Dems' leftward lurch gets legs as El-Sayed's Michigan Senate victory sparks party debate

DETROIT, MI - Abdul El-Sayed's victory over moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan's high-stakes Democratic Senate primary is a massive boost for the party's left-wing in its ideological battle with the center-left establishment.

The win called Wednesday morning gives instant ammunition to Republicans aiming to flip a crucial battleground Senate seat the Democrats must hold as part of their midterm push to win back control of the chamber.

Republican nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers, in a Fox News Digital interview ahead of the primary, argued that El-Sayed is "way too extreme for Michigan. I mean, Abdul, he has his own special sauce of crazy."

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El-Sayed is a far-left figure backed by progressive champions and socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and other members of the "Squad." He beat Stevens, an establishment Democrat, by 1% when the race was called by AP with 99% of the vote counted on Wednesday morning.

A former Wayne County Health Department director, El-Sayed, if elected in November, would make history as the nation's first Muslim senator. He is an epidemiologist who unsuccessfully ran for governor as an insurgent candidate in 2018. He has made support for "Medicare-for-all" a major component of his campaign.

He has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and is a vocal critic of Israel amid its war with Hamas — even characterizing Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide" against Palestinians. El-Sayed, who served as a top surrogate on Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign, has also vowed not to accept PAC donations.

El-Sayed's primary election victory has some wondering if the party of the late Rep. John Dingell, who was famously known as the "Dean of the House" during his historic tenure in Congress, and his wife Rep. Debbie Dingell, the current dean of the Michigan congressional delegation, has broadly shifted to the left, or if this is a one-off election dynamic.

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Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, speaks to supporters at a campaign event on Aug. 2, 2026, in Detroit, Michigan. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

"It’s not all that clear that the party has shifted that far to the left," Matt Bennett, one of the leaders at the Third Way, a leading center-left Democratic organization, told Fox News Digital.

Pointing to the increasing visceral opposition to President Donald Trump by Democrats across the country, Bennett said the primary results in Michigan may be "a unique situation where candidates matter."

"And in this moment Democratic voters everywhere are very very angry at Trump and they’re flipping over the tables and taking it out on the establishment and Haley, for better or worse, has run as the establishment."

Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and political science professor at Michigan State University, pointed to what he called a "recruitment failure."

"Stevens was no one’s first choice," Grossmann said of Stevens, as he referred to unsuccessful efforts to recruit term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to launch a campaign in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

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Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan, right, and retiring Sen. Gary Peters, at a campaign rally on Aug. 2, 2026, in Madison Heights, Michigan. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Noting growing opposition among Democrats nationwide to Israel's ongoing military operations against Hamas in Gaza, and the massive amounts of outside money spent in the historically expensive Senate primary by groups aligned with pro-Israel interests to help Stevens and target El-Sayed, Grossmann added, "This was a terrible year to be running the most pro-Israel candidate available."

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.

El-Sayed said his victory is easy to understand.

Speaking with Fox News Digital on Sunday, he said "our job is to listen to folks, as it has been since we kicked off this campaign... to understand the challenges people have in their lives."

"I think the people are telling us that they want money out of politics. Money in your pocket, Medicare-for-all," he emphasized. "You know, endorsements don't vote. People vote. And I think right now people are voting with their feet."

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Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), a leading group on the left, referred to El-Sayed's narrow margin over Stevens and told Fox News Digital that "any win against $60 million of outside spending by AIPAC and corporate interests is a giant win and sets us on a path of proving our case in November to shake up the system."

The progressive-versus-establishment battle also played out in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, a Republican-controlled swing seat that is among roughly two dozen races expected to help determine control of the House.

William Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement climate advocacy group, edged out two more moderate Democrats. Lawrence was backed by Sanders and El-Sayed, as well as several prominent progressive groups. He will face Republican Rep. Tom Barrett in the general election.

The party’s internal battle was also on display in Michigan’s heavily Democratic 13th Congressional District, where the Associated Press had not projected a winner early Wednesday.

Rep. Shri Thanedar, who is supported by top House Democratic leaders, was being challenged by state Rep. Donovan McKinney. McKinney was backed by Sanders, El-Sayed and "Squad" members Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania.

Bennett noted that Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan crushed a more progressive rival in the 2024 Senate primary before winning the general election by a razor-thin margin over Rogers in a state that President Donald Trump narrowly carried.

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And Bennett and Grossmann pointed out that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who won the Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, and Attorney General Dana Nessel, who was renominated, are far from left-wingers.

"The party hasn’t shifted far to the left but this particular primary did," Bennett argued, as he referred to El-Sayed's victory over Stevens.