By JOEY CAPPELLETTI, JACQUELINE GANUN and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Moderate candidate U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and progressive favorite Abdul El-Sayed were in a tight race for Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate nomination in the early morning hours of Wednesday.
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 U.S. House primaries, including in New York and Denver. Those races, however, were in deep-blue cities.
Michigan has a purple hue. A progressive victory here would be a more significant notch.
El-Sayed maintained a lead as initial results rolled in Tuesday night, though Stevens made up ground as Wayne County, the state’s most populous and home to Detroit, reported more votes into the night.
Wayne has historically released results later than other counties, and its voters have tended toward establishment candidates over progressives. That meant Stevens could see a boost as the counting dragged on, though that did not guarantee victory.
The crowds’ energy at each watch party was a measure of the race’s competitiveness: Early in the evening, El-Sayed’s supporters in Detroit’s Majestic Theatre cheered at the first batches of votes, before mellowing. Hours later, Stevens’ previously subdued partygoers roared as she narrowed the margin.
“Whatever happens tonight,” El-Sayed told a thinned but still energetic crowd, “we have a responsibility to ensure that we unite, unite to make sure that Mike Rogers never sees the inside of the U.S. Senate.”
Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is the Republican nominee.
El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, campaigned on “Medicare for All,” campaign finance reform and ending military aid to Israel. Stevens, a four-term congresswoman, focused on manufacturing and the economy. She stressed her past victories in tough races, saying she would be 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.
Voters also chose nominees in competitive House races and for governor. In the GOP gubernatorial primary, U.S. Rep. John James, who was backed by President Donald Trump, beat businessperson Perry Johnson. In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson defeated Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson.
Michigan is a must-win Senate race for Democrats
The race will help decide which party controls the chamber in the last two years of President Donald Trump’s term. Those stakes have added heat to the rivalry, with moderates arguing that El-Sayed would have a harder time than Stevens against a Republican in the general election.
That divide was laid bare by the two candidates’ heavy-hitting backers: Sen. Bernie Sanders supported El-Sayed, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was behind Stevens.
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.
El-Sayed, who lost the 2018 gubernatorial primary to now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, cast himself as the anti-establishment candidate and argued that Democrats need to reject corporate influence and embrace a more progressive agenda.
While the candidate has said he is not a democratic socialist, he found support from some of the group’s members. That included Melat Kiros, who recently beat a longtime incumbent in a Democratic primary for a Denver-based House seat and was at El-Sayed’s watch party. Also there was Hasan Piker, a progressive and controversial influencer online.
The candidates’ differences were clear to some voters.
Kenneth Woodside, 87, of West Bloomfield, said he voted for El-Sayed over Stevens because “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.”
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 became 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.
Voters also decided on governor and US 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.
Before his primary win, James, a second-term congressman, ran twice unsuccessfully for Senate. The primary turned uglier than Republicans hoped, with Johnson spending big sums of money on ads targeting James.
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 beat election newcomer Diop Harris II to become the nominee. He will face GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga, who again won his party’s nomination.
In the 7th District, community organizer William Lawrence defeated former U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink and former Navy Seal Matt Maasdam to win the Democratic nomination. Lawrence will challenge Republican Rep. Tom Barrett in the seat representing the Lansing area.
The 10th District, which opened up due to James’ run for governor, includes a portion of Oakland County and stretches across conservative communities in Macomb County.
In the GOP primary there, Trump-endorsed Michael Bouchard beat Steffan Demetropoulos and Justin Kirk. For the Democrats, former prosecutor Christina Hines defeated state House Rep. Tim Greimel and former Commerce Department attorney Eric Chung.
And in a heavily Democratic district representing Detroit, the 13th, 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.
___
Associated Press writers Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and Robert Yoon in Washington contributed.