Progressive wave? El-Sayed, other left-wing candidates win Michigan primaries

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, August 05, 2026

Progressive candidates won multiple Democratic primary races in Michigan Tuesday as the midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term are less than three months away.

Abdul El-Sayed has won the Democratic primary, defeating Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich. With more than 95% of the vote counted, unofficial results show El-Sayed taking 48.5% to Stevens’ 47.5%.  El-Sayed will face off against Republican Mike Rogers in the general election. 

The race was one of the most expensive primaries of the cycle. Stevens and her allies outspent El-Sayed and his allied groups roughly 9-to-1 on advertising, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Stevens late last month in what was widely seen as a last-ditch effort to halt El-Sayed's rise.

El-Sayed overcame nearly $65 million in outside spending directed against him, much of it from the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which spent more than $30 million on ads backing Stevens and criticizing El-Sayed over his outspoken criticism of Israeli government policies.

Stevens conceded shortly after the race was called. "I want to congratulate Abdul El-Sayed on winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate," she said in a statement. "That is why we have primaries. I am proud to have put up my hand to serve, and prouder to continue to work together to make sure this Senate seat remains blue, that we flip the United States Senate and continue the work for Michigan."

El-Sayed was the preferred candidate of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a self-described democratic socialist who unsuccessfully ran for president in both 2016 and 2020. Additional lawmakers who supported El-Sayed include members of “the Squad,” a group of progressive lawmakers consisting of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. 

His platform includes Medicare for All as well as the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and tuition-free college. Organizations that endorsed El-Sayed include Our Revolution PAC and the Progressive Democrats of America, which also endorsed congressional candidates backed by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America. 

Earlier this year, the aforementioned Democratic congressional candidates backed by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America won primary elections in overwhelmingly Democratic congressional districts in New York City, one of whom defeated a Democratic incumbent.

El-Sayed’s victory over Stevens marks the first time a progressive candidate in this mold has won a primary for a statewide race this election cycle as well as the first time such a candidate has won outside an overwhelmingly Democratic congressional district. 

His victory in the primary could have implications for the general election as Democrats seek to keep the seat in Democratic hands amid their quest for a Senate majority. The RealClearPolitics average of polls taken since May 20 shows Rogers narrowly leading El-Sayed in a head-to-head matchup by 0.3 percentage points. By contrast, Stevens led Rogers by 1.7 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average. 

A loss in Michigan would mean that Democrats would have to flip at least five seats currently held by Republicans rather than four. Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the Senate and would hold a majority even if they held only 50 seats because Vice President JD Vance would serve as the tie-breaking vote in favor of Republicans. 

El-Sayed wasn't the only progressive Democrat who turned in a strong performance in Michigan Tuesday night. Donavan McKinney, a congressional candidate endorsed by Sanders, Omar and Tlaib, as well as Our Revolution PAC, the Progressive Democrats of America and the Metro Detroit Democratic Socialists of America, currently leads Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., in a primary election in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District. 

Unofficial results show McKinney taking 51.9% of the vote to Thanedar’s 48.1%, with 99% reporting. Like El-Sayed, McKinney’s platform calls for Medicare for All as well as tuition-free higher education. 

Unlike El-Sayed, who faces a competitive general election, McKinney will easily win the general election in the overwhelmingly Democratic 13th congressional district if he wins the primary as expected. Michigan’s 13th Congressional District backed Democrat Kamala Harris by more than 40 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election. 

In Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, unofficial results show Democrat William Lawrence winning the Democratic primary with 43.7% of the vote. Lawrence, who boasts endorsements from Sanders and Tlaib, as well as Our Revolution PAC and the Progressive Democrats of America, has a platform calling for Medicare for All and other progressive priorities. 

Lawrence will face off against Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., in what is expected to be a competitive general election. Michigan’s 7th Congressional District backed President Donald Trump by 1.3 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election. 

While Michigan was home to many of the most closely watched primaries Tuesday night, primary elections also took place in Kansas, Missouri, Virginia and Washington. Primary season will conclude next month, and then all eyes will be on the general election in November. 

The RealClearPolitics average of polls featuring a generic ballot, which asks voters which party they want to see control the U.S. House of Representatives, shows Democrats leading by 7.2 percentage points. The lead in the generic ballot, combined with Trump’s net disapproval rating of 19.6 percentage points, suggests that Democrats are favored to take control of the lower chamber. 

However, control of the House will be determined on a seat-by-seat basis, with all 13 seats in Michigan and all 435 seats nationwide on the ballot this fall. A Democratic victory in one or both chambers of Congress would severely hamper Trump’s ability to get his preferred agenda enacted into law and could open the door to a third impeachment.