She has run for political office three times. In 2004, she was a Democratic candidate for an open U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, losing in the Democratic primary election to then-state senator Barack Obama. In 2006, she ran for the United States House of Representatives in Michigan's 9th congressional district in the 2006 elections, losing to the 14-year incumbent Republican, Joe Knollenberg. In 2014, she ran again for the House of Representatives, this time in Michigan's 11th congressional district, losing in the Democratic primary to Bobby McKenzie. In 2018 she again lost in the same primaries to Haley Stevens.