MACKINAC ISLAND, Michigan: Michigan Democrats hoping to avoid a tight primary in a must-win U.S. Senate race instead found themselves with a heated and at times combative debate Thursday as progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly attacked his rivals.
The clash underscored a broader struggle within the Democratic Party as it tries to recover from its 2024 defeats and chart a path forward in a battleground state.
Voters in Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary will choose between three candidates who offer different visions for the party’s future.
“Democrats across our country and across Michigan are crying out for a new Democratic Party. We need to be held accountable,” state Sen. Mallory McMorrow said from the stage Thursday.
The seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is one the party must hold if it hopes to regain the Senate majority in this fall’s midterm elections.
Looking for nomination are Rep. Haley Stevens, McMorrow and El-Sayed, a former public health official.
Here’s what else happened in the first nationally televised debate and where things stand in the race:
Financing of said campaign
The debate at Michigan’s annual bipartisan policy conference highlighted the increasingly sharp contrasts that emerged in one of the nation’s last major Democratic elections.
El-Sayed repeatedly attacked the other candidates for campaign donations, arguing that he was the only candidate in the race who did not accept corporate money.
“I’ll tell you this, the revolution definitely won’t come if we’re not fighting for it,” El-Sayed said before taking aim at his rivals and a conference sponsor. “So let’s play a game. If you’re on this stage and you’ve never received a check from Blue Cross Blue Shield, raise your hand.”
El-Sayed then raised his hand while the other two on stage did not, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Stevens, a fourth-term congresswoman who represents a district outside Detroit, is seen as the more moderate and establishment-aligned candidate.
She has described herself as a “pro-Israel Democrat” and previously received support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.
A newly formed outside group, the Center for Democratic Priorities Inc., recently booked more than $5 million in television ads supporting Stevens.
AIPAC has denied affiliation with the group.
Stevens focused mostly Thursday on her congressional record and what she described as a results-driven approach. She mostly avoided direct attacks on her rivals and declined to take questions from reporters afterward.
“The people of Michigan deserve a functioning Congress,” Stevens said from the stage. “I write bills, I pass bills on behalf of the people of Michigan.”
McMorrow, meanwhile, took a strategy somewhere in between — both on her campaign trail and on the debate stage. She emphasized unity and generational change, while still pushing El-Sayed during some exchanges.
“There are more things that unite us than divide us,” McMorrow said of the candidates on stage in closing remarks.
However, she did not shy away from responding harshly at times. After El-Sayed said he would choose to “have a message” over donors, McMorrow responded that “you actually have to know how to deliver” that message.
One issue the candidates lined up over during Thursday’s debate was eliminating the filibuster, the long-standing Senate rule that effectively requires 60 votes to advance a majority of legislation in the 100-member chamber. Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to eliminate him, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has made it clear he doesn’t have enough support within the GOP conference to do so.
Primary school has become ‘messier than I would have liked’
Among the many elected officials who attended the Mackinac Island conference were two Democratic senators from Michigan.
Peters and Sen. Elissa Slotkin both told The Associated Press on Thursday that they were not planning to make an endorsement in the primary, and while they thought the primary could be helpful, it was becoming more contentious than they had hoped.
“It’s messy. Messier than I would have liked. I think it’s important in any primary for candidates to focus more on what they want to do and their positive affirmative action plan,” Slotkin said.
Peters said the final candidate will have to unite the party.
“What are the types of candidates who win in purple states? That should be what we’re looking for,” Peters said. “Who can bring people together and build some kind of broad coalition to win in a purple state?”
The winner will face former Rep. Mike Rogers
Rogers lost to then-U.S. Rep. Slotkin in 2024 by less than 20,000 votes in a state that Republican Donald Trump carried on his way to a second term.
This time, Rogers will not benefit from having Trump at the top of the poll. But Rogers heads into the general election with advantages of his own, including an uncontested election.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Rogers acknowledged the struggles of the recent campaign, saying the financial disadvantage he faced after a tough primary “made it really hard” to win the general election.
But he said this year is different.
“This is a game changer election. People want to talk about Washington. This is about Michigan,” Rogers said.
It can be hard to pin down a race shaped by national issues like tariffs and gas prices, both of which are hitting Michigan hard. Foreign spending is expected to climb into the nine figures. The U.S. Senate Republican campaign has budgeted $45 million in advertising, compared to $20 million for Democrats.
“They’re going to spend a lot of money to make you not like me. We’re going to spend our money trying to show people what we’re going to do for them and make their lives better in our state,” Rogers said.
