Abdul El-Sayed
Abdul El-Sayed narrowly won Michigan’s Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating Rep. Haley Stevens in a major victory for the party’s progressive faction.
Stevens conceded in a congratulatory call to El-Sayed and immediately endorsed him after a bitter race that featured more than $60 million in spending on her behalf by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She joined other Democrats critical of the insurgent candidate’s position on Israel, Gaza, and the Mideast conflict -- including State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the primary, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin – to call for unity in the general election against Republican nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers.
“Congratulations to Abdul El-Sayed for winning the Democratic nomination for Senate.,” Slotkin posted on social media. “It’s been a long primary, but now it’s time to gear up to beat Mike Rogers (again) and win up and down the ticket. There is nothing more important than the mission of the next 90 days: uniting, keeping this seat blue, flipping the House and Senate, and providing a real check on President Trump.”
After noting that his upset victory “shook up the world,” El-Sayed reciprocated with an equally conciliatory tone, noting the “great conversation” with Stevens, whom he described as “one of the most committed public servants that you’ll ever meet…whatever differences that we might have had in the primary, they pale in comparison to what unifies us.”
In other Michigan primaries, Sunrise Movement co-founder Will Lawrence defeated former Ambassador Bridget Brink and former Navy Seal Matt Maasam to face GOP Rep. Tom Barrett in the state’s Seventh District, while State Rep. Donovan McKinney, a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, beat incumbent Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar in the 13th District. Observers regared McKinney’s victory over Thanedar as determined more by ethnic solidarity in a Detroit community – the winner is Black, the loser Asian-American – than ideology.
Aside from the DSA-flavored results in the Great Lakes State, there were few triumphs for the left. In Missouri, Rep. Wesley Bell overwhelmingly defeated former Rep. Cori Bush, a DSA stalwart supported by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and highly critical of party leadership. Centrist or moderate candidates also won primaries in Virginia, while the more progressive candidate won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Kansas.
Missouri voters also rejected a Republican initiative to abolish the state income tax by a margin of four-to-one – a sign that middle America is in no mood to entertain the GOP’s oligarchic platform.
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- Abdul El-Sayed wins contentious Democratic primary for Michigan US Senate seat in boost for progressives – US politics live | US midterm elections 2026 | The Guardian ›
- Live updates: Progressive Abdul El-Sayed will win Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, CNN projects | CNN Politics ›
- Michigan Senate primary election results 2026: Abdul El-Sayed defeats Haley Stevens - The Washington Post ›
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