Stevens, El-Sayed Prepare for One-on-One Senate Debate in Michigan After McMorrow Suspends Campaign

Congresswoman Haley Stevens and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed will face off on Tuesday in their first one-on-one debate for the Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate nomination after state Senator Mallory McMorrow suspended her campaign on Sunday. Ms. Stevens and Dr. El-Sayed are hoping to succeed Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat who surprised many when he announced last year that he would retire. Ms. McMorrow, who stood in the middle of the progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic Party, had fallen significantly in the polls as Dr. El-Sayed shored up the left flank and Ms. Stevens courted moderate voters and the party establishment. With Ms. McMorrow now out of the race, Dr. El-Sayed and Ms. Stevens will debate at Grand Rapids, hoping to convince a critical mass of Ms. McMorrow’s backers to support their respective campaigns. According to current polling aggregates, Dr. El-Sayed holds a single-digit lead over Ms. Stevens, 38 percent to 31 percent. Before dropping out of the race, Ms. McMorrow was polling at about 11 percent. The matchup now between Ms. Stevens and Dr. El-Sayed is one not just about policy, but about strategy. Ms. Stevens, a moderate pro-Israel Democrat who does not support Medicare for All or abolishing ICE — two things that Dr. El-Sayed has wholeheartedly endorsed. Dr. El-Sayed is supported by Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the United Auto Workers while Ms. Stevens has the backing of the minority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, the retiring former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the state’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, who moved her support to Ms. Stevens after Ms. McMorrow dropped out.“With today’s announcement by Senator McMorrow, the choice is clear,” Ms. Nessel said in a statement Sunday. “Representative Haley Stevens is a seasoned fighter for Michigan who knows how to work in a difficult environment to get essential policies across the finish line. … Haley never backs down from a fight that helps the people she serves, and she has always and will always stand up to the tyranny, corruption, and grift of the Trump administration.”After major wins in the New York and Colorado primaries last month, progressives are hoping to replicate their success in the heartland. Like with the left-wing candidates in New York and Colorado, Twitch streamer and socialist commentator Hasan Piker has traveled to the state, where he campaigned with Dr. El-Sayed earlier this year. The UAW praised Dr. El-Sayed in its endorsement of him for fighting for Medicare for All and for a ban on stock buybacks. Despite concerns that he may be too left-wing for a statewide general election in a Trump-won state, Dr. El-Sayed believes running an unabashedly populist progressive campaign can help rebuild the Democratic Party that once dominated the Rust Belt. In an ad featuring Mr. Sanders last month, Dr. El-Sayed portrayed himself as the fighter Michigan needs. “He rebuilt the health department after the politicians tore it down,” one woman says in a direct-to-camera statement. “Abdul is a doctor,” Mr. Sanders says in a voiceover, describing Dr. El-Sayed as the “only candidate” with the “guts” to take on the powerful. “He took on Trump’s war and he’ll fight to invest our money right here,” a woman says. In Senate races across the country, Democrats have run a number of well-known recruits who have bypassed difficult primaries. The former governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, a former senator from Ohio, Sherrod Brown, and a former congresswoman from Alaska, Mary Peltola, are all in strong polling positions in their Trump-won home states. In Michigan, however, the fractured Democratic primary field is giving some Democrats cause for concern. Though Republicans have not won a Senate race in Michigan in decades, they feel that this may be their year despite President Trump’s unpopularity in the state. Republicans are running a former lawmaker, Congressman Mike Rogers, with high name recognition who narrowly lost the 2024 Senate race to Senator Elissa Slotkin. Benefiting from a strong fundraising apparatus already in place, Mr. Rogers has raised more than $7 million for this second Senate bid to succeed Mr. Peters. According to current polling, Mr. Rogers is statistically tied with both Ms. Stevens and Dr. El-Sayed in the general election, even though he lost a Senate race in the state less than two years ago and has closely aligned himself with a president whose job approval rating in Michigan is about 20 points underwater. In statements on Sunday, both Ms. Stevens and Dr. El-Sayed thanked Ms. McMorrow for her public service and invited her supporters to join their respective campaigns. “The same party insiders she had the courage to challenge have been bullying anyone who opposes their chosen candidate,” Dr. El-Sayed wrote on X. “I welcome her supporters to our movement to stand up against money in politics, to put money back in pockets, and pass Medicare for All. We cannot allow the establishment to decide our nominee for us.” “Mallory McMorrow has been an important voice, both in this race and in the State Senate, for policies that benefit Michigan’s children and families, and I look forward to working with her in the future to build a stronger Michigan for everyone,” Ms. Stevens said in a statement. In a video posted to X, Ms. McMorrow did not issue an endorsement. She said only that she would support the Democratic nominee after he or she is chosen on August 4. “I haven’t been shy about calling for new leadership and a better Democratic Party,” Ms. McMorrow said. “The energy is there. People are crying out for change, and we owe it to them to listen.”

Stevens, El-Sayed Prepare for One-on-One Senate Debate in Michigan After McMorrow Suspends Campaign

Stevens, El-Sayed Prepare for One-on-One Senate Debate in Michigan After McMorrow Suspends Campaign

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