra, former U.S. representative, 59% to 38%.

2018

Stabenow was reelected to a fourth term, defeating Republican nominee John E. James, 52.3%–45.8%. The margin was 275,660 votes, making this the closest U.S. Senate election in Michigan since 2000.

Tenure

Before her final committee assignments, Stabenow also served on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the Special Committee on Aging.
Stabenow is only the second person from Michigan to have served in both houses of the Michigan State Legislature and both houses of the United States Congress, the other being Thomas W. Ferry. She is also the first person to have served as a Michigan state legislator to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate.
Stabenow became the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate on November 16, 2004, when she was elected secretary of the Democratic caucus. As caucus secretary, she assisted Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid in setting the Democratic agenda and priorities. Senator Dick Durbin was elected minority whip, the second-ranking Democratic spot. In November 2006, Reid announced that Stabenow would leave the caucus secretary position to succeed Hillary Clinton as chair of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, charged with "engag Democratic Senators and community leaders across the country in an active dialogue".
After Tom Daschle, President Barack Obama's nominee for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, withdrew from consideration, the National Organization for Women urged the president to appoint Stabenow, citing her focus on health care and her background as a social worker.
Stabenow became chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee in 2011, following the defeat of Blanche Lincoln. A controversial item during Stabenow's tenure was the renewal and reform of the 2012 U.S. Farm Bill. Reid reintroduced 2012's Senate Farm Bill in the 113th Congress in January 2013, saying that it was on his top priority list, and Stabenow voiced support for Reid's move, saying, "Majority Leader Reid has demonstrated that the Senate will once again make supporting our nation's agriculture economy while cutting spending a top priority."
On October 29, 2014, Stabenow introduced the Gun Lake Trust Land Reaffirmation Act, a bill that would reaffirm the status of lands taken into trust by the Department of the Interior for the benefit of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band. The bill would clarify that the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band's land trust could not be challenged in court under the Supreme Court decision Carcieri v. Salazar.
Stabenow was participating in the certification of the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when Trump supporters attacked the United States Capitol. Along with other senators and staff, she was evacuated from the Senate chamber through a stairwell and taken to a safe location. She called the experience "heartbreaking" and "one of those things out of a movie" and said she had not felt that much fear since her time at the Capitol during the September 11 attacks. After the Capitol was secure, Congress returned to session to certify the election. Stabenow supported the certification. The day after the attack, Stabenow called for Trump's immediate removal from office through the invocation of the 25th Amendment or impeachment.

Committee assignments

Abortion

Stabenow supports reproductive rights and opposes the criminalization of abortion. She voted against "abortion trafficking" bills and tying HHS grants to a recipient's abortion policies.

Cannabis legalization

Stabenow supported Michigan Proposal 1 in 2018 to legalize cannabis for recreational use, although she would like to ensure law enforcement is involved so that the law is implemented correctly.

Food assistance

In 2013, Greg Kaufmann of The Nation wrote an article stating that Stabenow was prepared to cut $8 to $9 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In a lengthy statement, Stabenow's office rejected these accusations, maintaining that she "strongly opposes any changes to food assistance that make cuts in benefits for people who need help putting food on the table" and that she "has been the number one defender against the House Republican proposal to cut food assistance by $40 billion." Kaufmann doubled down on his charges and challenged Stabenow's office's claims in detail.
In 2017, Stabenow fought to prevent the creation of additional work-requirement rules on SNAP recipients who were older or had smaller children and led a bipartisan effort to get the legislation passed.

Foreign policy

In October 2002, Stabenow was one of 23 senators who voted against authorization of the use of military force in Iraq.
In April 2019, Stabenow was one of 34 senators to sign a letter to President Donald Trump encouraging him "to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America", asserting that Trump had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance" since becoming president and that he was "personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity" by preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S. by helping to improve conditions in those countries.