Abdul el Sayed doesn’t just have a socialism problem — he has an Iran problem

Abdul el Sayed just won the most expensive Senate primary in American history, beating Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) by a single point, surviving roughly $65 million in outside spending. He is now the first Muslim American to win a major political party’s Senate nomination, and stands a few months away from becoming the fi

Stevens won a key demo who El-Sayed will need to win in November

A reader responds to MS NOW’s coverage of Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.

The Michigan Senate primary exposed an inconvenient rift in the Democratic coalition. Abdul El-Sayed, the Israel-obsessed anti-capitalist candidate, narrowly defeated the establishment choice, Haley Stevens, by racking up huge margins among college-educated white voters. Most black and working-class voters preferred St

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Michigan candidate Abdul El-Sayed and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders at "The People v. The Powerful" rally at the Detroit Opera House on July 18, 2026. Sarah Rice/Getty Images Since 2016, when Donald Trump shattered the Democrats’ blue wall by winning working-class voters across the Midwest, a

Abdul El-Sayed just won by the skin of his teeth. His victory proves that the Bernie brand is far from unpopular in the Midwest, but that progressives will still have to climb mountains to win, writes John Bowden

Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary was powered by college towns and highly educated counties that broke hard for the progressive outsider, while Haley Stevens ran up margins in working-class communities across the state.