Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, a candidate in Michigan’s open 2026 Senate race, filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday.
Stevens, who is locked in a fierce three-way primary contest to succeed retiring Democratic Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, is moving forward with a longshot bid to remove Kennedy from office despite no explicit backing from House Democratic leadership. The move is largely symbolic because House Speaker Mike Johnson is unlikely to consider the measure.
“RFK Jr. has got to go,” Stevens said in a video posted to social media Wednesday. The Michigan Democrat alleged Kennedy has “turned his back” on science while ripping the secretary for reducing the size of public health agencies.
“RFK Jr. is the biggest self-created threat to our health and safety,” Stevens added.
The New York Times first reported Stevens had filed the articles of impeachment.
“Secretary Kennedy remains focused on improving Americans’ health and lowering costs, not on partisan theatrics designed to elevate standing in a failing, third-rate Senate bid,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared to pour cold water on Democratic members seeking to impeach Trump administration officials during a leadership press conference last week.
“Republicans will never allow articles of impeachment to be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives,” Jeffries said regarding Democratic Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar’s push to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. “And we know that’s the case because Donald Trump will order them not to do it.”
Thanedar accused Hegseth of murder, citing the Trump administration’s continued strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug vessels, in a poorly-attended rally at Union Station in Washington, D.C.
Stevens and Thanedar could file a “privileged” motion to force a vote on their impeachment resolutions, but House GOP leadership would almost certainly succeed in tabling the effort on the floor.
Though Stevens, 42, has led the Democratic primary according to recent polling, the three-way contest has no clear frontrunner. Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, 39, and Bernie Sanders-endorsed former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, 41, are running against Stevens from the left.
A Mitchell Research and Communications survey found 27% of likely Democratic primary voters backing Stevens, 24% backing Morrow and El-Sayed registering 16% support with 33% undecided. The poll of 261 Democratic primary voters was conducted from Nov. 18 to Nov. 21 and had a margin of error of 6%.
Trump-endorsed Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers led Stevens in a hypothetical general survey 42% to 40%, which had a 3.7% margin of sampling error.
Stevens previously threatened to file articles of impeachment against Kennedy in September.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
