Moss Vs. Baker For U.S. House: MI 2026 Live Election Preview

Democratic State Senator Jeremy Moss and Republican Troy Mayor Ethan Baker are battling to represent most of Oakland County in the U.S. Congress.

The two candidates are vying for Michigan's open 11th Congressional District, which covers most of Oakland County.

The district was consolidated to include the south-central section of the county after redistricting. It includes major cities Auburn Hills, Ferndale, Pontiac, Royal Oak, Troy, West Bloomfield Township and Wixom.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens chose not to seek re-election after vying for the U.S. Senate, a primary race she lost to former Detroit Health Executive Abdul El-Sayed.

Stevens had represented the district since 2019.

Moss, of Oakland County, beat three other Democratic challengers to win the party’s nomination for the state’s open 11th Congressional District.

“It is such an incredible honor to be Oakland County’s Democratic nominee for Congress in the 11th District,” Moss said in a statement. “This seat opened up right at a moment of peril in our country that demanded tested and trusted leadership."

Moss also blasted President Donald Trump.

"Throughout the year of this campaign, we met the moment along the way. We responded to the chaos in real time," Moss said. "As Donald Trump eroded our democracy and stripped away our healthcare, I led the charge to protect Michigan families."

He added: "And now we take this fight to Congress where we must reduce costs, protect healthcare, dismantle ICE, and put a check on the Trump administration."

Moss has cited affordability and health care as top issues. He has also signaled support to dismantle and abolish ICE.

"Jeremy has fought for working families in the Michigan Legislature, and he will continue that fight in the halls of Congress," Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said in a statement. "His commitment to lowering healthcare costs, tackling the cost of living crisis, and protecting our rights is as critical as ever."

Baker, on the other hand, ran unopposed and easily clinched the Republican nomination.

He has talked about his top issues as mental and physical health, cost of living, jobs, economy and infrastructure.

"It's not only about being able to talk to each other again; it's about electing representatives who will lead by example. Leaders who are willing to work through differences, solve the challenges we face, and bring that same tone of respect and dignity to Congress, and then back home to the district," Baker said in a statement posted on social media.

Baker served on the Troy City Council for four years before being elected mayor in 2019. He was re-elected mayor in 2023.

He also worked as a special assistant to former President Ronald Reagan in California following his presidency.

The race was rocked by a social media audio clip that featured Moss' voice claiming that his campaign is solely for the U.S. House to ensure America continues to support Israel.

The audio included, "‘And so, honestly, I would say that the entire purpose of my campaign is to make sure America continues to support Israel.’ It also includes: ‘America is not our homeland.’"

Moss, who is Jewish, told the Detroit News the clip is fake and is "part of a very troubling and quite frankly dangerous pattern of things I've experienced throughout this campaign."

"The clip is manipulated, either stitched and edited together or just a complete fabrication," he told the newspaper.

The account "American Independence Project" posted the clip on X on Aug. 7. It quickly gained more than 10,000 likes and was listened to by more than 1 million people, according to the social media company's tracking.

When asked about the clip, Baker said he has chosen not to make it the center of his campaign and that he would not launch personal attacks against Moss.

He added that Moss deserves the opportunity to explain the words in the recording and speak for himself.

"I have tried to leave that door open throughout this campaign because I believe in treating people with dignity, even when we disagree," Baker said in a statement. "And I believe we can all agree that the anger and hatred surrounding the recording has been painful and, honestly, damaging to all of us. Division does this. Seeking to understand one another, which is what I’ve tried to do, is always better than adding more anger to an already difficult situation."

The Washington Post reported that digital-forensics specialists examined the recording and found no evidence of manipulation, including AI alteration, AI generation, or splicing.

Additionally, the metadata was consistent with an iPhone recording, according to the report.

However, the experts for the Post could not establish who recorded the clip, whether the voice was definitively Moss’s or whether the excerpt had been stripped of relevant context.

The last Republican to hold the seat was Dace Trott, who was first elected in 2014 and won re-election in 2016 before not seeking another term. Stevens won the seat in 2018 and the district has been reliably Democratic since.