DETROIT – Michigan Democrats voted Tuesday in a closely watched Senate primary between moderate U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and progressive favorite Abdul El-Sayed, with the winner heading to a November contest critical to the party's hopes of reclaiming the Senate majority.
The nominee will face former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who is running unopposed after narrowly losing a Senate race in 2024.
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Democrats endured a bitter and expensive campaign that became a proxy battle between the party’s establishment and progressive wings. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez supported El-Sayed, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backed Stevens.
El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, is seeking a political comeback after losing the 2018 gubernatorial primary to now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. He campaigned on Medicare for All, campaign finance reform and ending military aid to Israel.
Visiting Detroit’s Eastern Market to talk to voters on Election Day, El-Sayed stopped to dance with a group of women in a Zumba class. He noted the joyful tone to end his campaign.
“That’s generally how we operate,” El-Sayed told The Associated Press. “The hope here is we build a world where people are free to actually fully enjoy their lives.”
Stevens is a four-term congresswoman from the outskirts of Detroit who has focused on manufacturing and the economy in a campaign she called a “love letter to Michigan.” She stresses her past victories in tough races, saying she is 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.
After casting her ballot, Stevens told reporters that her campaign was seeing “great turnout.” She positioned herself as someone who will focus on local priorities.
“Our voices oftentimes get drowned out,” she said.
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 of his personal fortune. For Democrats, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was the overwhelming favorite over Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.
Michigan is a must-win Senate race for Democrats
Michigan's Senate seat is open because Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is retiring. Hopes for a relatively orderly primary to replace him disappeared when Stevens, El-Sayed and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow all entered the race. McMorrow suspended her campaign in July.
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.”
Backed by Sanders from the outset, El-Sayed cast himself as the anti-establishment candidate and aimed to join the ranks of newcomers winning races this year across the country — sometimes unseating incumbents backed by party leaders, in places like New York and Denver.
He argued that Democrats need to reject corporate influence and embrace a more progressive agenda. In addition to Medicare for All, his campaign centered on lowering prescription drug costs and banning corporate PAC money.
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 has become 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 on Oct. 7, 2023.
The race also became a proxy fight over the direction of the party. In addition to Schumer, more establishment-aligned senators, such as Peters, backed Stevens, while progressives such as Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Elizabeth Warren lined up behind El-Sayed.
Voters also will decide governor and U.S. 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.
In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, much of the party including lawmakers and outside groups, such as the United Auto Workers union, coalesced behind Benson.
Meanwhile 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.
James' decision to run for governor left open his seat in the 10th District, which includes a portion of Oakland County and stretches across conservative communities in Macomb County. In the GOP primary, Trump endorsed Michael Bouchard against 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 writer Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan, contributed.