Republicans get the Democrat they wanted as socialist Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate primary

Republicans get the Democrat they wanted as socialist Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate primary

After a grueling, messy campaign, a far-left progressive has taken on the Democratic establishment and won.

Abdul El-Sayed felled Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., to secure the Democratic nomination for Senate in what became one of the ugliest Democratic primary races in the country. El-Sayed will now face former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who was uncontested in the GOP primary, in November.

Big money, the Democratic old guard and attacks on El-Sayed's Democratic Socialist leanings dominated the primary, and leave the last man standing on the Left bruised and battered heading into the showdown with Rogers.

The face-off to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who backed Stevens, is a must-win contest for Democrats and one of roughly a dozen general election Senate races expected to determine whether Republicans retain their narrow majority.

"Michigan... We won. I am so proud to be your Democratic nominee for US Senate. Let's win in November," El Sayed wrote in a social media post Wednesday morning, as he declared victory.

A couple of hours later, after the race was called, Stevens conceded: "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."

Of the two candidates, Republicans wanted El-Sayed, and old-guard Democrats feared his victory the most. The GOP is leaning into the bloody primary, too, hoping that the battle damage will have staying power in the weeks ahead until November.

"Not only is Rogers a battle-tested candidate who has coalesced the support of Michigan's entire GOP ecosystem, but he will also be the beneficiary of Democrats' dysfunction come November," a Republican operative told Fox News Digital. "Abdul El-Sayed has emerged from this cycle's Democratic primary more damaged than ever and susceptible to more onslaughts of criticism from within their own party."

More than $80 million was spent on the primary, making it the most expensive Democratic Senate nomination contest in history. Much of the money came from outside groups supporting Stevens or opposing El-Sayed. The largest spender was United Democracy Project, a political action committee aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is best known by its acronym AIPAC.

"We all knew that they were going to spend their money. We didn't know they were going to spend $70 million of their money. We didn't know that they were going to outspend us $11 to $1. And yet we're still standing," El-Sayed highlighted in his speech.

"Abdul El-Sayed's victory marks another devastating loss for Chuck Schumer in his civil war with Bernie Sanders as Democrats position Mike Rogers to defeat socialism's newest standard-bearer in November," National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Bernadette Breslin told Fox News Digital.

"We feel confident we're going to beat either one of those candidates that come out of that race," Rogers said. "They've both have gone off to the left."

"They are very radical, and they are way too extreme for Michigan," he continued. "I mean, Abdul, he has his own special sauce of crazy."