{"id":1774,"date":"2026-08-01T23:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T23:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1774"},"modified":"2026-08-01T23:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T23:45:32","slug":"abdul-el-sayed-haley-stevens-battle-in-michigan-senate-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=1774","title":{"rendered":"Abdul El-Sayed, Haley Stevens Battle in Michigan Senate Primary"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tIn 2018, Abdul El-Sayed<\/a> ran for governor in Michigan<\/a>. He had a resume full of credentials including stints at the University of Michigan, Oxford, and Columbia for medical school \u2014 but no political experience. He conducted a Bernie-style progressive campaign against Gretchen Whitmer<\/a> but found himself stonewalled by the political establishment and powerful interest groups. In the end, he faced a sedated electorate disinterested in a campaign centered around getting money out of politics and untangling the octopus-like ties between government and big business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tEl-Sayed lost to Whitmer by 22 points.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow it\u2019s 2026 and El-Sayed, an Egyptian-American, is running a Bernie-style crusade with a mantra of \u201cmoney out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all.\u201d Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Democratic Party establishment have endorsed Haley Stevens<\/a>, his opponent. AIPAC has dropped tens of millions of dollars on behalf of Stevens and El-Sayed has been outspent 12 to1 heading into Tuesday\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tEl-Sayed is polling ahead of Stevens by 10 points.<\/p>\n

\n\tEight years is a long time.<\/p>\n

\n\tEVERY ONCE IN A WHILE \u2014\u00a0like Halley\u2019s Comet \u2014 a campaign comes along when the traditional boosts of endorsements and money no longer work and start looking like a mutually agreed suicide pact.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWelcome to Haley Stevens\u2019 reality. While the mid-Michigan Democrat has received online fame\/infamy for her thick Midwestern accent and a promise to \u201cstick-it-to-\u2019em,\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0although it\u2019s not quite clear who she wants to stick it to \u2014\u00a0Stevens went about the primary race in her trademark worker bee style.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to Whitmer, Stevens \u2014 who has served in the U.S. House since 2019 \u2014\u00a0has the backing of retiring Senator Gary Peters, former Senator Debbie Stabenow, and Chuck Schumer. Representative Jim Clyburn came to Detroit to campaign for her. The airwaves are saturated with the tens of millions being spent by AIPAC, a longtime Stevens backer, linking her real work on Barack Obama\u2019s auto industry bailout to an implied endorsement by Obama, which has not actually happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe money being spent on Stevens is to make sure that El-Sayed does not become the first Muslim elected to the United States Senate. None of that has worked if the polls are to be believed. Last Monday, Stevens went after El-Sayed in the race\u2019s last debate for being, well, too popular.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy opponent here, Abdul, he is such a talented guy,\u201d said Stevens. \u201cHe\u2019s written three books, he\u2019s had 300 podcasts. You know, he\u2019s had all this attention, but the deal is we don\u2019t need a celebrity candidate. We don\u2019t need a celebrity senator. We need somebody who is committed to six years of hard, unglamorous work.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tThe old political saw of \u201cwe need a work horse, not a show horse\u201d usually works in Michigan, a state that has elected a series of hardworking but uninspiring Democratic senators for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSo what\u2019s changed? Talking to voters and activists in Michigan, it comes down to Gaza and Kamala Harris.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2022, Michigan lost a congressional district after the census and Stevens faced off against fellow incumbent Andy Levin, the scion of a storied Michigan political family and the president of his synagogue. AIPAC didn\u2019t appreciate Levin\u2019s mild support of a two-state solution in the Middle East and spent millions on Stevens\u2019 behalf and she won easily.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAt a July 30 El-Sayed event in Ypsilanti, Levin was asked what had changed since his 2022 loss. He gave a succinct answer: \u201cGaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn this campaign, El-Sayed has hammered Stevens for the AIPAC expenditures. What was once a political life preserver for Stevens is now an anchor dropping her to the ocean\u2019s floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSome of\u00a0 El-Sayed\u2019s most strident critics have tried to label him as antisemitic because of his opposition to further unrestricted military aid for Israel. (He often reminds reporters that he is also against unrestricted military aid for Egypt.) El-Sayed also enjoys poking the AIPAC bear directly, something rarely seen in American campaigns. In a recent interview, El-Sayed addressed the organization.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou picked the least capable candidate in America,\u201d he said, referring to Stevens. \u201cIf you think you can beat money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all, come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThis led Stevens to tweet: \u201cEveryone in America understands you want to blame all of your problems on Jewish Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBack in Ypsilanti, Levin maintained that Harris\u2019 Michigan loss was not because of the number of votes Trump got, but because Harris pursued, as Levin described it, the \u201cmushy middle\u201d and left voters uninspired and disinterested. (Stevens\u2019 supporters would vigorously push back that it was El-Sayed and other progressives backing an uncommitted slate against Joe Biden during the Michigan presidential primary that dampened voters\u2019 enthusiasm.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe event was held at the Michigan Firehouse Museum and afterward Levin pointed at the spoked wheel of an old-timey fire truck. \u201cWe\u2019re always told the battle is for the middle of the spoke,\u201d says Levin. He then moved his hand an inch to the left of the spoke. \u201cBut what if we strengthened and inspired this part?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStevens\u2019 closing argument is centered around electability. Her supporters have pushed dubious polls suggesting she would fare better against Republican nominee Mike Rogers. Michigan politicians who lambasted El-Sayed for his uncommitted stance \u2014\u00a0he quickly supported Harris when she was elevated to the top of the ticket \u2014\u00a0are now suggesting they couldn\u2019t possibly support El-Sayed in the general election. Stevens is stressing her ability to attract, well, the mushy middle in November.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI am the only one on this stage who has beaten MAGA four times,\u201d says Stevens, citing her congressional victories in competitive suburban congressional districts.<\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tThat might wash in a normal political year, but 2026 is different. On Tuesday, Michigan Democrats will answer a simple question: What if we support passion and change over safety?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe answer could reverberate through the party for years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2018, Abdul El-Sayed ran for governor in Michigan. He had a resume full of credentials including stints at the University of Michigan, Oxford, and Columbia for medical school \u2014 but no political experience. He conducted a Bernie-style progressive campaign against Gretchen Whitmer but found himself stonewalled by the political establishment and powerful interest groups….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/michigan-abdul-haley.jpg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C1800px%2C1014px&resize=1600%2C900","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[2911,1033,3388,3389,3013,3391,2056,3390],"class_list":["post-1774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-abdul","tag-battle","tag-elsayed","tag-haley","tag-michigan","tag-primary","tag-senate","tag-stevens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}