Abdul El-Sayed departs following a news conference at the Spirit of Detroit shortly after winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Michigan. AP
Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who harnessed Democratic frustration with the party establishment, defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s U.S. Senate primary, setting up a crucial test for progressives in a key battleground state.
El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman, in November in a race that will help determine control of the Senate. His first challenge will be unifying Democratic factions after a bitter primary that offered divergent visions for a party desperate for a path back to power.
Trump made particularly charged comments about El-Sayed’s views on Israel. The Democrat has called for ending U.S. military aid to Israel.
“He doesn’t love Jewish people. He hates them,” Trump said. “He hates them with a passion that burns in his heart and there’s not a fricking thing he can do about it.”
El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim senator, has rejected accusations of antisemitism.
“My commitment to Jewish safety is the same commitment to the safety of my own daughters,” he said Wednesday morning.
Democratic turnout in Michigan primary one of the highest in state history
The Democratic U.S. Senate contest in Michigan has surpassed turnout for previous Senate and gubernatorial primaries and almost every presidential primary going back to at least 1978, according to Michigan Secretary of State records.
As of noon ET Wednesday, a total of 1,528,280 votes had been counted. The total could end up being higher as ballots continue to be processed.
But it already surpasses the roughly 1,181,000 votes counted in the 2020 U.S. Senate Democratic primary, and the approximately 1,131,000 votes counted in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
The 2026 turnout total so far trails the nearly 1,588,000 votes counted in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. About 1,117,000 votes were counted in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Bernie Sanders praises El-Sayed’s primary win as historic sign of ‘unstoppable’ change for Democrats
“Abdul’s victory was, in my opinion, the most extraordinary victory that I can think of in modern American politics,” said Vermont independent Sen. Sanders during a call with reporters.
Sanders also congratulated two progressive candidates who won U.S. House primaries in the state and commended Rep. Haley Stevens for conceding a “tough” race.
Sanders said El-Sayed “took on” the Democratic establishment and outside spending from groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He said the result was a sign of further change.
“The new Democratic Party is going to be broad-based. It’s going to be open and encouraging the participation of working-class people, of young people, of lower-income people. Democracy is messy, and I’m not going to sit here and tell you that everything is going to go 100% smoothly and there’s not going to be differences of opinion. That’s called democracy. I happen to believe in that. But that is the direction in which we are heading, and I think that is unstoppable.”
Asked about progressive Abdul El-Sayed’s ability to turn out core Democratic constituencies including Black and Jewish voters, Sanders said that El-Sayed’s economic message had broad appeal.
“I think his economic message will resonate across Democratic constituencies, and I think there’ll be working-class Republicans who will support that,” Sanders told reporters.
He argued that El-Sayed “has the capability of expanding the voter turnout universe, and much many of those new voters will be voting for him.”
Sanders dismissed concerns that El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza will alienate Jewish voters.
“To be critical of the right-wing extremist government of Netanyahu and his horrific policies in Gaza does not make you antisemitic,” said Sanders, who is Jewish.
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