Abdul El-Sayed turns toward Michigan’s general election after a bruising primary

It is the first full week of Abdul El-Sayed’s run for the Senate, and there is no rest. Shaking off the exhaustion he acknowledged at the end of a grueling primary campaign and wearing a suit and tie instead of his usual black V-neck T-shirt, he made his first stop on two Sunday morning TV appearances. 

He found himself answering questions emerging from the right about his “radical” politics that some paint as “dangerous,” which gave the new Democratic nominee an opportunity to workshop a response.

“They’re going to try and paint me as a certain thing, given my name. But I also think it’s important for us to recognize that America has a long history of embracing,” El-Sayed said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “America is a lot bigger than very small people like Donald Trump or JD Vance or Mike Rogers want to make it out to be.” 

Attempting to turn these questions back on his foes will need to be part of the Democrat’s general election campaign, after his win in last week’s divisive Michigan Democratic primary for U.S. Senate made him a face of the resurgence of progressive politics. His campaign is now working at hyperspeed to organize all the demands that come with victory — interviews, events, social media and meetings with voters.  

El-Sayed overcame a gigantic financial disadvantage in his primary against Rep. Haley Stevens, and he may have to deal with the same cash disparity against the GOP nominee, former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, in November given that the Midwestern state may be the GOP’s best chance to flip a Senate seat as it seeks to hold on to its majority in that chamber.

At the same time, keeping the Michigan seat is critical to Democrats’ hopes of winning control of the Senate. 

Given the stakes and the fierceness of party politics in the Trump era, the challenge for El-Sayed is to bring his own party together while getting ready to answer what is expected to be an onslaught from the right.

“As divisive and as cynical as the campaign against us might have been, I want us to realize that there is so much more that unites us now,” El-Sayed said at a recent event. “Because the campaign that Mike Rogers and Donald Trump and their GOP MAGA allies are launching is already more bitter.” 

Republicans are already pitching the argument  they will use against him. 

“El-Sayed is not just another Democrat; he’s the most radical Senate nominee in U.S. history,” the Senate GOP’s campaign arm said in a recent memo in which they pointed out, without nuance, some of the positions he has taken in the past and the difficulty of what he is trying to accomplish. “The Democrat primary results show their party is deeply divided with nearly half of voters rejecting El-Sayed. Nothing indicates he will be able to unite his party or build a working class coalition, but Michigan is a true 50/50 battleground where we cannot take a single vote for granted,” the memo stated. 

Former Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee, who won six terms in Michigan before retiring in 2024, acknowledged the challenges that come with the GOP portraying El-Sayed as extreme. 

“Friends of mine outside of Michigan who are more moderate Democrats are in full panic mode,” Kildee said. “I tell them El-Sayed has to fight to be defined around his populist message and not the identity politics. And voters ultimately do want their interests to be central to this debate. So no matter what the question is, the answer has to be about the chaos Donald Trump brings and what it means to your paycheck.”

El-Sayed’s message for the moment reflects that. While many  Democrats talk about affordability, he has distilled that issue into a mantra his supporters chant at rallies: Money out of politics. Money in your pocket. Medicare for all. 

On “Meet the Press,” El-Sayed also described a phone call with former President Barack Obama, the fellow Democrat who knows what it is to enter a campaign as an underdog. Their talk, El-Sayed said, was “really warm,” with Obama offering advice.  The former president won Michigan both times he ran and is Democrats’ most sought-after surrogate. Asked if Obama would campaign for him, El-Sayed answered on the show, “I really hope so.”

The campaign confirms that there have also been calls with other top Democrats who, not coincidentally, are also 2028 presidential hopefuls, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.   

The quick moves to rally around El-Sayed after the close primary could be because of the message a frustrated electorate sent through his primary victory. Or it could be that his personal political ambitions are tied to the broader ambitions of the party, and what Democrats’ success or failure in the key battleground will mean come presidential election season. 

Another 2028 hopeful, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, spoke Friday night in Detroit, calling the nasty and divisive Senate primary “spirited.” It was positive spin at a rally meant to bring a fractured party together, with supporters waving hopeful signs reading “One Team Michigan.”

Buttigieg was far from the only Michigander taking the mic. 

So did Mallory McMorrow, who, in spite of dropping out 30 days before the primary, won 4%, or 61,407 votes, in a race decided by fewer than 16,000 votes. She is already stumping for El-Sayed, and Stevens has said she will too. His campaign quickly put out a press release saying he brought in $2.3 million in the 48 hours after he clinched the nomination, a nice bump for a campaign that refuses all corporate donations. 

The euphoria of the nominee’s supporters comes with major reality checks. There are two key voting blocs he lost in the primary: the Black vote and the Jewish vote.

His team hopes the endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris and support from Obama will help with Black voters. In the wave of meetings he plans to take are some with Jewish leaders concerned about both his policy positions and his rhetoric, though El-Sayed has repeatedly denounced antisemitism.  

A lot can happen in 85 days; the world is volatile and voters can be fickle. But Kildee sees an opening. “What I hear from folks here is the people that Trump has lost haven’t fallen out of love with him, they just don’t see him serving their best interests any longer,” he said.

He added, of El-Sayed’s win, “I’m not sure I’d go so far as to say it’s a defining moment [for the party] but it is a moment when Democrats want candidates to stand for something, be about something, not just anti-Trump. You have to convince them what you can do.”

Hunter Woodall contributed to this report.

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