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DETROIT -- Progressive U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has defeated moderate U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic primary, which became a proxy battle for the party's direction. Tuesday's elections also included a Democratic primary victory by Missouri Rep. Wesley Bell in his rematch against Rep. Cori Bush, who was targeted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee after denouncing Israel's military action in Gaza.
Bernie Sanders praised El-Sayed's primary win as historic sign of 'unstoppable' change for Democrats. "Abdul's victory was, in my opinion, the most extraordinary victory that I can think of in modern American politics," the Vermont independent said during a call with reporters.
Sanders said El-Sayed "took on" the Democratic establishment and outside spending from groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He said the result was a sign of further change. "The new Democratic Party is going to be broad-based. It's going to be open and encouraging the participation of working-class people, of young people, of lower-income people. Democracy is messy, and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that everything is going to go 100% smoothly and there's not going to be differences of opinion. That's called democracy. I happen to believe in that. But that is the direction in which we are heading, and I think that is unstoppable."
Sanders dismisses concerns about El-Sayed's electability
Asked about progressive Abdul El-Sayed's ability to turn out core Democratic constituencies including Black and Jewish voters, Sanders said that El-Sayed's economic message had broad appeal. "I think his economic message will resonate across Democratic constituencies, and I think there'll be working-class Republicans who will support that," Sanders told reporters.
The Democratic U.S. Senate contest in Michigan has surpassed turnout for previous Senate and gubernatorial primaries and almost every presidential primary going back to at least 1978, according to Michigan Secretary of State records. As of noon ET Wednesday, a total of 1,528,280 votes had been counted. The total could end up being higher as ballots continue to be processed.
But it already surpasses the roughly 1,181,000 votes counted in the 2020 U.S. Senate Democratic primary, and the approximately 1,131,000 votes counted in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
The 2026 turnout total so far trails the nearly 1,588,000 votes counted in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. About 1,117,000 votes were counted in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.