Abdulrahman El-Sayed, known as Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, faces a decisive test of uniting his party and broadening his electoral base after winning a fiercely contested primary by a one-point margin, ahead of a November showdown with Republican Mike Rogers for the seat currently held by retiring Democrat Gary Peters.
An effort to move beyond the primary divide
Abdul El-Sayed appeared in Detroit alongside moderate gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in a move aimed at showing that the internal contest had been put behind them and that the campaign had shifted to the general election.
According to The New York Times, Haley Stevens spoke with Abdul more than once after her defeat and announced her support for him, but some Democrats who backed her remain hesitant to rally behind him because of the intensity of the attacks exchanged during the primary campaign.
Jim Frank, chairman of the Democratic Party in St. Clair County, which backed Stevens, said some of her supporters had “legitimate concerns” about how she was treated, while expressing his expectation that the party would move beyond its differences. He noted that Democrats had previously asked progressives to vote for the party’s candidate when their own candidate lost, and that the other sides should do the same now.
Black voters at the forefront of the campaign’s challenges
Another test for Abdul’s campaign is strengthening his standing among Black voters in Michigan. According to The Hill, many of them favored Stevens in the primary, while Democrats believe that winning a clear majority among this bloc is necessary to defeat Rogers.
Assuming that Black voters will automatically return to the party’s candidate is a “high-risk gamble.”
Simmons urged Abdul, in comments carried by The Hill, to address Black voters directly and make their concerns a priority. The newspaper noted that Stevens outperformed him in areas with significant Black populations, and that polls conducted during the summer showed him performing clearly poorly among those voters.
Abdul, meanwhile, received the backing of Kamala Harris after his victory, a move that Joe Tate, the former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, said would benefit him greatly. The Democratic candidate also contacted Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, the country’s only Black governor, seeking his help in reaching voters.
Concerns among Jewish Democrats and an early Republican attack
On another front, The New York Times reported that some Jewish Democrats had expressed concern about Abdul’s approach to criticizing the Israeli government and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, whose super PAC spent tens of millions of dollars supporting Stevens. The Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus has not yet announced its support for Abdul.
Noah Arbit, the caucus’s founder and a local lawmaker, said Abdul had a long way to go to rebuild trust, while indicating that he was willing to meet with him. The newspaper, meanwhile, quoted retired Jewish doctor Eric Lerman as expressing enthusiastic support for Abdul because of his position on universal health care, despite acknowledging that many of his Jewish friends had concerns.
Mike Rogers has begun trying to attract Democrats dissatisfied with the primary’s outcome. In a video posted on social media, he called on them to support him, describing his opponent’s campaign as being based on “anger” and “division” and presenting the race as a battle for the “soul of the nation.”
Republicans have also sought, according to The New York Times, to use an old clip from a documentary about Abdul’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign, in which he said he “hated Mackinac so much.” They claimed he was referring to the tourist island of Mackinac, while his campaign said he was discussing the Mackinac Policy Conference, an annual gathering of business leaders and politicians.
Michigan and the battle for control of Congress
The Michigan race is particularly important in the battle for control of Congress. According to Axios, Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the Senate, compared with 47 for Democrats and their allies, meaning Democrats must flip four seats to reach a majority, as a tie would not be enough given the Republican tiebreaking advantage.
The site quoted analysts as saying that the Democratic Party could come close to a majority but would probably fall short. In the House of Representatives, Democrats need a net gain of only three seats to take the majority. Axios also quoted senior Republicans as estimating that the probability of their party losing the chamber exceeds 80 percent, despite an electoral map that is presumed to favor them.
The Michigan race for the open seat has thus become a test of Democrats’ ability to build an electoral coalition after the division of the primary. While Abdul’s victory demonstrated the strength of the progressive wing, winning the general election will require attracting broader constituencies within the party.
