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...
#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. 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://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.
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...
Latest Shows
Support our work:
https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-de...
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/08/05/us/michigan-election-results-primary
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
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.
