Former local public health official Abdul El-Sayed has won a high-profile Democratic primary for Michigan’s open Senate seat, advancing to a general election that will test whether a progressive Democrat can win statewide in a key Midwestern battleground. El-Sayed, a former public health official, was leading Rep. Haley Stevens by less than a point, 48.4 […]
El-Sayed, an epidemiologist, backs Medicare for all and decries corporate money in politics. He beat Rep. Haley Stevens, whose supporters said she would have had a better chance in the fall.
The real test of El-Sayed's and progressives' strength will now come in a November matchup against Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination.
Former state health official Abdul El-Sayed faced Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan in a closely watched contest that represented the latest test of the party's divisions.
Progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed has been declared the winner of Michigan’s closely watched Democratic Senate primary, narrowly beating out Congressmember Haley Stevens, according to the Associated Press and other news agencies. AIPAC and its affiliated groups spent as much as $46 million to help Stevens in what has become the most expensive Democratic Senate primary contest in U.S. history. El-Sayed will face former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers in November to fill the seat now held by Democratic Senator Gary Peters, who is retiring. If El-Sayed wins the general election, he would become the first Muslim senator in U.S. history. His key supporters included Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the United Auto Workers. “Dr. Abdul El-Sayed worked unbelievably hard in this race,” says John Nichols, executive editor of The Nation, pointing out that El-Sayed campaigned in rural counties across Michigan. “It was literally about physically going to the people early, and then again and again and again, and talking to them about issues.” We also speak with Andy Levin, a former Democratic congressmember from Michigan who lost to Stevens in 2022 after AIPAC spent $4.3 million on her campaign. El-Sayed’s rise represents “a movement of Americans who are saying, 'Enough of politics as usual,'” says Levin. “’We’re done with the parties as they are. We need some way more active effort for us to be able to have living wages and healthcare and education and childcare and retirement.’”
It’s a clear signal that the ascendant left can win primaries in key battlegrounds and carries massive implications for 2028.
Progressive candidate will face Republican Mike Rogers in race to represent midwestern purple state in the SenateUS politics live – latest updatesAbdul El-Sayed won the Democratic primary for US Senate in Michigan, becoming the latest leftwing candidate to capture the party’s nomination ahead of November’s midterm elections.El-Sayed, a progressive, beat Haley Stevens, a moderate US representative backed by the party’s establishment. He will now face Republican Mike Rogers in the race to represent the midwestern purple state in the Senate. The Associated Press called the race on Wednesday morning, moments after Stevens’s campaign said she had called El-Sayed to concede. Continue reading...