DETROIT (AP) — Michigan Democrats on Friday urged voters to rally behind their statewide candidates, three days after a bitter U.S. Senate contest highlighted divisions between the progressive and moderate wings of the party.
A slate of nominees and other notable Democrats spoke to a crowd of more than 1,000 voters. The crowd cheered the loudest for Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who narrowly beat establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens in a contentious and closely watched primary for an open Senate seat.
“Michigan, we will fight to build the America we are proud to hand off to our kids and our grandkids,” El-Sayed said at a podium beneath a scoreboard in a Detroit high school gym.
With less than three months before the general election where 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.
“In the spirit of coming together, I want to thank both of my colleagues who ran,” El-Sayed said. “Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow ran an incredible race.” McMorrow suspended her campaign in July.
Current Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ decision to not seek reelection left the seat open. Michigan is a perennial battleground state, having voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump again in 2024.
The rally followed a messy primary campaign that occasionally got personal. El-Sayed told Semafor in early July that Stevens couldn’t “string together two coherent sentences.” In a separate interview, he called Stevens “the least capable candidate in America.”
Stevens, in turn, accused El-Sayed of chasing publicity.
“I’m the only one on this stage who doesn’t have a talent agent trying to pitch me for paid speeches,” she said during a debate against El-Sayed. “And unlike my opponent, I’m not running at the first mic or camera I see.”
Stevens, who lost the primary by just under 1 percentage point, told CBS News on Thursday that she was willing to campaign with El-Sayed.
“Whatever he wants me to do,” she said. Stevens appeared Thursday with El-Sayed at a breakfast hosted by the Michigan Democratic Party.
At the Friday event, gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson, who easily won her primary, also spoke. She will face Trump-backed Rep. John James in the general election.
Other statewide candidates who spoke included Eli Savit, who is running for attorney general, and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who is running for secretary of state.
Before the rally started, attendee Tom Moran carried a banner that read “Unite behind the winner.” The school bus driver from Fenton, Michigan, voted for Stevens in the primary.
“Now I’m saying, take the pledge. Unite behind our nominee,” Moran, 71, said.
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GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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