Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly gave Michigan Democratic Congresswoman and US Senate hopeful Haley Stevens a new nickname after the candidate went viral last week for her new accent. During a clip of her speaking at a campaign event, Stevens encouraged her supporters to 'stick it to them' in a campaign pep talk, raising eyebrows for her awkward delivery and style. 'I am gonna be workin' on our behalf, I am gonna be tellin' the stories on our behalf,' Stevens noted in her speech, adding 'And you better believe I'm gonna be doin' it with a little bit of joy, a little bit of enthusiasm, a little bit of energy, and a little bit of 'stick it to 'em!' Because that's the Michigan way!' She appears to have thickened her accent in the speech, when compared with previous clips of her campaign videos and speeches on the House floor. Kelly wasn't buying the act. She noted in an episode of her show: 'This woman, she's not playing it straight. We'll show you the proof. Um, this is not how she's always talked. She's Jasmine Crockett. 'That's what we're realizing. This is a new Jasmine Crockett.

Like, but I don't get it, because do Michiganders need you to 'speak like this in order to vote for ya, with the back in your throat, have your hard A's,' Kelly continued, mocking the Michigan accent herself. 'No I don't think so, I don't think they require that, because that's not how any other Michigan politician talks,' Kelly added. Crockett, a fellow colleague of Stevens in the US House of Representatives, went viral earlier this year during her own race for the US Senate in Texas when she adopted a deeper southern accent on the campaign trail.

In a defense of the viral clip, Stevens told TMZ this week that her campaign speech was quintessential and 'authentically Michigan.' Stevens, a current member of the US House of Representatives, is running in the primary for the state's US Seat against Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive who has served as the health director for Detroit, as well as Wayne County. Stevens is currently riding a wave of endorsements from state and national leaders and has been boosted by polling showing her leaping ahead of El-Sayed.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer was the latest big name to weigh in for Stevens, noting over the weekend in a video, 'As governor, I've had one strategy: get things done.' 'And that strategy informs everything that I do, and that's why I'm endorsing Haley Stevens for the U.S. Senate,' Whitmer stated in a video Stevens shared on X. 'Just like me, Haley will do whatever it takes to get things done for the people of Michigan, and we need her now more than ever,' Whitmer added.

El-Sayed responded to the endorsement, telling NBC News, 'The corporate establishment has closed ranks and made their pick — now, Michigan voters will get to make theirs.' Michigan's primary election is August 4, and early voting commenced on Saturday, July 25. The US Senate seat in Michigan is rated a 'toss-up' by the Cook Political Report, and the contest is for an open seat after incumbent Democrat Gary Peters chose not to run again. Peters backed Stevens in the primary earlier this month. Mike Rogers, a former congressman, has secured the GOP nomination as he is uncontested.