A Promising Democrat Signals Readiness for Fresh Leadership — Excluding Chuck Schumer

Mallory McMorrow, the 38-year-old Michigan Democrat, doesn’t assert that she has all the solutions for the Democratic Party. As she prepares for a possible Senate run this month, she emphasizes the need for generational change at leadership levels.

In a conversation with PMG Magazine, McMorrow, who serves as a state senator, expressed uncertainty about Chuck Schumer's continued viability as Senate minority leader and stated that she would not support him for leadership if she secures victory in a competitive primary and general election.

“I think it is” time for Schumer to step back, McMorrow said. “There’s still this idea that Democrats and Republicans are still abiding by the same rules and still believe in the same norms and systems and structure. There seems to be a lack of recognition that this is no longer the Republican Party. This is a MAGA party. And the same approach is not going to work.”

This isn’t the first time McMorrow has conveyed a tough message to someone she respects. After her viral speech rebuffing false accusations labeling her a groomer, President Joe Biden reached out to congratulate her in 2022. However, following Biden's lackluster debate performance against Donald Trump and his subsequent interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, McMorrow privately wrote to him urging him to withdraw from the 2024 ticket—information that PMG Magazine reviewed but has not been previously reported.

In her letter, McMorrow noted that Biden's reasoning for remaining in the race “feels, sadly, like the rhetoric we are used to from Donald Trump, a man who tells us that he alone can do this, and anyone who dares challenge him must stand down or be destroyed.”

As she prepares to release her political memoir, *Hate Won’t Win*, and eyes a potential Senate candidacy, McMorrow has further insights for Democrats as they contend with Trump.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Democrats have found it challenging to regain their footing since Trump's election in November. Is there an ideological shift that needs to take place?

I don’t know that it’s ideological, more just the approach. I think that what is very clear — was clear in 2024 throughout the election cycle, and even still now — is there are a lot of people who don't know what Democrats stand for and what Democrats can and will do for them in a way that gives them a vision of something that they want to vote for. That transcends political ideology, but it's just back to basics. How do you approach this moment? How do you respond to a Trump presidency, and the fact that Elon Musk has access to basically all of the government, and they are very comfortable rapidly tearing it down?

I think it’s less ideological and more: Are you willing to fight for a future, and what is that future? And can you clearly articulate that to people?

The operative axis, you’re saying, revolves less around whether Democrats should move left or right, but around whether they should fight or accommodate?

Right. It’s fighting. Because right now, what people see is Donald Trump and Elon Musk and everybody who's in there right now are more than comfortable paring down the government piece by piece. The checks and balances no longer exist. So you either fight for a future or you don't. And that isn't about whether a party moves left or right or center. It's just, is there a future or not, and how do you fight for it?

As you’ve considered a Senate campaign to replace Sen. Gary Peters, did you reach out to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for advice or did he contact you?

No, we haven’t connected yet. We’ve reached out to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to let them know that I was exploring. I’m somebody, every time that I’ve run for anything, I don't like surprising people. I want them to know who I am and how to get a hold of me.

When did you reach out to the DSCC?

Quickly after Gary made his announcement. This was something I had always thought about as a next step in my future. I don’t think I knew that it would be this year. I think Gary surprised a lot of people, and I think he surprised himself too with his decision, but I'm really proud of both [former Democratic Sen.] Debbie Stabenow and of Gary for showing what it looks like to come from a state where we've built up a great bench, and seeing the moment and recognizing when it’s time to step back and enjoy a retirement — something that I think is part of the American dream — that I wish more people in our party would model.

Is it clear to you that Schumer knows when to step aside?

I don't think it is. And I think that what I'm seeing in elected leaders, frankly, in both parties, who it almost feels like stepping back is a sign of weakness and a failure. I don't know if that is just the pressures of the job, but I think it's a strength. I think it's like anything: You work really hard, Chuck Schumer has dedicated his life to public service and fought a lot of really great fights, and it can be time to step back. And those things are not mutually exclusive.

Is it time for him to step back?

I think it is. There’s still this idea that Democrats and Republicans are still abiding by the same rules and still believe in the same norms and systems and structure. There seems to be a lack of recognition that this is no longer the Republican Party. This is a MAGA party. And the same approach is not going to work.

If you were elected to the Senate, would you vote for him to be the leader?

I would look for other leadership who understands that it's a different moment. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Nancy Pelosi, who, similarly, while still in Congress, recognized it is time to have new leadership who can build up that muscle to respond to the moment.

Without discussing your possible Senate primary opponents, how do you see yourself as best positioned to win a primary and general?

This feels like a very unique moment where we have to reshape our party, and what it means to be a Democrat and what Democrats mean to people.

I’m very clear about the fact that polling shows that the Democratic Party is not popular right now, and there’s a massive disconnect between Donald Trump’s popularity now being under 50 percent and people increasingly being angry about the overreach of the second term, and not connecting that with the positive view of the Democratic Party. Both things are underwater, and that is a big red flag for me that signals the same Washington-based approach is not going to work in this moment.

I’ve built up my chops in the state legislature, but I’m not from Washington. I am an outsider who has built a name for myself or a perception of being able to cut through the noise and fight when we need to fight, and also work to deliver for people.

I leveraged that speech in 2022 and the attention it brought not just to have 15 minutes of fame that I definitely didn't want, but to use it to raise millions of dollars for other state Senate candidates that helped us get the first Democratic trifecta in Michigan in 40 years, and using that to deliver on policy like gun violence prevention, eliminating the retirement tax on seniors, and expanding preschool and child care and all of these things that we’ve been able to do here.

I think people are hungry for something like that, where it isn’t just going to be a Washington-anointed candidate. It’s going to be somebody different who sounds different and acts different. And in a state like Michigan, maybe we reshape the party from this race and from this state.

Do you think that you could win a general election in Michigan where Trump won in November?

I do. I won a district in 2018 that my predecessor Republican [state] Senator Marty Knollenberg won by 16 points in 2014; I won by four. So we swung the district 20 points.

And there were certainly lifelong Republicans who maybe had never voted for a Democrat before and looked around at who Donald Trump was and said, “That’s not my party, and we’re looking for something else.” I turned around in 2022 and won a D-plus-29 district and a Democratic primary. That’s now the bluest district in the state, and includes a significant portion of the city of Detroit. My approach has very broad appeal, because I don’t focus so much on where I fall in the political spectrum. I’m pragmatic and I’m practical, and I love people, and I get out there, and my approach is to try to be responsive to people, identifying what the issues are, figuring out what the solutions are, and then showing how we can get that done.

That’s an approach that I bring from my industrial design background that I feel is really lacking in politics and that people in a place like Michigan, where we make things, respond really positively to. So I feel optimistic going into a potential race, and in a place where we’ve already seen some polling that if the election were held today, Kamala Harris would win.

But we also can’t forget that this is a state that, yes, elected Donald Trump and elected Elissa Slotkin. So there it is. Not one party over another. People want [someone] practical and pragmatic and solution-oriented.

When we've talked over the years, you’ve been optimistic about being part of the local state solution, given that this is the first trifecta state for Democrats since 1984. Three years later, now you’re looking at the U.S. Senate. Do you think Michigan Democrats under Gretchen Whitmer squandered the trifecta?

I think we learned a lot, all of us. We took both chambers and especially in the statehouse, with 56 out of 110 members being brand new, not just to the majority, but brand new to the legislature.

I hope to continue to do so no matter what is on the horizon for me. I think a lot about how we continue to support staff. What we found and what we learned is staff were very new in figuring out how to run a committee and how to run a budget and how to prioritize and move legislative priorities. It was a lot, all at once, with a very, very narrow, very fragile majority. Something that I would hope to do in stepping into a federal office is to be a real partner in this work and understand how the state budget process works, how the legislative process works, and be a true partner for candidates and for Democratic state-elected officials.

But do you think that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used the trifecta to its fullest potential?

I think we can Tuesday morning quarterback a lot of things. We got a ton done. I think that here in Michigan, we're really hard on ourselves. We came into office and rapidly passed more legislation that benefits people—legislation that had been blocked for decades—than I think anybody thought possible. Red flag laws. My first bill, which took five years to work on, just got its first year report back, and it’s been used a little over 300 times. It has certainly saved lives, including four instances where it’s been used with law enforcement during mental health crises involving domestic abuse situations.

This is something that people have been asking for years—demanding for years—that Republicans refused to address, and we got it done. Could we have done more? Especially serving in the Senate and looking at the Statehouse during lame duck, of course. But instead of pointing fingers and placing blame, I’m forward-thinking about what we do when we get that trifecta back to keep delivering for people and not lose it again.

Slotkin won Michigan. Kamala Harris did not. Why?

Kamala ran the best campaign she possibly could have, given the situation. I was at the airport hangar rally in Detroit, which was unlike anything I'd ever seen. The energy was incredible. And when you look at the results, everything was so close. Donald Trump only won by 1.5 percent. It was very narrow. Elissa won by just about the same margin against Mike Rogers, but there was a vote drop off.

Some people reported that on Michigan State's campus on Election Day, they saw young men, college students wearing MAGA hats, who would show up, vote for Donald Trump, and nothing else. So I think we have to acknowledge that Donald Trump is a very unique figure, and many voters did not necessarily connect him to the Republican Party because they weren't voting for Republicans down the ballot. They were voting for Donald Trump. I hope that we don't overcorrect based on lessons from 2024. I think that Democratic values and priorities, especially in contrast to the chaos currently unleashed by Trump, are still appealing to voters. We just need to be better messengers and advocates for people.

You sent a private letter to President Biden after his debate disaster and his interview with George Stephanopoulos, asking him to withdraw from the ticket. Why?

It was really hard to write, and it was a challenging decision. I have tremendous respect and gratitude for President Biden and his lifelong public service, particularly given his personal challenges. That dedication remains true to this day.

However, after seeing his debate performance, I felt concerned. He seemed different than the man I spoke to in 2022. In the interview with George Stephanopoulos, I worried he sounded like Donald Trump, asserting that “I alone can do this” and implying no one else could step up.

From a Democratic perspective, that just didn’t sound right. We're a big tent party. We work collaboratively, especially in Michigan, where we have a Democratic trifecta. Once I recognized that, I thought it was important to express my views. Still, I didn't want to undermine him publicly. If he decided to run again, airing my disagreement could create unnecessary media attention without benefiting the party. Many constituents urged me to reach out to him, so I did.

You rose to national prominence fighting in the culture wars. Do you think Democrats have lost the culture wars to Republicans?

Not yet. We haven’t lost the war; maybe just a battle. I don’t think we've lost the war.

Historically, there’s always been a scapegoat, and that hasn’t changed. Whether it was Nazi Germany targeting Jews or resistance to school desegregation or attacks on the LGBTQ community, scapegoating remains a tactic.

What's frustrating is that Republicans are adept at setting traps, and Democrats often fall for them. One reason my 2022 speech resonated was that it addressed an attack typically aimed at LGBTQ individuals, but I focused on broader themes—growing up in the Catholic Church, my mother, and service. I emphasized that “People who are different are not the reason why health care costs are too high or why their roads are in disrepair.” By reframing the conversation around everyday issues, I made it relatable to a wider audience and called out the scapegoating for what it is.

Democrats often engage in the debates Republicans want us to have, diverting attention from what truly impacts people’s lives.

If culture is upstream from politics, how can Democrats regain cultural relevance where it matters most?

That’s real. Democrats must be unafraid to engage broadly and meet people where they are. While going on Joe Rogan’s show isn’t the one-size-fits-all solution, it’s essential to reach those audiences. Many perceive Democrats as elitist, looking down on those who don’t engage with traditional Hollywood or mainstream media. This misconception is why some are turning against Democrats.

We need to be willing to enter less familiar spaces, engage in lengthy conversations, and be approachable. I know "authenticity" is an overused term, yet it rings true. People can detect insincerity, and they prefer to vote for individuals they genuinely like and trust—individuals whom they feel they know beyond simply their job titles.

That’s why I openly discuss being a mom and the realities of raising my daughter, Noa. I share my experiences with ADHD publicly. At a recent book event, several attendees thanked me for discussing divergent brains candidly.

The key is to simply be yourself and to find the communication tools that allow you to present yourself authentically to as many people as possible.

Lucas Dupont for TROIB News