(Headline USA) Michigan Democrats on Friday urged voters to rally behind their statewide candidates, three days after a bitter U.S. Senate contest highlighted divisions between the party’s progressive and moderate wings.
A slate of nominees and other notable Democrats emphasized unity to a crowd of more than 1,000, who cheered loudest for Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official. He narrowly beat establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens in a contentious, closely watched primary for an open U.S. Senate seat.
“Michigan, we will fight to build the America that we are proud to hand off to our kids and our grandkids,” El-Sayed said at a podium beneath a scoreboard in a Detroit high school gym.
With less than three months before the general election where El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers, the Democratic Party is under pressure to close ranks in a race that will help determine control of the Senate.
“In the spirit of coming together, I want to thank both of my colleagues who ran, Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow, for an incredible race,” El-Sayed said. McMorrow, a state senator, suspended her campaign in July and appeared alongside El-Sayed at a Wednesday event after his victory.
Current Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ decision to not seek reelection left the seat open. Michigan is a perennial battleground state, having voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump again in 2024.
The messy primary between El-Sayed and Stevens occasionally got personal. El-Sayed told Semafor in early July that Stevens couldn’t “string together two coherent sentences.” In a separate interview, he called Stevens “the least capable candidate in America.”
Stevens, in turn, accused El-Sayed of chasing publicity.
“I’m the only one on this stage who doesn’t have a talent agent trying to pitch me for paid speeches,” she said during a debate against El-Sayed. “And unlike my opponent, I’m not running at the first mic or camera I see.”
Stevens, who lost the primary by just under 1 percentage point, told CBS News on Thursday that she was willing to campaign with El-Sayed.
“Whatever he wants me to do,” she said. Stevens appeared Thursday with El-Sayed at a breakfast hosted by the Michigan Democratic Party.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
