Who Is Abdul El-Sayed? Meet The Democrat Who Won Michigan's Senate Primary

Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, according to NBC, defeating Representative Haley Stevens in a closely contested race between two candidates representing different wings of the Democratic Party. The former public health official will now face Republican Mike Rogers in November in a Senate contest that could play a role in determining control of the chamber.

El-Sayed overcame a major advertising disadvantage and nearly $65 million in outside spending, while Stevens had support from prominent Democratic figures, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who endorsed her late last month. According to NBC, the victory gives El-Sayed the Democratic nomination after a primary that tested whether a progressive campaign could succeed in a politically divided Midwestern state.

El-Sayed will face former Representative Mike Rogers, who secured the Republican nomination without opposition on Tuesday. The winner will succeed Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who decided against seeking a third term and endorsed Stevens in the primary.

Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the Senate, while Democrats are targeting Republican-held seats in several states as they attempt to gain the four seats needed to take control of the chamber. Democrats also have to defend seats in battleground states, including Georgia and Michigan.

President Donald Trump’s early endorsement of Rogers helped clear the Republican primary field for him. Trump won Michigan in 2016 and 2024 but lost the state to Joe Biden in 2020.

NBC reported that Rogers and national Republicans had signalled that they considered El-Sayed an easier opponent than Stevens in the general election. The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a digital advertisement highlighting El-Sayed’s progressive credentials and his endorsement from Senator Bernie Sanders, a move many viewed as an effort to boost him into the general election.

Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned across Michigan for El-Sayed, whose campaign focused on “Medicare for All”, criticism of money in politics and attacks on Stevens over her support for aid to Israel. The primary was seen as a test of whether an insurgent populist movement that had won victories in Democratic primaries in blue states such as New York and Colorado could take root in the industrial Midwest.

El-Sayed, like other Democrats who have pushed the party to the left in recent years, accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The issue was particularly significant in Michigan because of the state’s large Muslim and Arab American populations.

El-Sayed also frequently criticised Stevens over the corporate PAC money she accepted and the television advertising support she received from outside groups, including more than $30 million from a group affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel group known as AIPAC.

While many of the group’s advertisements made a positive case for Stevens, some of the messaging also attacked El-Sayed. According to AdImpact, an advertising tracking firm, Stevens and her allies spent nearly nine times more on advertising than El-Sayed and groups supporting his campaign.

“If you need a $60 million crutch, you probably can’t be elected on your own terms,” El-Sayed said at a debate last week in Detroit.

Stevens, a four-term congresswoman, aligned herself closely with the Democratic establishment, including Whitmer, Peters and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. While El-Sayed received support from national progressive figures such as Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, he also secured an endorsement from the United Auto Workers, a major presence in the state given its car-making pedigree.

The closing weeks of the primary grew increasingly hostile after a third Democratic candidate, state Senator Mallory McMorrow, dropped out last month. McMorrow had attempted to cut a path between Stevens and El-Sayed, running as a compromise candidate who could appeal to both moderates and the progressive left.

McMorrow was among the first Democrats to endorse El-Sayed and call for unity after the race was called.

“I’m proud to give Abdul my full endorsement and support as we head to November together as a unified party,” McMorrow said in an emailed statement. “Take it from me — this was a brutal primary. But whatever differences there were between the candidates in this race, those differences are nothing compared to the contrast in November.”

The flood of television advertisements supporting Stevens and the momentum around El-Sayed’s Sanders-backed campaign left little room for McMorrow, while differences between the two remaining Democrats became sharper after her exit.

Stevens often accused El-Sayed of focusing too much on national politics and not enough on Michigan. Her argument was reinforced by Whitmer’s July 24 endorsement, with the governor having defeated El-Sayed in the 2018 Democratic primary for governor.

A recent donor call held by El-Sayed also became a point of controversy after audio from the conversation leaked to NBC News and others. During the call, El-Sayed said a victory in Michigan could have wider implications for the Democratic Party’s future and encourage primary challenges against figures such as Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has fallen out of favour with the left.

He described such a move as putting “an ogre on a pike” — rhetoric that some Democrats believed was aimed at Stevens, though El-Sayed had previously described Fetterman as an “ogre”.

Stevens, who spent the closing days of the race simultaneously shrugging off and leaning into social media snark about her Upper Midwest accent and appearance, used the episode to reinforce her message.

“These folks are making fun of the way I sound,” Stevens said at last week’s debate. “But yet, I sound like the people who need help, who are talking to me about what they need.”

El-Sayed rarely moved away from his central campaign message.

“This is about whether or not you deserve a politics of the people, by the people and for the people,” he said at the debate, “or of the corporations, by the billionaires and for the special interests.”