Abdul El-Sayed has been chosen as Michigan’s Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, narrowly defeating U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in a primary election.
The race remained tight throughout yesterday night, with a winner not declared until today. Stevens called El-Sayed to concede and she issued a statement saying she would back El-Sayed’s candidacy. “I am proud to offer my support as he takes on Mike Rogers in the general election,” she said.
Stevens added that it was a thorough and rigorous campaign that “brought out the full span of views within the Democratic Party — and that is why we have primaries.”
She stated that she was proud to have put up her hand to serve, and “prouder to continue to work together to make sure this Senate seat remains blue, that we flip the United States Senate and continue the work for Michigan.”
“Donald Trump and Mike Rogers want us to come out of this primary tired and divided, so their billionaire backers can come in and let multimillionaire Mike Rogers walk away with this Senate seat. They want to keep the Senate red, so Mike Rogers can keep rubber-stamping Donald Trump’s harmful agenda of higher prices, manufacturing jobs lost nationwide, corruption and abuses of power, and so he can ban abortion, gut health care, and roll back workers’ rights and voting rights.
“I’m not going to let that happen. We must elect Democrats up and down the ballot.”
U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens
El-Sayed, a former health official, campaigned on “Medicare for All,” halting military aid to Israel and campaign finance reform. He had support from progressive leaders including Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who framed the race as a grassroots-focused movement and a broader fight against the establishment and big-money spending.
El-Sayed cast himself as the anti-establishment candidate and argued that Democrats need to reject corporate influence and embrace a more progressive agenda. While the candidate has said that he is not a democratic socialist, he found support from some of the group’s members. That included Melat Kiros, who recently beat a longtime incumbent in a Democratic primary for a Denver-based House seat and was at El-Sayed’s watch party. Also there was Hasan Piker, a progressive and controversial influencer online.
Stevens, a four-term Congresswoman, focused on manufacturing and the economy. She stressed her past victories in tough races, saying she would be best positioned to beat Rogers. Stevens benefited from tens of millions of dollars in outside spending, including the largest investment in a race ever from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which supports pro-Israel candidates.
Stevens won election to Congress in 2018 after serving as Chief of staff to President Barack Obama’s auto task force, which helped oversee the federal rescue of General Motors and Chrysler. Her campaign and allied groups have repeatedly highlighted that experience.
El-Sayed’s win represents a significant shift for the Democratic Party; in 2018 he lost the gubernatorial primary to now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by 21 percentage points.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, another progressive leader who endorsed El-Sayed, said the race “should be a wake-up call to the Washington Democratic establishment.”
“He was running against a lot of Washington insiders as well as parts of the Michigan Democratic establishment. And he won. That’s an incredible story.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen
National groups poured unprecedented sums into the race, making it one of the country’s biggest tests of outside spending. Groups backing Stevens spent more than $50 million, led by more than $30 million from AIPAC and its affiliates.
The spending pushed Israel policy into the center of the race even though the ads never mentioned it. While El-Sayed called for ending military aid to Israel, Stevens maintained strong support for the relationship. Israel became a contentious issue within the Democratic Party amid a war in Gaza that killed more than 73,000 Palestinians in its retaliatory offensive after about 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken in attacks by the militant group Hamas.
Real Test Ahead
The real test of El-Sayed’s and progressives’ strength will now come in a November matchup against Mike Rogers, a former congressman who ran unopposed for the Republican nomination.
The seat is pivotal to Democrats’ chances of flipping the Senate and El-Sayed will face the challenge of uniting a divided Democratic party.
The seat is open after longtime U.S. Sen. Gary Peters announced he would not seek another term. The race has drawn national attention as both parties look to compete for control of the Senate.
The race will help decide which party controls the chamber in the last two years of President Donald Trump’s term. Those stakes have added heat to the primary, with moderates arguing that El-Sayed would have a harder time than Stevens against a Republican in the general election.
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