Michigan Democrats on Tuesday elevated leftist firebrand Abdul El-Sayed to the party’s U.S. Senate nomination, marking the biggest triumph yet for the ascendant far-Left and a humiliating defeat for the establishment’s old guard, who failed to stop him from advancing to a pivotal November clash with Trump-endorsed Republican Mike Rogers.
With over 95% of the vote counted and after voters waited for Wayne County’s slow counting process, El-Sayed was finally projected to win Wednesday morning. Decision Desk HQ called the race at 8:35 a.m. ET, with El-Sayed at 48.9% to Stevens’ 47.5%.
Early results showed El-Sayed, the former public health director for Detroit, performing stronger than expected across multiple counties. Stevens, a four-term congresswoman from the Detroit suburbs, performed the best in areas where most of the state’s black voters live, such as Wayne, Oakland, and Genesee Counties. El-Sayed, meanwhile, outperformed his benchmarks among younger voters while Stevens severely underperformed among older voters, according to election data.
Tuesday’s result caps a bruising primary and highlights the Democratic Party’s accelerating ideological shift, with the establishment failing to stop the socialist-aligned Left nationwide. Supporters of the socialist movement viewed El-Sayed as their best chance to prove a leftist candidate could win statewide in a battleground like Michigan.
Since President Donald Trump’s re-election, the Democratic establishment has watched its leftist wing barnstorm the country, racking up one victory after another. Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s upset in New York City’s mayoral primary kicked off the movement’s breakthrough, followed by three Democratic Socialists of America-backed leftists ousting longtime Democratic representatives. The socialist-aligned Left also steamrolled its way through Washington, D.C., and Denver, then succeeded in nominating Graham Platner for the U.S. Senate in Maine before he dropped out of the race following a rape allegation.
In many of those races, party leaders ultimately chose accommodation over confrontation, reluctantly uniting behind nominees they had once viewed as too extreme. Michigan marked the first major exception. With control of the Senate potentially at stake, Democratic heavyweights rallied behind Stevens, fearing El-Sayed could give the GOP a ripe opportunity to flip a Senate seat and hold the upper chamber.
High-profile establishment Democrats, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn, endorsed Stevens.
“Just like me, Haley will do whatever it takes to get things done for the people of Michigan, and we need her now more than ever,” Whitmer said in a video posted to X last month.
Stevens, who went viral for her quirky “stick it to them” slogan, celebrated the endorsement, calling Whitmer “a champion for our state” who understands “the stakes of this race.”
It made little difference to an increasingly frustrated Democratic electorate that blames the party’s old guard for paving the way for President Trump’s election and return to power.
If elected, El-Sayed would become America’s first Muslim senator. His parents are both Egyptian immigrants, and his father was a part-time imam, The Daily Wire previously reported. His father-in-law is a founding committee member of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the federal government.
His background and hard-Left platform — which includes Medicare for all, abolishing ICE, defunding the police, restructuring the U.S. Supreme Court, and raising taxes on billionaires — galvanized the Democratic Party’s far-Left base, including streamer Hasan Piker, who has said that the United States “deserved” the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In the mold of other leftist primaries, Israel emerged as one of the race’s defining issues. Stevens has embraced her identity as a “proud pro-Israel Democrat” and benefited from roughly $25 million in support from AIPAC, according to FEC filings, while El-Sayed has called Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” and opposes U.S. military aid to Israel.
One El-Sayed voter told NBC his friend group under 25 won’t vote for any Democratic nominee who supports Israel, saying the party will have only itself to blame if Republican Mike Rogers wins the seat.
At a recent debate, El-Sayed turned his ire on Stevens over a recent vote for U.S. military aid to Israel.
“Just last week, our friend here voted to send $3.3 billion of your tax dollars to a foreign government. That is the pro quo that comes with a quid of $30 million spent by AIPAC,” El-Sayed said.
Stevens fired back, saying, “The goal is always long-term peace, and also, the prime minister of Israel has attacked me by name. Let me just say this: that the only thing that ever motivates my work is the people of Michigan, the people who I hear from.”
The back-and-forth on the debate stage did not stop things from turning ugly on the campaign trail. Earlier this month, a black school board member supporting Stevens told El-Sayed to stop speaking and playing Arabic music, a viral moment that inflamed racial tensions.
“The other candidate seems to be … doesn’t work a room. You have to know how to work the room. Don’t come out speaking only Arabic. Don’t come out with your Arabic music on,” Angie Smith said. “Represent everyone.”
Republicans see the simmering Democratic divisions as a ripe political opportunity come November.
“The socialist takeover has its sights set on Michigan. That much is clear. They just have one major problem: we won’t let them get away with it,” said Rogers, who believes his campaign is in “good shape” to win against El-Sayed.
Cook Political Report ranks the general election race, which could determine control of the Senate, as a toss-up.
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