Less than 10 miles away, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens was making her own appeal at another black church, where one of the city’s most prominent pastors made the case for her.
There were fewer than 48 hours left in Michigan’s fiercely contested Democratic Senate primary. And after more than a year spent preaching starkly different visions for their party — with tens of millions of dollars poured into the race and national attention focused on it — both candidates had come to some of the same places looking for the votes to win it.
First, black churches. Later, union halls. Then rallies surrounded by their core supporters.
Stevens, who has been through several competitive Democratic primaries, has a name for the frenzy of the closing days: “the last word phenomenon.”
“Everyone’s trying to get in their last points,” Stevens said.
Where the candidates chose to make those final points reflected the simple contest underneath all the money and ideological warfare: which one can assemble enough of Michigan’s Democratic coalition to win Tuesday.
The primary has become one of the clearest tests yet of where Democratic voters want their party to go. El-Sayed, a far-left socialist backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and other leaders on the party’s left, has run against much of the Democratic establishment. Stevens, a four-term congresswoman backed by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and many of Michigan's top Democrats, has made electability and experience central to her case.
The stakes extend well beyond the primary. The nominee will need to bring a fractured Democratic coalition back together to defeat Republican Mike Rogers in November and hold an open seat that is critical to the party’s hopes of taking control of the Senate next year.
Both hopefuls focused on the Detroit area, where Democratic primaries are often decided
Democratic primaries in Michigan have long run through Detroit, where support from the city’s Black voters is often crucial.
El-Sayed’s pitch to those voters Sunday — during stops at three churches — centered on a vision of economic opportunity and equal treatment.
“I believe in the kind of America where no matter where you grow up, the color of your skin, how you pray, you deserve equal rights in this country,” El-Sayed told the congregation at Kingdom Covenant Church.
“You deserve to go to a good school, you deserve to get healthcare, you deserve to graduate and get a good job,” he added.
El-Sayed was joined by Democratic Reps. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, as well as Yusef Jackson, the son of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson who is president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Pastor David A. Johnson II said welcoming a political candidate was not something he typically did, but “this particular season, it’s time for us to do something different.”
For Robin Robertson, a 59-year-old Detroit resident, El-Sayed’s visit came just in time. Robertson said she had gone back and forth over whom to support, waiting until the campaign’s final days to decide.
She ultimately settled on El-Sayed, saying Stevens “had a good run.”
“His agenda seems to match more for me the things that we need right now,” Robertson said. “And then, he’s here in my little church. That was confirmation that I’m going to vote for him.”
Stevens, meanwhile, emphasized her longstanding connections to Detroit-area churches.
At a church in Pontiac on Sunday afternoon, Stevens stayed after the service to speak individually with congregants, greeting many like familiar faces.
“I come here year-round. This isn’t just a campaign thing,” Stevens said. “Our churches are places of community refuge, community connection.”
