Abdul El-Sayed wins contentious Democratic primary for Michigan US Senate seat in boost for progressives – US politics live

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'We took on the machine': El-Sayed celebrates triumph over outside spending after clinching Democratic nomination in bitter Michigan Senate primary

Joseph Gedeon

“They spent an unprecedented amount of money to beat us” Abdul El-Sayed said, after officially winning the Michigan’s Democratic nomination for US Senate.

El-Sayed remarked on the millions in outside spending while holding his first press conference in downtown Detroit as the newly minted nominee. “But it turns out the commercials are the part of the television show most people don’t want to watch,” he added.

“We took on a machine. You’re not supposed to be able to beat $70m dollars of outside spending – a record amount of money spent in a campaign against a Democrat in a primary in any campaign,” he said. “You’re not supposed to be able to beat that. And what we showed is that the power of our money is greater than the power of their money.”

Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers released a statement urging general election voters to make the “simple” choice between “common sense and complete insanity”, following Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow primary win for the Michigan US Senate seat.

“This election isn’t just about choosing a Senator. It’s about deciding whether Michigan has a future built on common sense – or whether we hand the keys to the most fringe extremists in the nation,” said Rogers, who ran unopposed on Tuesday, and is gunning for the open seat after narrowly losing the 2024 Senate race to Elissa Slotkin.

In Michigan’s 13th congressional district – which includes parts of Detroit – Donavan McKinney beat incumbent Shri Thanedar in a closely watched Democratic primary that mirrored many of identity battles facing the party this midterm cycle.

McKinney, 34, a state lawmaker who received the backing of many progressives in Congress, including the Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib and the independent senator Bernie Sanders, won his race by almost four points, and successfully ousted the two-term Thanedar, 71, who was endorsed by the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries.

While some of Thanedar and McKinney’s platform policies overlap, Thanedar’s win in 2022 marked the first time the majority-Black Detroit area has not had a Black representative in Congress in years.

McKinney, who was recruited by Justice Democrats – a progressive Pac – was also endorsed by some House Congressional Black caucus members, despite party leadership backing Thanedar.

The new nominee was also outspoken about the war in Gaza – calling it a “genocide” while campaigning to end military aid to Israel. McKinney also campaigned alongside Abdul El-Sayed, who went on to win the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s open US Senate seat.

“They spent an unprecedented amount of money to beat us” Abdul El-Sayed said, after officially winning the Michigan’s Democratic nomination for US Senate.

El-Sayed remarked on the millions in outside spending while holding his first press conference in downtown Detroit as the newly minted nominee. “But it turns out the commercials are the part of the television show most people don’t want to watch,” he added.

“We took on a machine. You’re not supposed to be able to beat $70m dollars of outside spending – a record amount of money spent in a campaign against a Democrat in a primary in any campaign,” he said. “You’re not supposed to be able to beat that. And what we showed is that the power of our money is greater than the power of their money.”

State and national Democrats have begun to coalesce around Abdul El-Sayed after he narrowly won the primary for the Michigan US Senate seat.

One of Michigan’s Democratic senators, Elissa Slotkin, congratulated El-Sayed and said there is “nothing more important” than “uniting, keeping this seat blue, flipping the House and Senate, and providing a real check” on Donald Trump.

Others in the party have also urged the fractured coalition to work together in the short runway until November to retain a vital seat for Democrats to have any chance at reclaiming the majority in the upper chamber.

“I urge folks to come together – the stakes are high, and we need Abdul in the Senate to stand up for all Michiganders and the country we love,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Marlyand.

Meanwhile, Mallory McMorrow, who also ran in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary before suspending her campaign in July, said that El-Sayed has her “full endorsement and support”.

McMorrow’s name still appeared on Tuesday’s ballot, and she wracked up more than 60,000 votes – all of which El-Sayed hopes to absorb in November.

“This was a brutal primary,” McMorrow said. “Trump and Mike Rogers are counting on us staying divided. Let’s prove them wrong by beating Mike Rogers and taking our country back.”

In Las Vegas, Donald Trump has weighed in on the results from the Democratic primary for Michigan’s US Senate seat.

After Abdul El-Sayed won the party’s nomination, the president called it “great news” for Republicans in a post on Truth Social.

Trump went on to call El-Sayed a “communist loser who hates Jews and Israel”, despite the Democratic nominee’s frequent denunciations of antisemitism.

The president also noted that Stevens “was not expected to do nearly as well as she did”.

“Now, the Dumocrats crazy policies will only get worse!” Trump wrote.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has said it now looks forward to working with Abdul El-Sayed in the wake of his primary victory in Michigan.

The main campaign arm for Senate Democrats had backed Haley Stevens in the bitter race for the nomination, but praised El-Sayed for his “energetic campaign that inspired thousands of Michiganders across the state”.

In a statement Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, and Kristen Gillibrand, chair of the DSCC, said that Democrats are united by a “common purpose” in this midterms cycle, “putting a check on Donald Trump by defeating his Republican enablers and taking back the Senate”.

They called Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee who ran unopposed in his primary, “a rubber stamp” from the president, and accused him of backing the same “reckless agenda that has driven up costs for working families”. Rogers lost his bid for Senate to Democrat Elissa Slotkin in 2024 by fewer than 20,000 votes.

Haley Stevens has conceded in the hotly contested Democratic Senate primary in Michigan. The Asssociated Press called the race a short while ago.

“I love Michigan and am so proud to have put up my hand to serve. I spoke with Abdul a few moments ago to offer him my full support as we work to defeat Mike Rogers this November,” she said on social media.

Stevens’ saw a deluge of outside spending to boost her campaign, including more than $30m from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), a pro-Israel lobby group.

Abdul El-Sayed has won the Democratic nomination in the US Senate seat in Michigan, beating Haley Stevens in a bitter competition that became a referendum on the changing face of the Democratic party.

El-Sayed won the race by a single point, fewer than 15,000 votes, according to the Associated Press. He will now face Republican nominee Mike Rogers – who ran unopposed – for a key battleground seat that is vital for Democrats to retain in order to achieve their lofty goal of reclaiming the majority in the upper chamber of Congress.

The Democratic primary became a proxy battle between the establishment and progressive wings of the party, with El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former state public health official, receiving the backing of many leaders on the left flank. Meanwhile Stevens, a serving US congresswoman who flipped her district blue in 2018, received support from party leaders – including the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer – and was supported by tens of millions of dollars in outside Pac funding from the pro-Israel lobby. The latter was a point on which El-Sayed hammered on the campaign trail in Michigan, the birthplace of the uncommitted movement – which saw a sizeable portion of Arab-American voters eschew Kamala Harris in 2024 over the Biden administration’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war.

“This was always going to be the many versus the money, and tonight, we have shown that Michiganders want money out of politics, money in their pockets, and Medicare for all. We are building a coalition that is fired up and ready to go beat Mike Rogers,” said El-Sayed’s campaign manager, Alia Kapasi, in a statement.

A quick update on the marquee Democratic primary race for US Senate in Michigan.

Haley Stevens is trailing Abdul El-Sayed by fewer than 15,000 votes, according the Associated Press, whose count the Guardian uses on election night.

As of now, 96% of the votes have been counted in this extremely tight race. El-Sayed’s campaign has, nonetheless, started its victory lap and sent out emails noting that he has won.

Chuck Edwards, a Republican congressman from North Carolina, has withdrawn from his reelection campaign after the House ethics committee reported determined that he had “fostered a hostile work environment and engaged in sexual harassment” by giving gifts and lavishing attention on two young female staffers.

“After much prayer and reflection, I’ve decided to withdraw from my re-election campaign,” Edwards posted on X. “I will complete my current term. Serving Western North Carolina has been the honor of my life. Thank you for your trust, prayers, and support. God bless WNC and America.”

The Guardian’s Chris Stein reports that the bipartisan ethics panel began investigating the second-term congressman earlier this year after receiving complaints. The report approved by Democratic and Republican committee members determined that there “was substantial reason to believe” Edwards broke House rules by singling out the two unidentified aides for special treatment that made them uncomfortable and harmed relations with other employees.

More here:

In more election news: Missouri’s top election official on Tuesday rejected a citizens’ petition seeking a statewide referendum on a redistricting plan backed by Donald Trump, the Associated Press reports.

Republican secretary of state, Denny Hoskins, said that the petition was void because congressional redistricting plans cannot be subject to voter referendums and “challenging a congressional map is unconstitutional under Missouri law”.

Missouri joined Texas last year in responding to Trump’s call to redraw congressional districts to the GOP’s advantage. The new map dramatically reshapes the Kansas City-based fifth congressional district that has been long-held by Democratic representative Emanuel Cleaver. Under the new map, the district stretches into rural central Missouri, giving it a Republican tilt.

Republicans already hold six of Missouri’s eight congressional seats.

People Not Politicians, the group sponsoring the referendum drive, had submitted more than 300,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office in December calling for a statewide referendum on the plan. The group said it would contest Hoskins’ decision in court.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.

The race for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Michigan remains too close to call early on Wednesday with Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, holding a narrow lead over congresswoman Haley Stevens.

At around 5am local time, El-Sayed had 49.5% of the vote and Stevens 45.78%, with more than 95% of votes counted.

Both addressed supporters, saying the vote count could continue well into the day.

“We knew that this was going to be a close race, and that’s exactly what we’ve got,” Stevens said. “I am feeling fired up, and you should be too.”

The bitter and expensive campaign attracted national attention not just because the general election for the seat will help decide which party controls the Senate. It also became the most notable proxy battle between the Democratic Party’s establishment and progressive wings.

Candidates from the left-flank – including democratic socialists – have found surprising success in the party’s US House primaries, including in New York and Denver, in areas that tend to veer farther left. A progressive victory in Michigan would be significant for the movement.

The winner of Tuesday’s race will face the Republican nominee, former representative Mike Rogers, in November, to succeed the retiring Democratic senator Gary Peters. Rogers ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

In other developments:

• \n Also in Michigan, Jocelyn Benson clinched the Democratic nomination in the governor’s race and will face the John James, who won the Republican contest. Benson, the state’s secretary of state, will take on James, a congressman who received an endorsement from Donald Trump, to replace the term-limited Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, in November.
• \n Further down ballot, William Lawrence, a progressive, won a competitive three-way Democratic primary race in Michigan’s seventh congressional district. Lawrence, a community organizer who co-founded the Sunrise Movement, will now challenge Republican incumbent Tom Barrett, who has bucked his own party while in office, after he flipped the key battleground district red in 2024.
• \n Meanwhile in Washington state, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, the two-term centrist Democrat, has advanced to the general election for her competitive US House seat. She’ll face the Republican candidate and state senator, John Braun, who is backed by Trump. The state votes on single ballots – meaning the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to November’s contest. More here.
• \n And in Missouri, Democratic congressman Wesley Bell won his primary in the St Louis area on Tuesday, ending the progressive former representative Cori Bush’s bid for a comeback. Bell’s victory blunted the momentum pro-Palestinian candidates have shown in recent elections. In this deep-blue district, this also makes Bell the favorite to win a second term in the November election. More here.
• \n Also in the midwest, Cindy Holscher, a state senator, won the Democratic nomination in Kansas’s gubernatorial race. She beat two other Sunflower state politicians to advance to the general election. Ty Masterson, the Trump-backed Kansas state senate president, clinched the GOP nomination in a crowded race. It’s set to be a fierce competition, as Republicans are angling to retake the governor’s mansion from Democratic control.

Key events

• 16m agoMike Rogers urges voters to make the choice between 'common sense and complete insanity' after El-Sayed's primary win
• 36m agoInsurgent Democrat ousts incumbent in Michigan House primary
• 48m ago'We took on the machine': El-Sayed celebrates triumph over outside spending after clinching Democratic nomination in bitter Michigan Senate primary
• 2h agoDemocrats rally around El-Sayed ahead of crucial November election
• 2h agoTrump calls El-Sayed primary win 'great news' for GOP
• 2h agoCampaign arm for Senate Democrats backs El-Sayed following primary victory
• 2h agoHaley Stevens concedes in acrimonious primary battle, offers 'full support' to El-Sayed in November
• 3h agoAbdul El-Sayed clinches Democratic nomination in bitter fight for Michigan US Senate seat
• 4h agoStevens trails El-Sayed by fewer than 15,000 votes
• 5h agoRepublican Chuck Edwards withdraws reelection bid following censure recommendation
• 6h agoMissouri's top election official rejects referendum on Trump-backed redistricting plan
• 7h agoMichigan Senate Democratic primary race remains too close to call

Mike Rogers urges voters to make the choice between 'common sense and complete insanity' after El-Sayed's primary win

Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers released a statement urging general election voters to make the “simple” choice between “common sense and complete insanity”, following Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow primary win for the Michigan US Senate seat.

“This election isn’t just about choosing a Senator. It’s about deciding whether Michigan has a future built on common sense – or whether we hand the keys to the most fringe extremists in the nation,” said Rogers, who ran unopposed on Tuesday, and is gunning for the open seat after narrowly losing the 2024 Senate race to Elissa Slotkin.

Insurgent Democrat ousts incumbent in Michigan House primary

In Michigan’s 13th congressional district – which includes parts of Detroit – Donavan McKinney beat incumbent Shri Thanedar in a closely watched Democratic primary that mirrored many of identity battles facing the party this midterm cycle.

McKinney, 34, a state lawmaker who received the backing of many progressives in Congress, including the Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib and the independent senator Bernie Sanders, won his race by almost four points, and successfully ousted the two-term Thanedar, 71, who was endorsed by the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries.

While some of Thanedar and McKinney’s platform policies overlap, Thanedar’s win in 2022 marked the first time the majority-Black Detroit area has not had a Black representative in Congress in years.

McKinney, who was recruited by Justice Democrats – a progressive Pac – was also endorsed by some House Congressional Black caucus members, despite party leadership backing Thanedar.

The new nominee was also outspoken about the war in Gaza – calling it a “genocide” while campaigning to end military aid to Israel. McKinney also campaigned alongside Abdul El-Sayed, who went on to win the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s open US Senate seat.

'We took on the machine': El-Sayed celebrates triumph over outside spending after clinching Democratic nomination in bitter Michigan Senate primary

Joseph Gedeon

“They spent an unprecedented amount of money to beat us” Abdul El-Sayed said, after officially winning the Michigan’s Democratic nomination for US Senate.

El-Sayed remarked on the millions in outside spending while holding his first press conference in downtown Detroit as the newly minted nominee. “But it turns out the commercials are the part of the television show most people don’t want to watch,” he added.

“We took on a machine. You’re not supposed to be able to beat $70m dollars of outside spending – a record amount of money spent in a campaign against a Democrat in a primary in any campaign,” he said. “You’re not supposed to be able to beat that. And what we showed is that the power of our money is greater than the power of their money.”

Ahead of the Associated Press calling the Michigan Democratic primary for US Senate, various conservative groups got to work blasting Abdul El-Sayed as the likely nominee.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) released a video on Wednesday, decidedly referring to the candidate by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, and branding him as “the most radical Senate candidate in America” and “wrong for Michigan” – while highlighting comments from leftwing influencer Hasan Piker that “America deserved 9/11” during a stream in 2019. Piker has campaigned alongside El-Sayed, and routinely apologized for his past remarks.

Democrats rally around El-Sayed ahead of crucial November election

State and national Democrats have begun to coalesce around Abdul El-Sayed after he narrowly won the primary for the Michigan US Senate seat.

One of Michigan’s Democratic senators, Elissa Slotkin, congratulated El-Sayed and said there is “nothing more important” than “uniting, keeping this seat blue, flipping the House and Senate, and providing a real check” on Donald Trump.

Others in the party have also urged the fractured coalition to work together in the short runway until November to retain a vital seat for Democrats to have any chance at reclaiming the majority in the upper chamber.

“I urge folks to come together – the stakes are high, and we need Abdul in the Senate to stand up for all Michiganders and the country we love,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Marlyand.

Meanwhile, Mallory McMorrow, who also ran in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary before suspending her campaign in July, said that El-Sayed has her “full endorsement and support”.

McMorrow’s name still appeared on Tuesday’s ballot, and she wracked up more than 60,000 votes – all of which El-Sayed hopes to absorb in November.

“This was a brutal primary,” McMorrow said. “Trump and Mike Rogers are counting on us staying divided. Let’s prove them wrong by beating Mike Rogers and taking our country back.”

Trump calls El-Sayed primary win 'great news' for GOP

In Las Vegas, Donald Trump has weighed in on the results from the Democratic primary for Michigan’s US Senate seat.

After Abdul El-Sayed won the party’s nomination, the president called it “great news” for Republicans in a post on Truth Social.

Trump went on to call El-Sayed a “communist loser who hates Jews and Israel”, despite the Democratic nominee’s frequent denunciations of antisemitism.

The president also noted that Stevens “was not expected to do nearly as well as she did”.

“Now, the Dumocrats crazy policies will only get worse!” Trump wrote.

Campaign arm for Senate Democrats backs El-Sayed following primary victory

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has said it now looks forward to working with Abdul El-Sayed in the wake of his primary victory in Michigan.

The main campaign arm for Senate Democrats had backed Haley Stevens in the bitter race for the nomination, but praised El-Sayed for his “energetic campaign that inspired thousands of Michiganders across the state”.

In a statement Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, and Kristen Gillibrand, chair of the DSCC, said that Democrats are united by a “common purpose” in this midterms cycle, “putting a check on Donald Trump by defeating his Republican enablers and taking back the Senate”.

They called Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee who ran unopposed in his primary, “a rubber stamp” from the president, and accused him of backing the same “reckless agenda that has driven up costs for working families”. Rogers lost his bid for Senate to Democrat Elissa Slotkin in 2024 by fewer than 20,000 votes.

Haley Stevens concedes in acrimonious primary battle, offers 'full support' to El-Sayed in November

Haley Stevens has conceded in the hotly contested Democratic Senate primary in Michigan. The Asssociated Press called the race a short while ago.

“I love Michigan and am so proud to have put up my hand to serve. I spoke with Abdul a few moments ago to offer him my full support as we work to defeat Mike Rogers this November,” she said on social media.

Stevens’ saw a deluge of outside spending to boost her campaign, including more than $30m from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), a pro-Israel lobby group.

Abdul El-Sayed clinches Democratic nomination in bitter fight for Michigan US Senate seat

Abdul El-Sayed has won the Democratic nomination in the US Senate seat in Michigan, beating Haley Stevens in a bitter competition that became a referendum on the changing face of the Democratic party.

El-Sayed won the race by a single point, fewer than 15,000 votes, according to the Associated Press. He will now face Republican nominee Mike Rogers – who ran unopposed – for a key battleground seat that is vital for Democrats to retain in order to achieve their lofty goal of reclaiming the majority in the upper chamber of Congress.

The Democratic primary became a proxy battle between the establishment and progressive wings of the party, with El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former state public health official, receiving the backing of many leaders on the left flank. Meanwhile Stevens, a serving US congresswoman who flipped her district blue in 2018, received support from party leaders – including the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer – and was supported by tens of millions of dollars in outside Pac funding from the pro-Israel lobby. The latter was a point on which El-Sayed hammered on the campaign trail in Michigan, the birthplace of the uncommitted movement – which saw a sizeable portion of Arab-American voters eschew Kamala Harris in 2024 over the Biden administration’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war.

“This was always going to be the many versus the money, and tonight, we have shown that Michiganders want money out of politics, money in their pockets, and Medicare for all. We are building a coalition that is fired up and ready to go beat Mike Rogers,” said El-Sayed’s campaign manager, Alia Kapasi, in a statement.

Wayne county – Michigan’s largest – is the area of the state we’re still waiting on before the Associated Press calls the race. As of now, 88% of votes in the county have been counted.