FASCIST AMERICA 2026: Renowned Public intellectual, Author, Historian, Critic, Teacher and Activist Eddie Glaude,Jr. On What the ravenous, despicable Trump/GOP/MAGA fascist regime is currently doing to Destroy the country and impose A White Nationalist Ethnostate in the United States…DEFEAT THIS GROWING MENACE AND WAKE UP AND LIVE EVERYBODY…

VIDEO: https://www.anativeson.org/p/weekly-wrap-up-july-31-2026

   
Weekly Wrap Up - July 31, 2026

Eddie
July 31, 2026

Summary

In this Weekly Wrap Up, Eddie tentatively welcomes reports of a Hamas disarmament agreement but warns of a rapidly escalating quagmire in Iran that has cost 18 American lives and driven domestic grocery prices to a 50-year high. Shifting his focus homeward, Eddie condemns the administration’s sweeping delegalization of 1.8 million immigrants and the cruel, racially motivated ICE crackdowns expanding across airports and the Dilley Detention Center. To combat these systemic assaults and ongoing voting rights rollbacks, he echoes Rev. William Barber’s call for 1,000 grassroots marches over the next 100 days leading up to the midterms, urging his listeners to mobilize and fight for the nation’s democratic soul.

Continue Reading…

Middle East Conflict & U.S.-Iran Escalations:

NPR: Trump Comments on Hamas and Gaza

BBC News: Latest International Updates

CNBC: US-Iran War, Trump, and the Strait of Hormuz

PBS NewsHour: U.S. and Iran Strikes Intensify as War Opens New Fronts

 
The Economy, Inflation & Consumer Confidence

AP News: US Economy Grows at a Sluggish 1.5% in Second-Quarter With Inflation Remaining Stubbornly High

PBS NewsHour: Americans’ Confidence in U.S. Economy Falls Again as Iran Conflict Sends Gas Prices Higher

New York Post: Food Prices Up 33% as Americans Contend With Highest Grocery Price Spike in 50 Years

  
Immigration Policy & ICE Enforcement

MS Now: Trump Administration Immigration Policies Target Haitians with TPS

KENS 5: Congressman Joaquin Castro Renews Call to Close Dilley Detention Center After Congressional Oversight Visit

The Washington Post: ICE is Expanding its Arrests at Airports, Lawyers Say

Common Dreams: Trump’s Mass Detention Policy

 

Grassroots Organizing & Political Commentary

Our Moral Moment (Substack): 100 Days, 1000 Marches to the Polls

Repairers of the Breach: Official Website

X (Twitter): Acyn Commentary on Current Political Events

135 Likes∙

31 Restacks
Discussion about this video

Mary Roach
6d

Dr. Eddie,

Thank you for your never ending dedication. We must remember the story of the sunflowers. They turn to face the sun every morning seeking light and hope. At night they turn to face each other for support. We must continue the fight even in hard times and never give up!!

Darlicia Watkins
6d

Thank you Eddie! I appreciate your encouragement. Stay safe and be blessed.

LaTanya
6d

As always, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for always remembering our brothers and sisters in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran surrounding areas. Do you know that you’re the only person on Substack or anywhere else who doesn’t shy away from this issue or who reminds us that hey there has been no resolution. So you are very much appreciated. Regarding believing anything that Trump has to say I’ll be honest I have no faith or confidence in his words nor the words of Netanyahu. They lie as easily as a breathe, and that’s really sad. I hope that something improves. I hope that there are protective measures in place to ensure that any movement towards peace or safety for the Palestinian people. I hope that somebody places something there to ensure that things move forward in a positive manner. Right now without any reassurance that there will be international support I’m very skeptical.

Sarah Lyons

3d




A Native Son Podcast

“We can be better people, a better country, if we dare to imagine…”

Listen on
Substack App
Apple Podcasts

RSS Feed

Eddie

Recent Episodes



Weekly Wrap Up - July 24, 2026

July 24 • Eddie



Weekly Wrap Up - July 17, 2026

July 17 • Eddie



Weekly Wrap Up - July 10, 2026

July 10 • Eddie



Weekly Wrap Up - July 3, 2026

Jul 3 • Eddie



Weekly Wrap Up - June 26, 2026

JunE 26 • Eddie



How Have Americans Celebrated Their Past? A Live Conversation with Professor Eddie Glaude, author of America, U.S.A: How Race Shadows the…

Jun 19 • Eddie and Julian Zelizer

FASCIST AMERICA 2026: These Are Some Very Important and Necessary Things We All Definitely Need To Know, Advocate, and Fight For In Order to Aggressively Engage and DEFEAT FASCISM In All Its Many Nefarious Guises Both in the Short And Long Term Of Our Struggle Here in the United Hates Of Hysteria. Most Importantly We Must Not Give Up, Give In, Or Capitulate in Any Way Whatsoever. The Eternal Struggle For Freedom, Justice, Equality, and Self Determination Is In Our Hands And Only We Can Take Full and Direct Responsibility For Our Ideas, Values, Actions and Behavior In the Face Of Our Merciless Enemies (And I Know You Know What I’m Talking About)--PART 3

MEANWHILE...THIS IS WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TO FIGHT BACK  AND MOVE ASSERTIVELY IN THE CLEAR AND POWERFUL DIRECTION OF OUR COLLECTIVE LIBERATION FROM THE SO-CALLED "POWERS THAT BE" AND TOWARD THE FREEDOM, JUSTICE, EQUALITY, AND SELF DETERMINATION THAT WE REALLY CRAVE AND DESERVE FOR NOT ONLY OURSELVES BUT EVERYONE...

 

How Abdul El-Sayed Beat AIPAC's Spending in Michigan



Wajahat Ali

August 5, 2026

VIDEO: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY9PyeUGLts

#AbdulElSayed #Michigan #AIPAC


Dr. Debra Shushan joins Wajahat Ali to discuss Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan Senate primary victory, the role of outside spending, AIPAC's involvement in the race, and what the result could mean for the future of the Democratic Party. The Michigan primary became a major debate over money in politics, grassroots organizing, progressive candidates, and the influence of outside groups. AIPAC-affiliated organizations spent heavily supporting Haley Stevens, making the race one of the most expensive Democratic primaries in recent history. Topics include: Abdul El-Sayed Michigan victory AIPAC Democratic Party Progressive movement Money in politics Election strategy 2026 midterms U.S. politics

 

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Primary in Major Defeat for AIPAC, Establishment Democrats



Democracy Now!

August 5, 2026

VIDEO: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTIXdJVhXuQ&t=208s

https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-de...

Progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed has been declared the winner of Michigan’s closely watched Democratic Senate primary, narrowly beating out Congressmember Haley Stevens, according to the Associated Press and other news agencies. AIPAC and its affiliated groups spent as much as $60 million to help Stevens in what has become the most expensive Democratic Senate primary contest in U.S. history. El-Sayed will face former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers in November to fill the seat now held by Democratic Senator Gary Peters, who is retiring. If El-Sayed wins the general election, he would become the first Muslim senator in U.S. history. His key supporters included Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the United Auto Workers.  

 

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.


Latest Shows

Support our work:

https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-de...

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/08/05/us/michigan-election-results-primary

 

Latest
Pinned



Katie Glueck Tim Balk and Kellen Browning
 

Here’s the latest:

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive and a vocal critic of Israel, edged Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, early Wednesday to win the Michigan Senate Democratic primary, according to The Associated Press.

It was a high-profile victory for the ascendant political left, though the rancorous race was ultimately far closer than polls had suggested, with Dr. El-Sayed leading by less than a percentage point Wednesday morning. He will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in a general election clash that could determine control of the Senate.

On Wednesday morning, Dr. El-Sayed and Democrats from across the ideological spectrum raced to project party unity after a bitter and expensive primary campaign.

Speaking at a rally in Detroit, Dr. El-Sayed hailed Ms. Stevens as “one of the most committed public servants that you’ll ever meet.” He also extended a hand to the broader electorate, urging voters regardless of party to support him if “you believe, like me, that you ought to be able to afford your groceries.”

Dr. El-Sayed, the Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants, also issued a warning to Republicans who may seek to weaponize his name or otherwise engage in Islamophobic signaling.

“My name is not raising your gas prices,” he said. “My name is not taking us to war. My name is not the reason you can’t afford your groceries.”

Ms. Stevens called Dr. El-Sayed on Wednesday morning to concede the race, a spokesman for her campaign said. On social media, Ms. Stevens wrote that she had offered him “my full support as we work to defeat Mike Rogers.”

Throughout the primary, the question of which candidate was best positioned to win in November was a central feature of the race.

Dr. El-Sayed and his allies argued that his populist rhetoric would energize voters across the political spectrum who were unhappy with the status quo. He plainly tapped into simmering Democratic fury with the party establishment, and with President Trump.

But many Democratic leaders had rallied around Ms. Stevens, a centrist, fearful that the left-wing views espoused by Dr. El-Sayed, a former public health official and a proponent of universal health care, could imperil the party’s chances of defending a crucial seat in a closely divided political battleground.

The Michigan Senate primary now is the most significant triumph for the political left this year. The general election there could pose the movement’s biggest test yet, measuring whether left-wing candidates can galvanize enough voters to beat Republicans in swing territory.

The Senate primary was also defined by fierce debates over Israel. Dr. El-Sayed overcame $60 million in outside money supporting Ms. Stevens, including about $32 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major pro-Israel group whose involvement became a source of frequent conflict in the contest.

In his speech Wednesday, Dr. El-Sayed continued to attack AIPAC, but promised Jewish voters that his commitment to “Jewish safety is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.”

Here’s what else we’re covering:

Where Michigan moved left: Representative Shri Thanedar, a second-term Democrat, lost to a democratic socialist challenger, State Representative Donavan McKinney, becoming the latest Democratic incumbent to lose amid a surge of anti-incumbent fervor this cycle. Progressives also won a Michigan Democratic primary in a district that included Lansing, where William Lawrence, an organizer, beat two centrist Democrats in a House race that is expected to be competitive this fall.

Where the left hit its limit: In Missouri, Representative Wesley Bell fended off a primary challenge from former Representative Cori Bush, a democratic socialist.

The next big test: Dr. El-Sayed’s general-election campaign will measure whether an insurgent and proudly left-wing candidate can win in a moderate state.

August 5, 2026, 2:04 p.m. ET7 hours ago

Jeff Mays

New York City politics reporter

Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York said comments from Speaker Mike Johnson that Democrats were expressing “disdain for America” and embracing “the failed, dangerous, deadly path of communism” as a response to Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan showed “how deeply out of touch the Republican Party is with the concerns of working-class Americans.” El-Sayed won, Mamdani said, because he campaigned on taking money out of politics, boosting the working class and better health care for all.

August 5, 2026, 1:25 p.m. ET8 hours ago

Jeff Mays

New York City politics reporter

Asked at a news conference about Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s being called the “Mamdani of Michigan,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York said El-Sayed “can lift a lot more than I can.” He said El-Sayed had focused needed attention on public health and health care.

August 5, 2026, 1:01 p.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Julie Bosman

Reporting from Wisconsin

At a voter meet-and-greet in Platteville, Wis., Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor of Wisconsin, said that Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan offered lessons for her own campaign.

“This was an example of how we are in a moment where it’s about the many and not just the money,” she said, adding: “What we can learn, too, is no complacency. We want to be ready on day one. We want to make sure that folks know what’s at stake.”

August 5, 2026, 12:22 p.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Theodore Schleifer

Reporting on super PACs and the midterm elections

Much of the conventional wisdom had been that the $32 million in American Israel Public Affairs Committee spending for Haley Stevens came at a political cost for her in Michigan. Perhaps it did. But given how close the race between Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Stevens ended up being, a few people have brought up to me this afternoon the possibility that AIPAC might have been smart to actually spend even a little more, so as to push her over the top.

August 5, 2026, 11:42 a.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Tim Balk

Reporting from Michigan

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s speech Wednesday morning after he was declared the winner of Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary was more geared toward party unity and reaching out to supporters of his opponent, Haley Stevens, than the one he delivered at his campaign party late Tuesday night. He ended his remarks on Wednesday on lofty terms, saying the race is about “who we are as a country” and saying, “My story in America is about as unlikely as it gets.”


Credit: Finn Gomez/Getty Images

August 5, 2026, 11:25 a.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Tim Balk

Reporting from Michigan

In his speech, El-Sayed sought to reach out to Jewish voters after a campaign in which he regularly attacked the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and in which Haley Stevens said he wanted to blame his “problems on Jewish Americans.” He continued to attack AIPAC in the speech, but said “to all of my sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith, or any faith at all, or no faith at all, I want you to know that my commitment to your safety — to Jewish safety — is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.”


August 5, 2026, 11:06 a.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Tim Balk

Reporting from Michigan

El-Sayed, turning to the general election, said Republicans intend to “drag us into the mud” with attacks on his identity. But he said whether Michigan residents supported Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in 2024, they should support him if “you believe like me that you ought to be able to afford your groceries.”

Video
Associated Press



Aug. 5, 2026, 10:57 a.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Madaleine RubinTim BalkAma Sarpomaa and Francesca Regalado
Muslim Americans celebrated El-Sayed’s win in the Michigan Senate primary.


The audience at Abdul El-Sayed’s election watch party in Detroit on Tuesday night. Credit: Nick Hagen for The New York Times

Muslim American voters celebrated Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow victory in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary on Wednesday, declaring they had found a place in American politics even amid a rise in fiercely anti-Muslim political rhetoric, especially in the South.

Dr. El-Sayed’s win against a centrist congresswoman funded by pro-Israel groups and backed by the party establishment was especially sweet in Eastern Michigan, where Arab and Muslim Americans have long lived.

Dr. El-Sayed, a Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants, could become the nation’s first Muslim senator if he wins the general election in November against a former Republican House member, Mike Rogers.

“Growing up as a Muslim American, you’re often told to conceal that part of your identity if you want to get ahead,” Bilal Baydoun, 36, a writer and political strategist from Dearborn, Mich., said Tuesday night at Dr. El-Sayed’s election party in Detroit. “To see him bear his name with his full chest — even saying his full name at times — it still feels revolutionary in a way.”

Dr. El-Sayed’s primary opponent, Representative Haley Stevens, received tens of millions of dollars from the super PAC-arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the country’s most influential pro-Israel group. Israel, which Dr. El-Sayed has criticized for its actions in Gaza and elsewhere, was a fault line in the primary race, as it was in 2024, when Muslims criticized Kamala Harris.

“The Palestinian narrative is being heard, and the American people are awakening to what is happening,” said Tarek Khalil, 41, a Palestinian activist and lawyer from Chicago.

Nishi Rahman, 26, a health care consultant who lives in New York City, said he started following Dr. El-Sayed’s career during his 2018 run for governor of Michigan.

“I didn’t think there was a place for me in politics as a Muslim kid growing up,” said Mr. Rahman, recalling anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“What this shows is that we as Muslims have a place here,” he said. “We can be full citizens of this country. We can be leaders here. And we’re just as American as anybody else.”

Farah Chalisa, a human rights lawyer from Chicago whose parents emigrated from Pakistan, said much of her life had been defined by anti-Muslim sentiment. She was in second grade on Sept. 11.

“It means so much to me as a Muslim American to see a Muslim man potentially become a senator,” said Ms. Chalisa, 32, adding, “It makes me feel like I belong.”

The general election race could be crucial for Democrats’ chances of winning control of the Senate, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Wednesday quickly posted a digital ad labeling Dr. El-Sayed “the most radical Senate candidate in America.” The ad uses Dr. El-Sayed’s full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.

Already, anti-Muslim rhetoric has been used by candidates in Texas, Tennessee and Alabama.

“There’s this fear with him being brown and with him being Muslim,” Farah Berent, a physician assistant from Holland, MI., said about Dr. El-Sayed, before referencing a quote the candidate has used on the campaign trail. “We all pray for the same things.”

For now, Muslim Americans were in a celebratory mood.

“It’s beyond just representation,” said Aber Kawas, the democratic socialist from New York who won her state senate primary this year, then crossed state lines to support Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. “It’s about experience and connecting the experience of his neighbors in Michigan, whether they are Muslim or not Muslim, who are struggling to afford their lives.”

Mr. Baydoun said he felt anxious about the potential vitriol in response to Dr. El-Sayed’s primary victory.

“It’s going to be bittersweet because I know that even if he wins, tomorrow and the day after is going to be a contest of who can demonize Muslims more,” Mr. Baydoun said. “I’m worried about what that means for my family and my community.”

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:50 a.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Tim Balk

Reporting from Michigan

El-Sayed said at his rally that he had a “great conversation” with Haley Stevens this morning. He acknowledged that they had a bitter campaign, but hailed her as “one of the most committed public servants” and said there was far more that unifies them than divides them.

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:46 a.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Bayliss Wagner

Politics reporter

In a Truth Social post, President Trump called El-Sayed’s win “great news for the Republican party.”

“As usual, the Polls were way off on this one,” Trump wrote. Referring to Haley Stevens, he wrote: “She was not expected to do nearly as well as she did. Now, the Dumocrats crazy policies will only get worse!”

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:42 a.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Tim Balk

Reporting from Michigan

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is holding a small rally in downtown Detroit. Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic state lawmaker who ran for Senate but suspended her campaign last month, has joined him at the event. She endorsed El-Sayed early this morning.



Credit: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Associated Press

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:23 a.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Bayliss Wagner

Politics reporter

Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat who had been neutral in the primary, congratulated Abdul El-Sayed on Wednesday morning.

“It’s been a long primary, but now it’s time to gear up to beat Mike Rogers (again) and win up and down the ticket,” Slotkin wrote on social media. “There is nothing more important than the mission of the next 90 days: uniting, keeping this seat blue, flipping the House and Senate, and providing a real check on President Trump.”

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:15 a.m. ETAug. 5, 2026

Reid J. Epstein

National politics reporter

The left wins a nail-biter in Michigan: Here are eight takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries.



Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s close primary victory signaled that he has work to do to unite Democrats and turn out swing voters in November. Credit...Nick Hagen for The New York Times

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, won a razor-thin victory in the Democratic primary for Senate in Michigan that serves as the most significant triumph for his party’s left wing this year.

Dr. El-Sayed prevailed in a highly contentious contest against Representative Haley Stevens, who argued to the end that he was unlikely to win a general election in a battleground state.

Now Dr. El-Sayed will test the longstanding progressive hope that left-wing candidates can energize enough voters to beat Republicans in swing terrain. He will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican who narrowly lost the state’s 2024 Senate race and ran unopposed in this year’s primary. They are competing for the seat of Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who is retiring.

The stakes for both Mr. Rogers and Dr. El-Sayed are perhaps higher than two years ago. Michigan is widely seen as a crucial state for Senate control. And how a progressive like Dr. El-Sayed performs in a must-win state in November is likely to have ramifications on how Democratic primary voters perceive their presidential candidates’ ideology and electability in 2028.

FASCIST AMERICA 2026: These Are Some Very Important and Necessary Things We All Definitely Need To Know, Advocate, and Fight For In Order to Aggressively Engage and DEFEAT FASCISM In All Its Many Nefarious Guises Both in the Short And Long Term Of Our Struggle Here in the United Hates Of Hysteria. Most Importantly We Must Not Give Up, Give In, Or Capitulate in Any Way Whatsoever. The Eternal Struggle For Freedom, Justice, Equality, and Self Determination Is In Our Hands And Only We Can Take Full and Direct Responsibility For Our Ideas, Values, Actions and Behavior In the Face Of Our Merciless Enemies (And I Know You Know What I’m Talking About)--PART TWO

MEANWHILE...THIS IS WHAT IS KNOWN AS GOOD NEWS...

 
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/us/politics/el-sayed-stevens-michigan-democratic-senate-primary.html

 
Abdul El-Sayed Wins Democratic Senate Primary in Michigan in a Victory for the Left

Dr. El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, narrowly defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, in a bitter primary dominated by the politics of Israel.

Listen · 5:40 minutes


Dr. Abdul El-Sayed pushed Israel to the center of the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, criticizing the country’s actions in Gaza and promising to pull back American military support. Credit: Nick Hagen for The New York Times

by Reid J. Epstein
August 5, 2026, 
New York Times

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed narrowly won the Democratic primary race for Senate in Michigan on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, giving progressives a victory that signaled liberal voters’ anti-establishment mood and shifting sentiment against Israel.

Dr. El-Sayed, 41, a former public health official, narrowly defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a four-term moderate, in a hostile race that was dominated by the politics of Israel and the role of big money in American elections.

He fiercely criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza and promised to pull back American military support, while she vowed to continue sending U.S. military aid to Israel without conditions.

While most Michigan political observers expected in the campaign’s final days that Dr. El-Sayed would prevail, and polls showed him leading by a significant amount, the close margin between him and Ms. Stevens pointed to the tough general-election battle to come for Democrats.

Dr. El-Sayed overcame more than $60 million in super PAC spending on behalf of Ms. Stevens, including at least $30 million tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the nation’s most influential pro-Israel group. Another $30 million came from so-called dark-money groups whose donors remain hidden.

But even as he was vastly outspent on advertising, Dr. El-Sayed turned Ms. Stevens’s financial advantage into a liability, casting his bid as a grass-roots campaign up against the well-funded establishment. “The money against the many,” as he put it in stump speeches.

His primary victory delivers another shock to a Democratic Party in which left-wing challengers across the country have ousted longtime incumbents or beaten rivals supported by party leaders in Washington.

Dr. El-Sayed was backed by leading progressives, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who went to Michigan to campaign for him. Ms. Stevens was supported by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, as well as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and other prominent state Democrats.

In the general election, Dr. El-Sayed will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in a race widely seen as crucial for control of the Senate. Mr. Rogers was a moderate Republican during his seven House terms, but like many others in his party, he has become an acolyte of President Trump. Mr. Rogers narrowly lost a 2024 Senate bid to Elissa Slotkin, even as Mr. Trump carried the state on his way back to the White House.

Democratic leaders worried — and Ms. Stevens argued — that Dr. El-Sayed could be the weaker candidate in the general election. He is a notably left-wing candidate in a battleground state, with his calls for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ushering in universal health care.

“We’ve got to do one thing, and that’s go beat Mike Rogers,” Ms. Stevens said in an interview last month. “We’ve got to be eyes on the prize, and that’s winning in November.”

The Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants, Dr. El-Sayed made no secret of his ambitions of progressive leadership within the Democratic Party. He said that he hoped to recalibrate the party’s politics on Israel and wanted to make opposition to funding its military a litmus test for Democrats running for president in 2028.

Defanging AIPAC, he argued, was crucial: “I want AIPAC to cease to be a force in Democratic primaries,” he said in an interview last month. “The best way to do that is to defeat them in a state like Michigan.”

He made much of his campaign pitch a rebuke of both the group and corporate politics. At his events, attendees chanted his slogan along with him: “Money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all.”

It was no accident that Israel emerged as a fault line in a major Democratic primary in Michigan. The state, which has large numbers of Muslim and Jewish voters, delivered a rebuke to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2024, when 13 percent of Democratic primary voters voted for “uncommitted” in protest of his policy on Israel amid its war with Gaza.

Dr. El-Sayed’s base was seen as the state’s Arab and Muslim voters, as well as younger and more liberal Democrats. Ms. Stevens had pushed to win over the state’s Black voters, whom AIPAC had targeted with a flood of advertisements featuring a clip of former President Barack Obama praising Ms. Stevens during her first run for Congress in 2018.

The contest, which until early July also included Mallory McMorrow, a state senator who sought a middle ground between Ms. Stevens and Dr. El-Sayed, became quite nasty in its final weeks.

So many of Dr. El-Sayed’s supporters mocked Ms. Stevens’s mannerisms and Michigan accent that he urged them to stop making fun of her “for things that have nothing to do with her policies or politics.” In the final days before the primary, Ms. Stevens lashed out at Dr. El-Sayed, posting on social media, “Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.”

Now, Dr. El-Sayed will face the task of uniting Michigan Democrats for the general election.

Reid J. Epstein is a Times reporter covering campaigns and elections from Washington.

See more on: Democratic Party, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), U.S. Politics

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/08/05/us/michigan-election-results-primary#eadaaf73-6ba6-55f0-87d2-6523d3a67d52

LiveUpdated

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:42 a.m. ET1 minute ago

Primary Elections Live Updates: El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Primary

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive, defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, in a Senate primary that had divided the Democrats, according to The Associated Press.


Video
Live

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed defeated Representative Haley Stevens in the Democratic Michigan Senate primary.

Latest

Pinned
Updated

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:18 a.m. ET25 minutes ago

Kellen Browning and Shane Goldmacher
Here’s the latest.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive and vocal critic of Israel, edged Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, early on Wednesday to win the Michigan Senate Democratic primary, according to The Associated Press, securing a high-profile victory for the ascendant political left.

In a contentious race that divided the party, Dr. El-Sayed overcame $60 million in outside money supporting Ms. Stevens, including about $32 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a hard-line pro-Israel group whose involvement became a source of frequent conflict in the contest.

Dr. El-Sayed will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in a general election clash for an open battleground seat that could determine control of the Senate.

Dr. El-Sayed and his allies argued that his populist rhetoric would energize voters across the political spectrum who are unhappy with the status quo. But Democratic leaders had rallied around Ms. Stevens, a centrist and fierce ally of Israel, fearful that the left-wing views espoused by Dr. El-Sayed, a former public health official and proponent of universal health care, could imperil the party’s chances of defending an crucial open seat.

Speaking to supporters in the hours before the race was called, Dr. El-Sayed said that if he won the primary, “we’ll have taken $70 million on the chin and kept fighting back.” In a nod to the divisive nature of the primary, he added: “Tomorrow, we begin to mend fences.”

Elsewhere, results were mixed in closely watched Democratic primaries. In Missouri, the establishment struck back at the progressive left, with Representative Wesley Bell fending off a primary challenge from former Representative Cori Bush, a democratic socialist.

Ms. Bush, a critic of Israel and member of the so-called Squad — a group of progressive women of color in Congress — was ousted from her St. Louis seat by Mr. Bell two years ago and had been attempting a comeback.

But progressives scored a victory in a Michigan Democratic primary that included Lansing, where William Lawrence, an organizer, beat two centrist Democrats in a House race. He will face Representative Tom Barrett, a Republican, in the fall — a competitive contest that will test whether left-wing populism is viable in swing districts.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

Michigan defeat: Representative Shri Thanedar, a second-term Democrat, lost to the democratic socialist challenging him, State Representative Donavan McKinney, joining a wave of Democratic incumbents in Congress whom primary voters have sent packing in a surge of anti-incumbent fervor this cycle.

A Pacific primary fight: Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, an outspoken and vulnerable centrist Democrat who faced challenges from her left and right in the state’s top-two primary system, advanced to a general election against a Republican in her district in southwestern Washington state.

Control in Kansas: Cindy Holscher, a populist Democratic state senator, and State Senator Ty Masterson, a Trump-endorsed candidate, will battle for the Kansas governorship after winning their respective parties’ nominations. The winner will replace Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, a Democrat, who is leaving office because of term limits.

Key House matchup set in Virginia: Democratic primary voters chose former Representative Elaine Luria to face Representative Jen Kiggans, a Republican, in a House race expected to be one of the most competitive in the country this fall. The district is home to several military bases, and both women are Navy veterans.

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:42 a.m. ET4 minutes ago

Tim Balk

Reporting from Michigan

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is holding a small rally in downtown Detroit. Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic state lawmaker who ran for Senate but suspended her campaign last month, has joined him at the event. She endorsed El-Sayed early this morning.

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:23 a.m. ET22 minutes ago

Bayliss Wagner

Politics reporter

Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat who had been neutral in the primary, congratulated Abdul El-Sayed on Wednesday morning.

“It’s been a long primary, but now it’s time to gear up to beat Mike Rogers (again) and win up and down the ticket,” Slotkin wrote on social media. “There is nothing more important than the mission of the next 90 days: uniting, keeping this seat blue, flipping the House and Senate, and providing a real check on President Trump.” 

 

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:15 a.m. ET31 minutes ago

Reid J. Epstein

National politics reporter

 
The left wins a nail-biter in Michigan: Here are eight takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries.


Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s close primary victory signaled that he has work to do to unite Democrats and turn out swing voters in November. Credit:  Nick Hagen for The New York Times

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, won a razor-thin victory in the Democratic primary for Senate in Michigan that serves as the most significant triumph for his party’s left wing this year.

Dr. El-Sayed prevailed in a highly contentious contest against Representative Haley Stevens, who argued to the end that he was unlikely to win a general election in a battleground state.

Now Dr. El-Sayed will test the longstanding progressive hope that left-wing candidates can energize enough voters to beat Republicans in swing terrain. He will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican who narrowly lost the state’s 2024 Senate race and ran unopposed in this year’s primary. They are competing for the seat of Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who is retiring.

The stakes for both Mr. Rogers and Dr. El-Sayed are perhaps higher than two years ago. Michigan is widely seen as a crucial state for Senate control. And how a progressive like Dr. El-Sayed performs in a must-win state in November is likely to have ramifications on how Democratic primary voters perceive their presidential candidates’ ideology and electability in 2028.

Here are eight takeaways from a big primary night in Michigan and four other states:
The left beat the establishment, but the results showed its limits.

Dr. El-Sayed campaigned hard against the Democratic political establishment. That was enough to win, but enough voters backed Ms. Stevens to suggest that the establishment still has plenty of influence.

Ms. Stevens showed strength among Black voters in Detroit and Flint and carried most of the state’s interior rural counties, aside from a few with college towns and resort communities.

Dr. El-Sayed was strongest in communities with young voters, college students and educated and wealthy white voters. That coalition carried him through the primary, but he will have work to do to beat Mr. Rogers in November.

In all, the Michigan map demonstrated the limitations — for now, at least — that face a dyed-in-the-wool progressive running on a foreign policy platform to the left of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.


Representative Haley Stevens, a supporter of Israel, was trailed by that position all campaign and dodged questions about her significant financial backing from pro-Israel groups.Credit...Paul Sancya/Associated Press
The ground has shifted under pro-Israel Democrats.

The Democratic Party’s rapid retreat from support for Israel has been well documented in polls, election results and votes in Congress.

But Dr. El-Sayed’s primary success in Michigan was arguably the most remarkable victory yet for the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States — and maybe the biggest setback for pro-Israel Democrats.

Dr. El-Sayed, the Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants, won by putting Israel squarely at the center of the campaign. He labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide. He said he would cut U.S. military aid. And he said he did not believe Israel should exist as an explicitly Jewish state.

Throughout the race, Dr. El-Sayed hammered Ms. Stevens over her pro-Israel stance. Her defensiveness on the issue was clear to all: She consistently dodged questions about her support from AIPAC.

Dr. El-Sayed has said for months that if he becomes a senator, he would hope to influence U.S. policy on Israel — particularly among Democrats seeking his party’s 2028 presidential nomination. Last month, the Democratic National Committee announced that Michigan was likely to be one of the early nominating states in 2028.
AIPAC was dealt a narrow but costly defeat.

More than any other Democrat running this year, Ms. Stevens was the candidate of AIPAC.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee used its super PAC to invest more money, at least $30 million, to help her than any other outside group spent on any primary candidate in any race this year. It was almost, but not quite, enough for her to win.

The defeat, even by a narrow margin, serves as a rebuke to AIPAC, which has won far more Democratic primaries than it has lost in recent years.

Dr. El-Sayed, like other Democrats who have toppled AIPAC-backed candidates this year, leaned into the group’s antipathy for him and used it as a selling point.

Ms. Stevens ran a far quieter campaign than Dr. El-Sayed did. Credit...Nic Antaya for The New York Times; Nick Hagen for The New York Times
Stevens was unable to match El-Sayed’s gifts as a communicator.

One candidate danced to Taylor Swift videos on his social media pages. The other used her final campaign ad to complain about “cool kids on the internet.”

It was not hard to figure out which candidate was a more gifted political communicator.

Dr. El-Sayed is a skilled orator. His stump speeches are easily clipped for viral consumption online. And he also worked the state hard. Since beginning his campaign in April 2025, he crisscrossed Michigan, holding more than 500 in-person events.

Ms. Stevens, by contrast, held relatively few public events. She spoke often about her love for Michigan and its manufacturing industry — important issues in her home state but hardly ones to energize Democratic voters furious with President Trump. She was, by most accounts, good at one-on-one retail politics, but in a state with 10 million people, that can do only so much.

 

 

Donavan McKinney, Will Lawrence and Representative Wesley Bell won their primaries. Credit: Nick Hagen for The New York Times; William Lawrence for U.S. Congress; Eric Lee for The New York Times

 
D.S.A. candidates had a mixed night.

The primaries on Tuesday had the biggest stakes for progressive Democrats of any night on this year’s political calendar.

Dr. El-Sayed was the headliner, but three House candidates with ties to democratic socialism also faced primary voters.

Will Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement who once called himself a democratic socialist but no longer does, won a three-way primary for a battleground House seat in Central Michigan.

Another left-wing candidate in Michigan, Donavan McKinney, who remains a democratic socialist, narrowly defeated Representative Shri Thanedar, a Detroit congressman who was not beloved either in his district or among his congressional colleagues.

And Yousef Rabhi, a democratic socialist, ousted the incumbent mayor of Ann Arbor, Mich., Christopher Taylor.

But in Missouri, Representative Wesley Bell, a moderate, easily held off a challenge from Cori Bush, a democratic socialist whom he ousted from the seat two years ago.

 
Michigan was another defeat for Schumer.

Before this year, it had been a long time since a Democrat backed by Senator Chuck Schumer lost a Senate primary. Now it has happened twice this summer.

Mr. Schumer’s endorsement of Ms. Stevens may have signaled to donors to get behind her, but it cemented her position as the establishment candidate in a year when Democratic primary voters are furious with the establishment.

Plenty of things have gone right for Mr. Schumer this year. His recruits in Alaska, North Carolina and Ohio went unchallenged and appear in solid shape heading into November. His choice in Iowa cruised through a primary. And Ms. Stevens was not his first choice in Michigan; he initially tried to draft Gov. Gretchen Whitmer into the race.

But after Mr. Schumer’s primary stumbles in Michigan and Maine — where he recruited Gov. Janet Mills only for her to end her campaign a month before the primary — he has been left with two Democratic nominees in battleground states who have explicitly campaigned against him.

Now Mr. Schumer must make amends with Dr. El-Sayed. The minority leader is getting some practice at this: Last week, he met with Troy Jackson, the new Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, who said he would not back Mr. Schumer for leader and said he was not sure he would accept his help in the general election. The two did eventually agree to work together.


Former Representative Mike Rogers ran unopposed in the Republican primary for Senate in Michigan. Credit: Paul Sancya/Associated Press

 
Republicans are going to go after El-Sayed hard.

Ms. Stevens said throughout the final weeks of the primary that Mr. Rogers and his fellow Republicans were itching for Dr. El-Sayed to win the primary because they thought he would be easier to beat in November.

Now Republicans will get their chance to prove Ms. Stevens correct.

Republicans are about to turn Dr. El-Sayed into a left-wing boogeyman of epic proportions. They will highlight pieces of his résumé that did not get a close vetting by Democratic voters, including his association with Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer who once said “America deserved 9/11.” (He later walked back the remark.)

The Senate Republican campaign arm highlighted Mr. Piker’s remark, and Dr. El-Sayed’s refusal to disavow it, in a digital ad released Wednesday morning that referred to the Democratic candidate by his full given name — Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed — and called him “the most radical candidate in America.”

Whether the strategy works remains to be seen. Mr. Trump is so unpopular that Democrats are preparing to contest seats previously thought to be out of reach. But plenty of left-wing and right-wing candidates in both parties have won wave-year primaries only to blow general elections their compatriots thought were eminently winnable.

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:14 a.m. ET34 minutes ago

Bayliss Wagner

Politics reporter

In a statement, Stevens announced she would support El-Sayed in the general election and thanked her supporters.

“This was a thorough and rigorous campaign that brought out the full span of views within the Democratic Party — and that is why we have primaries,” she said. “I am proud to have put up my hand to serve and prouder to continue to work together to make sure this Senate seat remains blue, that we flip the United States Senate and continue the work for Michigan.”

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:07 a.m. ET41 minutes ago

Tim Balk

Reporting from Michigan

Representative Haley Stevens called Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to concede this morning, said Arik Wolk, a spokesman for the Stevens campaign.


Aug. 5, 2026, 9:55 a.m. ET53 minutes ago

Reid J. Epstein

National politics reporter
Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.


Dr. Abdul El-Sayed pushed Israel to the center of the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, criticizing the country’s actions in Gaza and promising to pull back American military support. Credit: Nick Hagen for The New York Times

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed narrowly won the Democratic primary race for Senate in Michigan on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, giving progressives a victory that signaled liberal voters’ anti-establishment mood and shifting sentiment against Israel.

Dr. El-Sayed, 41, a former public health official, narrowly defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a four-term moderate, in a hostile race that was dominated by the politics of Israel and the role of big money in American elections.

He fiercely criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza and promised to pull back American military support, while she vowed to continue sending U.S. military aid to Israel without conditions.

While most Michigan political observers expected in the campaign’s final days that Dr. El-Sayed would prevail, and polls showed him leading by a significant amount, the close margin between him and Ms. Stevens pointed to the tough general-election battle to come for Democrats.

Dr. El-Sayed overcame more than $60 million in super PAC spending on behalf of Ms. Stevens, including at least $30 million tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the nation’s most influential pro-Israel group. Another $30 million came from so-called dark-money groups whose donors remain hidden.

But even as he was vastly outspent on advertising, Dr. El-Sayed turned Ms. Stevens’s financial advantage into a liability, casting his bid as a grass-roots campaign up against the well-funded establishment. “The money against the many,” as he put it in stump speeches.

His primary victory delivers another shock to a Democratic Party in which left-wing challengers across the country have ousted longtime incumbents or beaten rivals supported by party leaders in Washington.

Dr. El-Sayed was backed by leading progressives, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who went to Michigan to campaign for him. Ms. Stevens was supported by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, as well as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and other prominent state Democrats.

In the general election, Dr. El-Sayed will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in a race widely seen as crucial for control of the Senate. Mr. Rogers was a moderate Republican during his seven House terms, but like many others in his party, he has become an acolyte of President Trump. Mr. Rogers narrowly lost a 2024 Senate bid to Elissa Slotkin, even as Mr. Trump carried the state on his way back to the White House.

Democratic leaders worried — and Ms. Stevens argued — that Dr. El-Sayed could be the weaker candidate in the general election. He is a notably left-wing candidate in a battleground state, with his calls for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ushering in universal health care.

“We’ve got to do one thing, and that’s go beat Mike Rogers,” Ms. Stevens said in an interview last month. “We’ve got to be eyes on the prize, and that’s winning in November.”

The Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants, Dr. El-Sayed made no secret of his ambitions of progressive leadership within the Democratic Party. He said that he hoped to recalibrate the party’s politics on Israel and wanted to make opposition to funding its military a litmus test for Democrats running for president in 2028.

Defanging AIPAC, he argued, was crucial: “I want AIPAC to cease to be a force in Democratic primaries,” he said in an interview last month. “The best way to do that is to defeat them in a state like Michigan.”

He made much of his campaign pitch a rebuke of both the group and corporate politics. At his events, attendees chanted his slogan along with him: “Money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all.”

It was no accident that Israel emerged as a fault line in a major Democratic primary in Michigan. The state, which has large numbers of Muslim and Jewish voters, delivered a rebuke to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2024, when 13 percent of Democratic primary voters voted for “uncommitted” in protest of his policy on Israel amid its war with Gaza.

Dr. El-Sayed’s base was seen as the state’s Arab and Muslim voters, as well as younger and more liberal Democrats. Ms. Stevens had pushed to win over the state’s Black voters, whom AIPAC had targeted with a flood of advertisements featuring a clip of former President Barack Obama praising Ms. Stevens during her first run for Congress in 2018.

The contest, which until early July also included Mallory McMorrow, a state senator who sought a middle ground between Ms. Stevens and Dr. El-Sayed, became quite nasty in its final weeks.

So many of Dr. El-Sayed’s supporters mocked Ms. Stevens’s mannerisms and Michigan accent that he urged them to stop making fun of her “for things that have nothing to do with her policies or politics.” In the final days before the primary, Ms. Stevens lashed out at Dr. El-Sayed, posting on social media, “Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.”

Now, Dr. El-Sayed will face the task of uniting Michigan Democrats for the general election.

 

 

MEANWHILE...THIS IS WHAT IS KNOWN AS GOOD NEWS...

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/us/politics/el-sayed-stevens-michigan-democratic-senate-primary.html

 
Abdul El-Sayed Wins Democratic Senate Primary in Michigan in a Victory for the Left

Dr. El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, narrowly defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, in a bitter primary dominated by the politics of Israel.

Listen · 5:40 minutes



Dr. Abdul El-Sayed pushed Israel to the center of the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, criticizing the country’s actions in Gaza and promising to pull back American military support. Credit: Nick Hagen for The New York Times

by Reid J. Epstein
August 5, 2026, 
New York Times

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed narrowly won the Democratic primary race for Senate in Michigan on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, giving progressives a victory that signaled liberal voters’ anti-establishment mood and shifting sentiment against Israel.

Dr. El-Sayed, 41, a former public health official, narrowly defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a four-term moderate, in a hostile race that was dominated by the politics of Israel and the role of big money in American elections.

He fiercely criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza and promised to pull back American military support, while she vowed to continue sending U.S. military aid to Israel without conditions.

While most Michigan political observers expected in the campaign’s final days that Dr. El-Sayed would prevail, and polls showed him leading by a significant amount, the close margin between him and Ms. Stevens pointed to the tough general-election battle to come for Democrats.

Dr. El-Sayed overcame more than $60 million in super PAC spending on behalf of Ms. Stevens, including at least $30 million tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the nation’s most influential pro-Israel group. Another $30 million came from so-called dark-money groups whose donors remain hidden.


But even as he was vastly outspent on advertising, Dr. El-Sayed turned Ms. Stevens’s financial advantage into a liability, casting his bid as a grass-roots campaign up against the well-funded establishment. “The money against the many,” as he put it in stump speeches.

His primary victory delivers another shock to a Democratic Party in which left-wing challengers across the country have ousted longtime incumbents or beaten rivals supported by party leaders in Washington.

Dr. El-Sayed was backed by leading progressives, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who went to Michigan to campaign for him. Ms. Stevens was supported by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, as well as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and other prominent state Democrats.

In the general election, Dr. El-Sayed will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in a race widely seen as crucial for control of the Senate. Mr. Rogers was a moderate Republican during his seven House terms, but like many others in his party, he has become an acolyte of President Trump. Mr. Rogers narrowly lost a 2024 Senate bid to Elissa Slotkin, even as Mr. Trump carried the state on his way back to the White House.

Democratic leaders worried — and Ms. Stevens argued — that Dr. El-Sayed could be the weaker candidate in the general election. He is a notably left-wing candidate in a battleground state, with his calls for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ushering in universal health care.

“We’ve got to do one thing, and that’s go beat Mike Rogers,” Ms. Stevens said in an interview last month. “We’ve got to be eyes on the prize, and that’s winning in November.”

The Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants, Dr. El-Sayed made no secret of his ambitions of progressive leadership within the Democratic Party. He said that he hoped to recalibrate the party’s politics on Israel and wanted to make opposition to funding its military a litmus test for Democrats running for president in 2028.

Defanging AIPAC, he argued, was crucial: “I want AIPAC to cease to be a force in Democratic primaries,” he said in an interview last month. “The best way to do that is to defeat them in a state like Michigan.”

He made much of his campaign pitch a rebuke of both the group and corporate politics. At his events, attendees chanted his slogan along with him: “Money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all.”

It was no accident that Israel emerged as a fault line in a major Democratic primary in Michigan. The state, which has large numbers of Muslim and Jewish voters, delivered a rebuke to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2024, when 13 percent of Democratic primary voters voted for “uncommitted” in protest of his policy on Israel amid its war with Gaza.

Dr. El-Sayed’s base was seen as the state’s Arab and Muslim voters, as well as younger and more liberal Democrats. Ms. Stevens had pushed to win over the state’s Black voters, whom AIPAC had targeted with a flood of advertisements featuring a clip of former President Barack Obama praising Ms. Stevens during her first run for Congress in 2018.

The contest, which until early July also included Mallory McMorrow, a state senator who sought a middle ground between Ms. Stevens and Dr. El-Sayed, became quite nasty in its final weeks.

So many of Dr. El-Sayed’s supporters mocked Ms. Stevens’s mannerisms and Michigan accent that he urged them to stop making fun of her “for things that have nothing to do with her policies or politics.” In the final days before the primary, Ms. Stevens lashed out at Dr. El-Sayed, posting on social media, “Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.”

Now, Dr. El-Sayed will face the task of uniting Michigan Democrats for the general election.

Reid J. Epstein is a Times reporter covering campaigns and elections from Washington.

See more on: Democratic Party, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), U.S. Politics



https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/08/05/us/michigan-election-results-primary#eadaaf73-6ba6-55f0-87d2-6523d3a67d52


LiveUpdated


Aug. 5, 2026, 10:42 a.m. ET1 minute ago

Primary Elections Live Updates: El-Sayed Wins Michigan Senate Primary

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive, defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, in a Senate primary that had divided the Democrats, according to The Associated Press.


Video

Live

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed defeated Representative Haley Stevens in the Democratic Michigan Senate primary.
Latest

Pinned


Updated

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:18 a.m. ET25 minutes ago

Kellen Browning and Shane Goldmacher
Here’s the latest.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive and vocal critic of Israel, edged Representative Haley Stevens, a moderate, early on Wednesday to win the Michigan Senate Democratic primary, according to The Associated Press, securing a high-profile victory for the ascendant political left.

In a contentious race that divided the party, Dr. El-Sayed overcame $60 million in outside money supporting Ms. Stevens, including about $32 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a hard-line pro-Israel group whose involvement became a source of frequent conflict in the contest.

Dr. El-Sayed will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in a general election clash for an open battleground seat that could determine control of the Senate.

Dr. El-Sayed and his allies argued that his populist rhetoric would energize voters across the political spectrum who are unhappy with the status quo. But Democratic leaders had rallied around Ms. Stevens, a centrist and fierce ally of Israel, fearful that the left-wing views espoused by Dr. El-Sayed, a former public health official and proponent of universal health care, could imperil the party’s chances of defending an crucial open seat.

Speaking to supporters in the hours before the race was called, Dr. El-Sayed said that if he won the primary, “we’ll have taken $70 million on the chin and kept fighting back.” In a nod to the divisive nature of the primary, he added: “Tomorrow, we begin to mend fences.”

Elsewhere, results were mixed in closely watched Democratic primaries. In Missouri, the establishment struck back at the progressive left, with Representative Wesley Bell fending off a primary challenge from former Representative Cori Bush, a democratic socialist.

Ms. Bush, a critic of Israel and member of the so-called Squad — a group of progressive women of color in Congress — was ousted from her St. Louis seat by Mr. Bell two years ago and had been attempting a comeback.

But progressives scored a victory in a Michigan Democratic primary that included Lansing, where William Lawrence, an organizer, beat two centrist Democrats in a House race. He will face Representative Tom Barrett, a Republican, in the fall — a competitive contest that will test whether left-wing populism is viable in swing districts.

Here’s what else we’re covering:

Michigan defeat: Representative Shri Thanedar, a second-term Democrat, lost to the democratic socialist challenging him, State Representative Donavan McKinney, joining a wave of Democratic incumbents in Congress whom primary voters have sent packing in a surge of anti-incumbent fervor this cycle.


A Pacific primary fight: Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, an outspoken and vulnerable centrist Democrat who faced challenges from her left and right in the state’s top-two primary system, advanced to a general election against a Republican in her district in southwestern Washington state.


Control in Kansas: Cindy Holscher, a populist Democratic state senator, and State Senator Ty Masterson, a Trump-endorsed candidate, will battle for the Kansas governorship after winning their respective parties’ nominations. The winner will replace Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, a Democrat, who is leaving office because of term limits.


Key House matchup set in Virginia: Democratic primary voters chose former Representative Elaine Luria to face Representative Jen Kiggans, a Republican, in a House race expected to be one of the most competitive in the country this fall. The district is home to several military bases, and both women are Navy veterans.

Aug. 5, 2026, 10:42 a.m. ET4 minutes ago

Tim Balk

Reporting from Michigan

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is holding a small rally in downtown Detroit. Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic state lawmaker who ran for Senate but suspended her campaign last month, has joined him at the event. She endorsed El-Sayed early this morning.



Aug. 5, 2026, 10:23 a.m. ET22 minutes ago

Bayliss Wagner

Politics reporter

Senator Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat who had been neutral in the primary, congratulated Abdul El-Sayed on Wednesday morning.

“It’s been a long primary, but now it’s time to gear up to beat Mike Rogers (again) and win up and down the ticket,” Slotkin wrote on social media. “There is nothing more important than the mission of the next 90 days: uniting, keeping this seat blue, flipping the House and Senate, and providing a real check on President Trump.”



Aug. 5, 2026, 10:15 a.m. ET31 minutes ago

Reid J. Epstein

National politics reporter
The left wins a nail-biter in Michigan: Here are eight takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries.



Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s close primary victory signaled that he has work to do to unite Democrats and turn out swing voters in November. Credit...Nick Hagen for The New York Times

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, won a razor-thin victory in the Democratic primary for Senate in Michigan that serves as the most significant triumph for his party’s left wing this year.

Dr. El-Sayed prevailed in a highly contentious contest against Representative Haley Stevens, who argued to the end that he was unlikely to win a general election in a battleground state.

Now Dr. El-Sayed will test the longstanding progressive hope that left-wing candidates can energize enough voters to beat Republicans in swing terrain. He will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican who narrowly lost the state’s 2024 Senate race and ran unopposed in this year’s primary. They are competing for the seat of Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who is retiring.

The stakes for both Mr. Rogers and Dr. El-Sayed are perhaps higher than two years ago. Michigan is widely seen as a crucial state for Senate control. And how a progressive like Dr. El-Sayed performs in a must-win state in November is likely to have ramifications on how Democratic primary voters perceive their presidential candidates’ ideology and electability in 2028.

Here are eight takeaways from a big primary night in Michigan and four other states:
The left beat the establishment, but the results showed its limits.

Dr. El-Sayed campaigned hard against the Democratic political establishment. That was enough to win, but enough voters backed Ms. Stevens to suggest that the establishment still has plenty of influence.

Ms. Stevens showed strength among Black voters in Detroit and Flint and carried most of the state’s interior rural counties, aside from a few with college towns and resort communities.

Dr. El-Sayed was strongest in communities with young voters, college students and educated and wealthy white voters. That coalition carried him through the primary, but he will have work to do to beat Mr. Rogers in November.

In all, the Michigan map demonstrated the limitations — for now, at least — that face a dyed-in-the-wool progressive running on a foreign policy platform to the left of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.



Representative Haley Stevens, a supporter of Israel, was trailed by that position all campaign and dodged questions about her significant financial backing from pro-Israel groups.Credit...Paul Sancya/Associated Press
The ground has shifted under pro-Israel Democrats.

The Democratic Party’s rapid retreat from support for Israel has been well documented in polls, election results and votes in Congress.

But Dr. El-Sayed’s primary success in Michigan was arguably the most remarkable victory yet for the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States — and maybe the biggest setback for pro-Israel Democrats.

Dr. El-Sayed, the Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants, won by putting Israel squarely at the center of the campaign. He labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide. He said he would cut U.S. military aid. And he said he did not believe Israel should exist as an explicitly Jewish state.

Throughout the race, Dr. El-Sayed hammered Ms. Stevens over her pro-Israel stance. Her defensiveness on the issue was clear to all: She consistently dodged questions about her support from AIPAC.

Dr. El-Sayed has said for months that if he becomes a senator, he would hope to influence U.S. policy on Israel — particularly among Democrats seeking his party’s 2028 presidential nomination. Last month, the Democratic National Committee announced that Michigan was likely to be one of the early nominating states in 2028.
AIPAC was dealt a narrow but costly defeat.

More than any other Democrat running this year, Ms. Stevens was the candidate of AIPAC.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee used its super PAC to invest more money, at least $30 million, to help her than any other outside group spent on any primary candidate in any race this year. It was almost, but not quite, enough for her to win.

The defeat, even by a narrow margin, serves as a rebuke to AIPAC, which has won far more Democratic primaries than it has lost in recent years.

Dr. El-Sayed, like other Democrats who have toppled AIPAC-backed candidates this year, leaned into the group’s antipathy for him and used it as a selling point.



Ms. Stevens ran a far quieter campaign than Dr. El-Sayed did.Credit...Nic Antaya for The New York Times; Nick Hagen for The New York Times
Stevens was unable to match El-Sayed’s gifts as a communicator.

One candidate danced to Taylor Swift videos on his social media pages. The other used her final campaign ad to complain about “cool kids on the internet.”

It was not hard to figure out which candidate was a more gifted political communicator.

Dr. El-Sayed is a skilled orator. His stump speeches are easily clipped for viral consumption online. And he also worked the state hard. Since beginning his campaign in April 2025, he crisscrossed Michigan, holding more than 500 in-person events.

Ms. Stevens, by contrast, held relatively few public events. She spoke often about her love for Michigan and its manufacturing industry — important issues in her home state but hardly ones to energize Democratic voters furious with President Trump. She was, by most accounts, good at one-on-one retail politics, but in a state with 10 million people, that can do only so much.



Donavan McKinney, Will Lawrence and Representative Wesley Bell won their primaries. Credit...Nick Hagen for The New York Times; William Lawrence for U.S. Congress; Eric Lee for The New York Times
D.S.A. candidates had a mixed night.

The primaries on Tuesday had the biggest stakes for progressive Democrats of any night on this year’s political calendar.

Dr. El-Sayed was the headliner, but three House candidates with ties to democratic socialism also faced primary voters.

Will Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement who once called himself a democratic socialist but no longer does, won a three-way primary for a battleground House seat in Central Michigan.

Another left-wing candidate in Michigan, Donavan McKinney, who remains a democratic socialist, narrowly defeated Representative Shri Thanedar, a Detroit congressman who was not beloved either in his district or among his congressional colleagues.

And Yousef Rabhi, a democratic socialist, ousted the incumbent mayor of Ann Arbor, Mich., Christopher Taylor.

But in Missouri, Representative Wesley Bell, a moderate, easily held off a challenge from Cori Bush, a democratic socialist whom he ousted from the seat two years ago.
Michigan was another defeat for Schumer.

Before this year, it had been a long time since a Democrat backed by Senator Chuck Schumer lost a Senate primary. Now it has happened twice this summer.

Mr. Schumer’s endorsement of Ms. Stevens may have signaled to donors to get behind her, but it cemented her position as the establishment candidate in a year when Democratic primary voters are furious with the establishment.

Plenty of things have gone right for Mr. Schumer this year. His recruits in Alaska, North Carolina and Ohio went unchallenged and appear in solid shape heading into November. His choice in Iowa cruised through a primary. And Ms. Stevens was not his first choice in Michigan; he initially tried to draft Gov. Gretchen Whitmer into the race.

But after Mr. Schumer’s primary stumbles in Michigan and Maine — where he recruited Gov. Janet Mills only for her to end her campaign a month before the primary — he has been left with two Democratic nominees in battleground states who have explicitly campaigned against him.

Now Mr. Schumer must make amends with Dr. El-Sayed. The minority leader is getting some practice at this: Last week, he met with Troy Jackson, the new Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine, who said he would not back Mr. Schumer for leader and said he was not sure he would accept his help in the general election. The two did eventually agree to work together.

Image



Former Representative Mike Rogers ran unopposed in the Republican primary for Senate in Michigan.Credit...Paul Sancya/Associated Press
Republicans are going to go after El-Sayed hard.

Ms. Stevens said throughout the final weeks of the primary that Mr. Rogers and his fellow Republicans were itching for Dr. El-Sayed to win the primary because they thought he would be easier to beat in November.

Now Republicans will get their chance to prove Ms. Stevens correct.

Republicans are about to turn Dr. El-Sayed into a left-wing boogeyman of epic proportions. They will highlight pieces of his résumé that did not get a close vetting by Democratic voters, including his association with Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer who once said “America deserved 9/11.” (He later walked back the remark.)

The Senate Republican campaign arm highlighted Mr. Piker’s remark, and Dr. El-Sayed’s refusal to disavow it, in a digital ad released Wednesday morning that referred to the Democratic candidate by his full given name — Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed — and called him “the most radical candidate in America.”

Whether the strategy works remains to be seen. Mr. Trump is so unpopular that Democrats are preparing to contest seats previously thought to be out of reach. But plenty of left-wing and right-wing candidates in both parties have won wave-year primaries only to blow general elections their compatriots thought were eminently winnable.



Aug. 5, 2026, 10:14 a.m. ET34 minutes ago

Bayliss Wagner

Politics reporter

In a statement, Stevens announced she would support El-Sayed in the general election and thanked her supporters.

“This was a thorough and rigorous campaign that brought out the full span of views within the Democratic Party — and that is why we have primaries,” she said. “I am proud to have put up my hand to serve and prouder to continue to work together to make sure this Senate seat remains blue, that we flip the United States Senate and continue the work for Michigan.”



Aug. 5, 2026, 10:07 a.m. ET41 minutes ago

Tim Balk

Reporting from Michigan

Representative Haley Stevens called Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to concede this morning, said Arik Wolk, a spokesman for the Stevens campaign.


Aug. 5, 2026, 9:55 a.m. ET53 minutes ago

Reid J. Epstein

National politics reporter
Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.

Image



Dr. Abdul El-Sayed pushed Israel to the center of the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, criticizing the country’s actions in Gaza and promising to pull back American military support.Credit...Nick Hagen for The New York Times

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed narrowly won the Democratic primary race for Senate in Michigan on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, giving progressives a victory that signaled liberal voters’ anti-establishment mood and shifting sentiment against Israel.

Dr. El-Sayed, 41, a former public health official, narrowly defeated Representative Haley Stevens, a four-term moderate, in a hostile race that was dominated by the politics of Israel and the role of big money in American elections.

He fiercely criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza and promised to pull back American military support, while she vowed to continue sending U.S. military aid to Israel without conditions.

While most Michigan political observers expected in the campaign’s final days that Dr. El-Sayed would prevail, and polls showed him leading by a significant amount, the close margin between him and Ms. Stevens pointed to the tough general-election battle to come for Democrats.

Dr. El-Sayed overcame more than $60 million in super PAC spending on behalf of Ms. Stevens, including at least $30 million tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the nation’s most influential pro-Israel group. Another $30 million came from so-called dark-money groups whose donors remain hidden.

But even as he was vastly outspent on advertising, Dr. El-Sayed turned Ms. Stevens’s financial advantage into a liability, casting his bid as a grass-roots campaign up against the well-funded establishment. “The money against the many,” as he put it in stump speeches.

His primary victory delivers another shock to a Democratic Party in which left-wing challengers across the country have ousted longtime incumbents or beaten rivals supported by party leaders in Washington.

Dr. El-Sayed was backed by leading progressives, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who went to Michigan to campaign for him. Ms. Stevens was supported by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, as well as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and other prominent state Democrats.

In the general election, Dr. El-Sayed will face former Representative Mike Rogers, a Republican, in a race widely seen as crucial for control of the Senate. Mr. Rogers was a moderate Republican during his seven House terms, but like many others in his party, he has become an acolyte of President Trump. Mr. Rogers narrowly lost a 2024 Senate bid to Elissa Slotkin, even as Mr. Trump carried the state on his way back to the White House.

Democratic leaders worried — and Ms. Stevens argued — that Dr. El-Sayed could be the weaker candidate in the general election. He is a notably left-wing candidate in a battleground state, with his calls for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ushering in universal health care.

“We’ve got to do one thing, and that’s go beat Mike Rogers,” Ms. Stevens said in an interview last month. “We’ve got to be eyes on the prize, and that’s winning in November.”

The Michigan-born son of Egyptian immigrants, Dr. El-Sayed made no secret of his ambitions of progressive leadership within the Democratic Party. He said that he hoped to recalibrate the party’s politics on Israel and wanted to make opposition to funding its military a litmus test for Democrats running for president in 2028.

Defanging AIPAC, he argued, was crucial: “I want AIPAC to cease to be a force in Democratic primaries,” he said in an interview last month. “The best way to do that is to defeat them in a state like Michigan.”

He made much of his campaign pitch a rebuke of both the group and corporate politics. At his events, attendees chanted his slogan along with him: “Money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all.”

It was no accident that Israel emerged as a fault line in a major Democratic primary in Michigan. The state, which has large numbers of Muslim and Jewish voters, delivered a rebuke to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2024, when 13 percent of Democratic primary voters voted for “uncommitted” in protest of his policy on Israel amid its war with Gaza.

Dr. El-Sayed’s base was seen as the state’s Arab and Muslim voters, as well as younger and more liberal Democrats. Ms. Stevens had pushed to win over the state’s Black voters, whom AIPAC had targeted with a flood of advertisements featuring a clip of former President Barack Obama praising Ms. Stevens during her first run for Congress in 2018.

The contest, which until early July also included Mallory McMorrow, a state senator who sought a middle ground between Ms. Stevens and Dr. El-Sayed, became quite nasty in its final weeks.

So many of Dr. El-Sayed’s supporters mocked Ms. Stevens’s mannerisms and Michigan accent that he urged them to stop making fun of her “for things that have nothing to do with her policies or politics.” In the final days before the primary, Ms. Stevens lashed out at Dr. El-Sayed, posting on social media, “Everyone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.”

Now, Dr. El-Sayed will face the task of uniting Michigan Democrats for the general election.