DETROIT .— Michigan Democrats urged voters on Friday to support their statewide candidates, three days after a tight race for a U.S. Senate seat highlighted divisions between the party’s progressive and moderate wings.
A list of candidates and other prominent Democrats addressed a crowd of more than 1,000 voters. The crowd cheered most enthusiastically for Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who narrowly defeated establishment-backed Representative Haley Stevens in a contentious and closely watched primary for a vacant Senate seat.
“In Michigan, we will fight to build the America we are proud to bequeath to our children and grandchildren,” El-Sayed said from a podium under a scoreboard in a Detroit high school gymnasium.
Less than three months before the general election in which El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers, the Democratic Party is under pressure to close ranks in a race that will help determine control of the Senate.
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“In a spirit of unity, I want to thank my two colleagues who ran,” El-Sayed said. “Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow ran an incredible campaign.” McMorrow suspended her campaign in July.
The decision of current Democratic Senator Gary Peters not to run for reelection left the seat vacant. Michigan is a key state in the elections, having voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, for Joe Biden in 2020, and again for Trump in 2024.Related stories
The rally came after a chaotic primary campaign that at times turned personal. In early July, El-Sayed told Semafor that Stevens was not capable of “writing two coherent sentences.” In another interview, he called him “the least capable candidate in America.”
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Stevens, for his part, accused El-Sayed of seeking publicity.
“I am the only one on this stage who doesn’t have a talent agent trying to get me paid speeches,” she said during a debate against El-Sayed. “And unlike my opponent, I don’t run to the first microphone or camera I see.”
Stevens, who lost the primary by just under a percentage point, told CBS News on Thursday that she was willing to campaign with El-Sayed.
“I will do whatever he wants,” she said. Stevens appeared Thursday alongside El-Sayed at a breakfast organized by the Michigan Democratic Party.
At Friday’s event, gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson, who easily won the primary, also spoke. She will face Trump-backed Representative John James in the general election.
Among the other state candidates who spoke were Eli Savit, who is running for attorney general, and Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist, who is running for secretary of state.
Before the rally began, Tom Moran, one of the attendees, carried a sign that read: “United behind the winner.” This school bus driver from Fenton, Michigan, voted for Stevens in the primary.
“Now I tell you: make the commitment. Let us unite around our candidate,” said Moran, 71.
GaNun is a member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
