Progressive El-Sayed wins Michigan primary in jolt to Democrats

DETROIT: The Democratic Party's progressive wing scored a high-profile victory on Wednesday when Abdul El-Sayed won the party's US Senate nomination in Michigan, giving its anti-establishment message a boost ahead of November's midterm elections.

Michigan Democrats must 'come together' to defeat Republicans in the general election, said Abdul El-Sayed, the leftist who was declared the winner Wednesday in the state's primary race for the US Senate.

Democrats 'have to come together to make sure that we never let Mike Rogers see the inside of the US Senate,' El-Sayed said of his Republican opponent in November's poll.

El-Sayed, a doctor whose campaign focused on healthcare, the economy and an end to unconditional military aid to Israel, was the first progressive to win a statewide primary in a state that President Donald Trump carried in 2024. He will face Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in November.

The vote, billed as a defining test of the party's direction, became an election-night cliffhanger between El-Sayed and US Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate supported by Democratic leaders and pro-Israel groups. With 99 per cent of the estimated votes counted on Wednesday, El-Sayed led Stevens 48.5 per cent to 47.5 per cent, according to the Associated Press.

'My hope is that our democracy will never be the same,' El-Sayed said at a press conference on Wednesday. 'From here on out, we can always point and say, "No, this is the people's democracy, and we will always own it."'

El-Sayed's victory could intensify debate within Democratic ranks over the political appeal of economic populism, anti-establishment campaigning and a tougher approach toward Israel. Leading figures in the party had split their support: progressive Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren backed El-Sayed, while Stevens was endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Schumer and US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who chairs the party's Senate campaign arm, congratulated El-Sayed in a statement.

'Democrats are united by a common purpose: putting a check on Donald Trump by defeating his Republican enablers and taking back the Senate,' they said.

Many Stevens supporters had argued that the centrist Democrat was the more electable candidate in November in a state Trump won twice in the last three presidential elections. But El-Sayed's backers argued his campaign, which harnessed a groundswell of energy among younger voters, would increase turnout among the liberal base and first-time voters.

The contest to replace retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters had the highest turnout in the history of Michigan's Democratic primaries, the state party chairman said. Democrats' uphill battle to win a Senate majority would be nearly impossible with a Michigan defeat in November.