As she runs for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, Democratic Sen. Mallory McMorrow is touring a state known for making cars with a unique argument: raise bees instead.
The rise of artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to an economy based on manufacturing, she often warns on podcasts and at public events. McMorrow also boasts of the work she and others have done to promote apprenticeship programs and encourage less obvious career paths.
She raves about winemaking and beer brewing. And she is particularly passionate about beekeeping.
“You can take a certified apprenticeship, and maybe you’ll find that you always wanted to be a beekeeper without knowing it, and now you have a great career,” McMorrow said last month in a video chat with The Common Good, a nonpartisan advocacy group.
It’s an approach that McMorrow describes as hopeful and forward-looking — and an alternative to what she sees as a dangerously singular focus on the auto industry, the longtime lifeblood of Michigan’s economy.
“When the auto industry does well, we do well. When it goes down, we go down,” McMorrow, 39, said in an interview with NBC News. “It’s been an Achilles heel for us. Between that and the fact that, for millennials and Gen Z, we won’t have the career security that our parents had, it’s very likely that you’ll have to change careers several times over the course of your working life.”
McMorrow’s message also presents an important point of tension in next year’s Democratic Senate primaries. Rep. Haley Stevens, one of her rivals for the nomination, marked Michigan’s rich manufacturing history — and her work in the Obama administration during the Great Recession era. bailout plan for Detroit’s Big Three automakers – at the heart of his campaign.
Their race is already a study of traditional versus non-traditional, as one of the rare 2026 primaries which will clarify the direction of a Democratic Party which is struggling to find its bearings. Stevens, a sitting member of Congress, enjoys establishment support in his state and in Washington. McMorrow and a third candidate, doctor Abdul El-Sayed, are running as outsiders. McMorrow’s emphasis on alternative, artisanal careers contrasts with the sensibility of Stevens, who launched his campaign by talking about his first car, a used Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme — “a piece of Michigan…the Michigan that helped build this country.”
Asked about McMorrow’s emphasis on non-traditional apprenticeships, including beekeeping, Stevens said now is the time to “double down” on manufacturing.
“There have always been people, pundits and speculators who have doubted Michigan’s manufacturing industry, and it’s not me, and it’s not the people of Michigan,” Stevens, 42, said. “I will just say that we are going through a very difficult time right now with the current administration and the tariffs they are putting in place, and our manufacturing sector deserves an advocate.”
McMorrow rejected the idea that she was disparaging the manufacturing sector. She said she favored a “comprehensive solution” and was optimistic about the future of the auto industry. Responding to Stevens’ comments, she added: “I think that approach has hurt us. »
Nonetheless, McMorrow’s emphasis on beekeeping and other niche learning stands out as a staple of her speeches and a topic she spontaneously raises in interviews. She even acknowledges that her evangelism echoes “learn to code” — the 2010s mantra that was supposed to promote the move to high-tech jobs but has devolved into a condescending backlash.
“At one point it was ‘learn to code’ or ‘pivot to video’ — that’s the one weird trick that’s going to solve the problem,” McMorrow said. “And what I’m trying to say to the room is that there’s no weird thing, that we don’t know how technology is going to change our economy and our workforce. … So, yes, there’s a little reminder to ‘learn to code,’ but what I’m saying is learn to find the next step for you.”
The number of active registered apprentices in Michigan jumped 12% last year, according to a state report. But nearly 60% of these apprenticeships were concentrated in five job categories: electricians, construction workers, carpenters, millwrights and plumbers, pipefitters and boiler fitters. Although there has been an increase in non-traditional learning, this has been largely in fields like health care and public administration.
The report made no mention of winemaking, beer brewing or beekeeping.
El-Sayed, 40, recognizes that these “artisan” apprenticeships provide valuable career opportunities for Michigan’s economy, particularly in cheesemaking, leathermaking and knitting. He believes more should be done to ensure these jobs have better pay, better benefits and stability.
“It’s one thing to talk about apprenticeships,” said El-Sayed, who lost a primary for governor in 2018. “But it’s another thing to talk about the structures that enable a sustainable economy in these spaces, and I think that comes through empowering small businesses and empowering unions, and that’s why I focus so much on those two aspects.
Others, like Stevens, are less enamored with McMorrow’s approach.
Republicans supporting former Rep. Mike Rogers in the Senate would almost certainly highlight McMorrow’s speech. focus on such jobs if it is the Democratic nominee, said Greg Manz, a GOP strategist in Michigan.
“Michigan built America’s middle class through manufacturing, and Republican leaders in the Great Lakes State are working to revive that strength — not replace it with boutique pastimes,” Manz said.
McMorrow, Manz added, anticipating a line of attack, is “throwing in the towel on the industrial jobs that support families, while Mike Rogers fights to bring them back.”
Adrian Hemond, a Michigan Democratic consultant who said he was not affiliated with either candidate but spoke favorably of Stevens, also criticized McMorrow’s approach, saying it appeals more to “college-educated white women” than blue-collar workers. He called him an “absolute and atrocious loser” in the general election.
“Talk about beekeeping and winemaking – for example, that’s pretty clearly aimed at wealthy Democratic donors, right? » » added Hémond. “It has no appeal with the broader electorate, like zero. There are probably a few dozen people in Michigan who think they could make a career in beekeeping or winemaking. It’s just a la-la-la-land deal for a significant, but relatively small, slice of the electorate.”
Michigan is home to more than 600,000 manufacturing workers, according to a recent state estimate. And a December 2024 report from MichAuto, an industry advocacy group, counted 288,000 jobs directly tied to the auto sector, with more than 1.2 million jobs directly or indirectly tied to the broader mobility industry, which includes auto manufacturing.
Quantifying the number of beekeeping jobs is a more difficult task. In a 2022 interview with WCMU Public Media, an expert in the field at Michigan State University estimated the number of commercial bee farms at a few hundred.
Officials with the Michigan Beekeepers Association — a group that has 800 members, most of them hobbyists — said they were excited to learn about the apprenticeships McMorrow advocated, even though they didn’t know about it until NBC News contacted them.
Candace Casados, president of the association, said the state has 82,000 honey-producing colonies in 2024 and about $15 million in honey production sales. She believes apprenticeships can help the industry grow.
“Beekeeping is primarily an experiential field,” Casados said. “Apprenticeships allow mentors to pass on their knowledge in areas such as disease detection, hive management, seasonal cycles and forage planning. There is so much to learn as a new beekeeper, and having that hands-on experience, knowledge and guidance under someone’s guidance is simply essential.”
As of late September, there were just two registered apprentice beekeepers in Michigan, earning an average hourly wage of $15.50, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The state also reported having two apprentice winemakers, at an average salary of $18.50, and one apprentice professional brewer, at an average salary of $17.
“I give the example of beekeeping, mainly because it’s unexpected, it surprises people and it gets people’s attention,” McMorrow said when asked about its small footprint compared to Michigan’s more powerful industries.
McMorrow, who has held campaign events at craft breweries across the state, said she has met with brewers and others who, worried about the rise of AI and changing economic tides, have left behind jobs in the finance, tech and auto industries. Those conversations, she added, reinforced her belief that a broader menu of learning is prudent.
“We don’t know what’s coming yet,” McMorrow said. “We don’t know how this technology is going to change our workforce. And we’re going to be much more agile and ready as a state. If you’re able to pivot and go into another area, [you] you may not be as sensitive to AI-related changes and know that if you need to change again in 10 years, you can.
Stevens, for his part, did not explicitly criticize McMorrow by name, but drew unmistakable contrasts, emphasizing his belief in manufacturing as past, present, and future.
“We’re not going to abandon manufacturing,” Stevens said. “And we of course need a senator who will want to defend it.”
“It’s our skilled workforce that will move us forward,” Stevens added. “So when you talk about new technologies that over the last 50 years have caused people to doubt the prowess of our industrial base and our manufacturing sector, it will be our skilled workforce here in Michigan, linked to manufacturing, that will win out.
McMorrow called this thinking myopic.
“I think where we have failed as a state,” McMorrow said, “is putting all of our eggs in one basket instead of recognizing that we can do all of the above.”
