DETROIT — Michigan Democrats voted Tuesday in a closely watched Senate primary between moderate U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and progressive favourite Abdul El-Sayed, with the winner heading to a November contest critical to the party’s hope of reclaiming the Senate majority.
Democrats endured a bitter and expensive campaign that became the latest proxy battle between the party’s establishment and progressive wings. Candidates from the left-flank -- including democratic socialists -- have found surprising success in the party’s U.S. House primaries, including in New York and Denver.
Those, however, were deep-blue metro areas. Michigan has a purple hue, and the Senate primary is the biggest test yet of the progressive movement’s growing political might.
Some of that movement’s leaders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, supported El-Sayed, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backed Stevens. The nominee will face former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who is running unopposed after narrowly losing a Senate race in 2024.
Polls closed in the evening, and supporters gathered at the candidates’ watch parties.
Inside Detroit’s Majestic Theatre for El-Sayed’s event, early vote counts began to flash on a projector screen in front of a boisterous crowd. A sign on the podium read: “Michigan is Not For Sale.” El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, campaigned on “Medicare for All,” campaign finance reform and ending military aid to Israel.
Stevens supporters at her Detroit campaign bash, mingling over charcuterie and drinks, were subdued but optimistic. Stevens, a four-term congresswoman, focused on manufacturing and the economy. She has stressed her past victories in tough races, saying she is best positioned to beat Rogers and calling her campaign a “love letter to Michigan.”
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.
Voters were also choosing nominees in competitive House races and for governor. The GOP gubernatorial primary featured U.S. Rep. John James, who was backed by President Donald Trump, and businessperson Perry Johnson, who spent millions dollars from his personal fortune. In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson beat Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.
Michigan is a must-win Senate race for Democrats
The race is crucial in which party controls the chamber in the last two years of President Donald Trump’s term. That heated up the rivalry between the two candidates, with moderates arguing that El-Sayed would have a harder time than Stevens against a Republican.
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, including advertisements featuring Obama calling her “a critical part of my team.”
El-Sayed, who lost the 2018 gubernatorial primary to now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, cast himself as the anti-establishment candidate and argued that Democrats need to reject corporate influence and embrace a more progressive agenda.
Stevens targeted a big showing in Wayne County, the state’s largest and the home of Detroit, to hold off what El-Sayed’s campaign expected to be a wider base of support from across the state -- including in many of the counties in southeastern Michigan surrounding Wayne.
Wayne County historically has released election results later than most of Michigan, which could result in El-Sayed taking an early lead before results from Detroit are added later in the night.
Kenneth Woodside, 87, of West Bloomfield, said he voted for El-Sayed over Stevens and that he has faith El-Sayed can defeat Rogers.
“I think the nation is ready for someone who wants to take some more action rather than on the road we are now, which is on the road to an oligarchy and authoritarianism,” he said.
Nessa Fuller, 51, of Birmingham, said she voted for Stevens because she will “fight to get the right things done, and she’ll work with other people, which is really important to me.”
Outside influences spent millions on the Senate race
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 thrust 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.
Voters also will decide governor and US House matchups
Trump traveled to Michigan on July 27 and gave a speech at a General Motors plant, at one point calling the gubernatorial hopeful James and several other Republican politicians, including Rogers, onstage. James, a second-term congressman, previously ran twice unsuccessfully for Senate.
The primary turned uglier than Republicans hoped, with Johnson spending big sums of money on ads targeting James. Johnson ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022 and also launched a long-shot presidential bid in 2024.
There are several competitive House races this year that will help decide whether Republicans hold their slim majority or Democrats reclaim the chamber.
In the 4th District, which stretches along Lake Michigan, Democratic state Sen. Sean McCann and election newcomer Diop Harris II were vying to become the nominee to try to oust GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga.
In the 7th District, former U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink, community organizer William Lawrence and former Navy Seal Matt Maasdam were seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Rep. Tom Barrett in the seat representing the Lansing area.
The 10th District, which opened up due to James’ run for governor, includes a portion of Oakland County and stretches across conservative communities in Macomb County. In the GOP primary, Trump-endorsed Michael Bouchard beat Steffan Demetropoulos and Justin Kirk.
The Democratic primary featured former state House Rep. Tim Greimel, former prosecutor Christina Hines and former Commerce Department attorney Eric Chung.
And in a heavily Democratic district representing Detroit, Rep. Shri Thanedar looked to fend off a primary challenge from state Rep. Donavan McKinney, who argued that the city should once again have a Black representative in Congress. After Thanedar won election in 2022, Detroit had no Black representation in Congress for the first time since the early 1950s.
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Associated Press reporter Corey Williams contributed from West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Joey Cappelletti, The Associated Press
