Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan's Democratic Senate primary, notching a Midwest victory for the left

Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan's slugfest of a Democratic Senate primary, NBC News projects, clinching the nomination in a close race over Rep. Haley Stevens and establishing a Midwest beachhead for a progressive left on the march this midterm cycle.

El-Sayed overcame a nearly $65 million onslaught of outside money and an establishment that had rallied around Stevens. Popular Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Stevens late last month — a move seen as a last-ditch effort to stop a rising El-Sayed.

El-Sayed, a former public health official, goes on to face former Rep. Mike Rogers, who claimed the Republican nomination without opposition Tuesday. Their race in November is expected to be one of the most competitive in the country, and it could determine which party controls the Senate.

Trump addressed El-Sayed's primary performance during a Tuesday night interview on Fox News, arguing that candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America or its members will "ruin our country."

"You go to these cities that are taken over by the socialists and the communists, they're always filthy, dirty. They're disgusting," Trump claimed in the interview.

El-Sayed has not been endorsed by the DSA, but democratic socialist lawmakers such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont have campaigned for him. El-Sayed has told The Wall Street Journal that he is "not technically or practically DSA."

Rogers and national Republicans had signaled that they consider El-Sayed an easier opponent than Stevens. The National Republican Senatorial Committee went so far as to produce a digital ad emphasizing El-Sayed's progressive credentials and endorsement from Sanders — a move many viewed as an effort to boost him into the general election.

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez barnstormed the state for El-Sayed, whose push for "Medicare for All," condemnation of money in politics and criticism of Stevens for supporting aid to Israel were central to his campaign.

Like other Democrats who have run to push the party to the left in recent years, El-Sayed accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. That's a particularly relevant position in Michigan, with its large Muslim and Arab American populations.

El-Sayed also frequently blasted Stevens over the money she accepted from corporate PACs and the TV air cover she received from big-spending allies, 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 ads made a positive case for Stevens, some of the messaging attacked El-Sayed. Overall, Stevens and her allies spent nearly nine times as much on advertising as El-Sayed and his allied groups did, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm.

"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 not only Whitmer and Peters in Michigan, but also Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.