(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) One of the leading Democratic candidates for the open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan faced a series of recent setbacks, buoying GOP hopes of a seat flip in the blue-leaning battleground state.
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is a frontrunner to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., was grilled Sunday morning on CNN over revelations that she had voted in a 2016 California primary election — a full two years after she relocated to Michigan.
CNN: “Why would you be voting in California 2 years after moving to Michigan?”
MCMORROW: “Moving takes time.”
CNN: "You had criticized a Twitter user in 2024 for voting in Michigan after moving to California, you called it illegal…"MCMORROW: “Yeah, absolutely." pic.twitter.com/kE4xYSuXdo
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 3, 2026
Inside Politics host Manu Raju pressed her not only on the dubious ballot-casting, but also her hypocrisy for having made past statements criticizing someone who allegedly had cast an “illegal” ballot in Michigan after moving to California.
McMorrow, however, appeared to shrug off the question of legality in her own case, saying simply that “moving takes a long time.”
It is unclear whether she continued to have property in California at the time of the 2016 primary election, or if she had registered to vote already in Michigan.
Michigan law stipulates that new residents must apply for a state driver’s license and vehicle registration as soon as they establish residency.
“There is no grace period provided in Michigan law,” according to a section on the secretary of state’s website.
McMorrow previously attacked conservative journalist Aldo Buttazzoni, a Claremont Institute fellow who is also affiliated with PragerU, after he wrote that he had cast his ballot for Republican President Donald Trump in Michigan, not Los Angeles.
“So you moved for work and live in California but are registered somewhere you no longer live?” McMorrow replied. “Hopefully PragerU knows that’s illegal.”
So you moved for work and live in California but are registered somewhere you no longer live?
Hopefully PragerU knows that’s illegal.
— Mallory McMorrow (@MalloryMcMorrow) October 11, 2024
The awkward gotcha moment on Sunday from what should have been a sympathetic network was at least the second significant gaffe for McMorrow in a week’s span.
Days earlier, she was reportedly caught deleting thousands of old X posts, including some in which she disparaged Michigan and expressed a desire to return to California.
NEW on CNN: Mallory McMorrow quietly deleted thousands of old tweets after launching her Senate campaign. Posts in which she took jabs at the rural Midwest, lamented ever leaving California, and said she continued to vote there after she said she’d moved permanently to Michigan. pic.twitter.com/BT8UphP31L
— Andrew Kaczynski (@KFILE) April 29, 2026
She repeatedly trashed “middle America” and wrote in a January 2017 post, “There are days like these that make me miss California even more.”
Her spokeswoman, Hannah Lindow, insisted that a mass deletion of posts ahead of a contentious political race was “pretty standard for candidates” and that there was nothing to be concerned about in the vanishing tweets.
“These are normal tweets by a normal person,” Lindow claimed.
But critics have said McMorrow seems anything but normal.
Video of her performative entrance into last month’s state Democratic convention, dancing and prancing alongside a drum line and a parade of people holding signs and cutouts of her head, prompted several high-profile accounts to ridicule her as a “theater kid.”
An official account for the Trump campaign pointed out that her democratic primary rivals were no better.
“Their entire bench is CRINGE!” said the post.
The Democrat Senate primary in Michigan is between a radical leftist aligned with Hasan Piker and a theater kid who thinks she has "McMentum."
Their entire bench is CRINGE! https://t.co/QygCdVQM05
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) April 20, 2026
New polling showed McMorrow trailing another Democrat opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, a former state health official who has campaigned alongside controversial far-left provocateur Hasan Piker.
🚨BREAKING: Republicans' odds to flipping the Michigan US Senate seat JUMP OVERNIGHT.
Michigan – 2026 US Senate
🟥Mike Rogers 44.3% (+3.7)
🟦Abdul El-Sayed 40.6%Polling average via https://t.co/9Ii8o7yuqi.
Abdul El-Sayed has become the Democratic frontrunner, and compared to… pic.twitter.com/719k9gKjvt
— Election Time (@ElectionTime_) May 3, 2026
Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who narrowly lost his 2024 Senate bid to Sen. Elissa Slotkin by around 20,000 votes (0.3%), appeared to have a significant lead over El-Sayed in a two-way race.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
