The real test of El-Sayed’s and progressives’ strength will now come in a November matchup against Mike Rogers, a former congressman who ran unopposed for the Republican nomination. The seat is pivotal to Democrats’ chances of flipping the Senate and El-Sayed will face the challenge of uniting a divided Democratic base after a bruising primary.
The race remained tight throughout Tuesday night, with a winner not declared until Wednesday morning. In his final remarks at a primary night party before the race was called, El-Sayed said “tomorrow we begin to mend fences.”
Stevens called El-Sayed to concede Wednesday, and she issued a statement saying she would back El-Sayed’s candidacy.
“I am proud to offer my support as he takes on Mike Rogers in the general election,” she said.
Stevens added, “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.”
El-Sayed said $70 million was spent against him in the primary alone.
“We want to get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, pass Medicare for all,” he said in the runup to Tuesday’s vote.
“We've got an opportunity to bring ourselves back together, to come together around a movement, to take our democracy back, to make sure we have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, rather than of the corporations, by the billionaires, and for the special interests,” he continued in the Fox News clip.
Opponents see El-Sayed “as an existential threat to the system of politics that is making it way too hard on everyday,” people he said.
But El-Sayed has another passion that he shows only at select times.
“What he did not say in that clip was Israel, and on the stump that’s all he’s talked about, Israel and AIPAC,” Fox host Bill Hemmer told his audience.
Indeed, El-Sayed railed against Israel and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobbying group, in a July 7 debate.
“For too long, our foreign policy has been handed to us by the likes of the state of Israel and AIPAC, who has made sure that Democrats and Republicans are doing their bidding. So long as our politicians continue to be bought off by AIPAC, do not be surprised when we fight wars that are in their best interest, (wars) to annex Lebanon or to do genocide in Gaza,” El-Sayed said.
The razor-thin primary margin for El-Sayed is telling, says Bill Johnson, the founder of the Michigan-based American Decency Association.
“The lines of demarcation are deep and wide in the Democratic Party,” he said. “We were going to have a very liberal person serving either way, perhaps if they were to get elected as senator, but the greater concern, obviously, is with El-Sayed.”
Republicans who preferred El-Sayed as an opponent for Rogers now have what they wished for.
Polling may favor Rogers — Real Clear Politics had him three points ahead of El-Sayed in a potential matchup — but the unkind history for Republicans in a Michigan Senate race hangs over his campaign.
“The information that we've been getting consistently is that running against El Sayed for Rogers would be an easier pathway. At the same time, it's very important to remember that the Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate spot for … it's been many, many years,” Johnson said.
Progressives have been gaining strength this year
El-Sayed’s win represents a significant shift for the Democratic Party; in 2018 he lost the gubernatorial primary to now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by 21 percentage points.
El-Sayed, a former health official, campaigned on “Medicare for All,” halting military aid to Israel and campaign finance reform. He had support from progressive leaders including Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who framed the race as a grassroots-focused movement and a broader fight against the establishment and big-money spending.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, another progressive leader who endorsed El-Sayed, said the race “should be a wake-up call to the Washington Democratic establishment.”
“He was running against a lot of Washington insiders as well as parts of the Michigan Democratic establishment. And he won,” said Van Hollen. “That's an incredible story.”
“Congratulations to him,” said Sen. Gary Peters, the Michigan Democrat whose retirement spurred the contentious primary to replace him. Peters had endorsed Stevens.
Now comes the more difficult challenge for Democrats: uniting the party to defeat Rogers, for whom Republicans have already reserved large sums of money ahead of the general election. Democrats consider the seat a must-win if they are to flip control of the Senate this year.
Johnson likes Rogers’ chances.
“Mike Rogers is in for a difficult fight, but we think that he still has a better chance than any Republican candidate that we've had for quite some time now,” he said.
