November marks a turning point for the future of the Democratic Party, which lacks much of the federal power needed to combat the Trump administration. Currently, the Republican Party has control over the presidency, the House of Representatives and the Senate. 

McMorrow hopes to gain some of that federal power back in her pursuit of a U.S. Senate seat. 

"When we come together and get organized and use our voices, you can make the change you want to see, even if we don’t hold the gavels on the battle,"  the senator said at an Michigan State University College Democrats event Tuesday evening. 

Currently a state senator in Michigan, McMorrow has remained a vocal critic of the Trump administration. During the 2024 Democratic National Convention, she warned attendees about Project 2025, a playbook for the conservative movement’s takeover of the federal government that was a target of Democrats during the campaign. That document laid the groundwork for several Trump initiatives during his first year in office, including drastically downsizing the Department of Education and ramping up deportation efforts.

Change takes time and organized effort, McMorrow said. 

After the Feb. 13, 2023, MSU campus shooting that killed three and wounded five others, McMorrow credited the efforts of MSU students for helping pass her bill on red flag laws, which had previously been in five years of development. 

The senate hopeful pledged to continue to protect the interests of Michiganders and MSU students at the federal level. As a student at the University of Notre Dame, McMorrow remembers feeling "brushed off" by politicians who "didn’t care," yet would turn around and complain about the lack of young voters. 

"We need to listen to students, and we need to be putting forward policy ideas in Washington that are going to help students," the senator told The State News.

To start, McMorrow said, it begins with changing the narrative surrounding Michigan universities, which have seen federal research funding cuts under the Trump administration. In October 2025, the university announced that 83 employees had been fired due to federal cuts, which it estimates to have a multiyear impact of $104 million.

Instead of viewing universities as "woke institutions" brewing with waste and fraud, universities need to be realized as grounds for innovation, McMorrow said. She cited the success of student-owned startup brand BRCE, which recently received a $300,000 deal on ABC’s SharkTank. 

"That wouldn't have happened if there wasn't funding here for MSU," McMorrow said.

Regarding immigration policy, McMorrow said that the immigration system needs to be "fundamentally overhauled." As Michigan’s workforce woes continue to worsen, as more reach retirement age and college graduates flee the state in search of better opportunities, pathways to citizenship should be made easier. 

The senator said she has asked current U.S. senators to halt funding to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement until it has been "completely overhauled from the ground up."

McMorrow has previously spoken in favor of providing military aid to the state of Israel, but said that further providing offensive weapons to Israel must stop. The Democrats need to pivot from the Biden-era stance of continuing to provide offensive aid without enacting consequences, McMorrow said.

"We've watched them continue to push into Gaza," she said. "We watch them continue to push into the West Bank and there are no ramifications."

The senator also criticized Trump’s war on Iran, saying that it goes back on the president’s campaign promise to be the one to "end wars," not start new ones. McMorrow condemned the financial costs of the war, listing cuts to SNAP benefits, school funding and Social Security. 

"There’s so much at home that we have to focus on," she said.