The former Wayne County Health director narrowly defeated a four-term congresswoman in a contentious race to the win the nomination.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Progressive Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated establishment candidate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) to win the Michigan Democratic Senate primary in a contentious race that became a proxy fight for the broader battle within the party over its direction.
El-Sayed beat his centrist opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), 48.5 percent to 47.5 percent, with 99 percent of the votes tabulated. The Associated Press called the race at 9:54 a.m. ET on Aug. 5.
The progressive will take on Republican Mike Rogers in November in the race for Michigan’s battleground Senate seat.
El-Sayed faced more than $60 million in outside spending in support of Stevens, compared to around $4.6 million spent to support his campaign.
The race became a flashpoint in a wider ideological battle taking place nationwide in the Democratic Party between progressives and establishment centrists.
A number of progressive leaders, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) endorsed El-Sayed ahead of the Aug. 4 primary.
Stevens received support from outgoing Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), as well as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.).
A Rhodes Scholar and epidemiologist, El-Sayed was the director of the Wayne County Health Department from 2023 to 2025. He ran on a platform supporting Medicare for All, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in favor of bringing back the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), passing a moratorium on U.S. data centers, and ending U.S. military support for Israel.
Stevens began her political career working on the 2008 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, before pivoting to President Barack Obama’s campaign after he clinched the nomination that year. She then served as chief of staff for Obama’s auto rescue program—experience she championed throughout her campaign for Senate.
Running on a broadly liberal platform of lowering costs, rebuilding the auto industry, and bringing back manufacturing to Michigan, Stevens faced criticism from progressives like El-Sayed for defending continued U.S. military support of Israel and for accepting record financial support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) this year.
AIPAC and its associated groups—which supported Stevens’ successful primary battle against then-Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) in 2022—had spent $30.6 million on the race by July 30, its largest election expenditure in history.
El-Sayed highlighted the record expenditures on the campaign trail over the past month, telling rallygoers that AIPAC was trying to “buy” the race away from Michiganders.
Asked about AIPAC’s ongoing financial support for her during a July 27 debate, Stevens said her support for Israel was more nuanced but didn’t address the record spending.
“I believe in a two-state solution. [El-Sayed] has attacked me for supporting that people in Palestine and Israel deserve to live side by side peacefully. And [Benjamin Netanyahu] has attacked me by name, and they both represent the extremes,” Stevens said.
After a rally in a coffee shop in Canton Township on July 29, El-Sayed told reporters that he believes American taxpayer money is being wasted to support foreign militaries overseas.
“We pay more for all we have to buy. We pay less for the work we do. [We] watch as our tax dollars get misappropriated to drop bombs and buy tanks for foreign countries instead of building schools and healthcare for our own,” El-Sayed said.
By Jacob Burg
