{"id":18499,"date":"2026-02-01T15:01:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T15:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/michigans-three-car-pileup-of-a-primary-has-senate-democrats-worried\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T15:01:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T15:01:49","slug":"michigans-three-car-pileup-of-a-primary-has-senate-democrats-worried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/michigans-three-car-pileup-of-a-primary-has-senate-democrats-worried\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan\u2019s three-car pileup of a primary has Senate Democrats worried"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

DETROIT \u2014 As a professional driver navigated a gleaming new Ford Bronco Sport up a steep ridge, Mallory McMorrow found herself pinned in the back seat clinging to the overhead roll bar.<\/p>\n

The Detroit Auto Show course is designed to show off the Bronco\u2019s capabilities \u2014 while putting an escapist scare into its thrill-seeking passengers. But it just reminded McMorrow of her day-to-day reality running for Michigan\u2019s open Senate seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a teeter-totter, man,\u201d McMorrow told Blue Light News about her race, after having navigated a very literal giant teeter-totter in the Bronco. \u201cIt could go any direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMorrow is locked in a tight three-way primary with Rep. Haley Stevens and physician Abdul El-Sayed that has emerged as a test for what the next generation of Democrats will look like \u2014 and whether they can win a key swing-state election that will help determine Senate control.<\/p>\n

In recent days, the trio of candidates\u2019 squabbles careened hour to hour from whether they should embrace Medicare for All, to how far Democrats should go in fighting ICE. In fact, the contest has emerged as a catch-all for every question and problem plaguing Democrats politically and tactically: Where should they stand on Israel and Gaza? Should they send their aging congressional leaders packing? What does electability look like in this political environment? Should Democrats tap into the attention economy or focus on traditional campaigning?<\/p>\n

El-Sayed, on the left, has taken consistently maximalist positions fitting for a man who wrote a book titled \u201cMedicare For All: A Citizen\u2019s Guide\u201d and has vocal support from Sen. Bernie Sanders. Stevens, a classic swing-state centrist favored by many establishment Democrats, has taken smaller-bore stances. Between them sits McMorrow, who\u2019s aiming to appeal to voters in both of their lanes.<\/p>\n

\"Mallory<\/p>\n

But this three-way battle to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) isn\u2019t just about what direction the Democratic Party takes in Washington \u2014 it\u2019s whether they can get there in the first place.<\/p>\n

Democrats think they see a route back to the Senate majority. But if they don\u2019t hold on to their seat in Michigan, that faint path won\u2019t materialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s already a long shot, but it’s a doable thing \u2014 but not without Michigan,\u201d said David Axelrod, the longtime senior adviser to former President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n

Axelrod called it the \u201cmost fascinating and consequential primary\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n

Democratic leaders both in Michigan and D.C. are growing more worried by the day that the hard-fought contest, which won\u2019t be decided until the August primary, will exacerbate ideological tensions and leave the nominee in a weakened position heading into a contest against former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re used to having long primaries,\u201d Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) told Blue Light News. \u201cNo one loves them, but we’re used to having them. And I don’t think it’s insurmountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, the race is wide open.<\/p>\n

Most public polls have found<\/a> a tight three-way race<\/a> in the primary, with Stevens or McMorrow holding a slight lead depending on the survey; in those same polls, Stevens runs slightly ahead of Rogers in the general election, with McMorrow just a bit behind her and El-Sayed a bit further back.<\/p>\n

Stevens has a fundraising edge. According to the latest Federal Election Commission reports, which posted on Saturday, she brought in $2.1 million in the past quarter and has $3 million cash on hand; McMorrow and El-Sayed both raised around $1.75 million and each has just under $2 million in the bank. Rogers raised just under $2 million and has just under $3.5 million cash on hand.<\/p>\n

Part of the lack of separation in the polls is that voters haven\u2019t engaged yet. The campaigns don\u2019t expect cleavage until paid media starts happening in full (El-Sayed is the only candidate so far to roll out a statewide ad.)<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly the most political have started to click in,\u201d Slotkin said.<\/p>\n

Michigan Democrats also worried about the impact the primary could have on the rest of the party as they fight to hold on to term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer\u2019s office and win back control of the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Whitmer, with her 60 percent approval rating, is facing a pressure campaign from some in the party to endorse either Stevens or McMorrow early in the race to narrow the field, according to two senior Michigan Democratic officials granted anonymity to speak about private discussions. Otherwise, one of them worried, \u201cwe could see real losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitmer and El-Sayed duked it out in a 2018 gubernatorial primary, and the officials say bad blood remains between them.<\/p>\n

A Whitmer spokesperson declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\"Gov.<\/p>\n

A clash of ideologies<\/h4>\n

The candidates have sharp ideological divides on major issues including health care, Israel and Gaza and accepting corporate PAC money.<\/p>\n

After a second person was killed by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis, the three candidates’ diverging approach to ICE and its funding supercharged the primary.<\/p>\n

While McMorrow and Stevens glad-handed at the Detroit Auto Show and union halls around the MLK holiday, after immigration agents killed Renee Good and before they killed Alex Pretti, El-Sayed, who has championed the Abolish ICE movement since 2018, went to Minneapolis and filmed man-on-the-street<\/a> interviews for social media that were reminiscent of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s successful viral campaign videos.<\/p>\n

He told Blue Light News he was there to \u201cunderstand what it looks like when an arm of the government lays siege to a city in America.\u201d (El-Sayed also jetted to California for a fundraiser earlier that week).<\/p>\n

McMorrow has expressed support<\/a>for reforms to ICE, such as requiring agents to be unmasked, and argues Republicans and Democrats should \u201cdeny DHS one penny more until complete overhaul and accountability of this agency\u201d happens.<\/p>\n

Stevens, meanwhile, is co-sponsoring a bill that would divert what she called ICE\u2019s $75 billion “slush fund” to state and local law enforcement agencies; she has also called for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem\u2019s impeachment.<\/p>\n

The candidates are also at odds over health care, an issue over which they\u2019ve sparred in recent days.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Democratic influencer Brian Tyler Cohen last week, El-Sayed reignited the health care debate. He said, \u201cif you like your insurance from your employer or from your union, that can still be there for you,\u201d apparently flipping on his stance on Medicare for All. McMorrow and her allies seized on his remarks as El-Sayed seemingly embracing a position he had repeatedly attacked her on. El-Sayed hosted a December health care town hall with Sanders<\/a> where he contrasted his Medicare for All support with McMorrow\u2019s and Steven\u2019s backing of a public option.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wild to call yourself the \u2018next generation\u2019 of Democratic leadership and be running AGAINST Medicare for All in 2026,\u201d he posted on X<\/a> a month ago, quote-tweeting McMorrow.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Blue Light News after the dustup, El-Sayed declined to discuss specifics of his position on the record. In a statement, a spokesperson said that he supports Medicare for All as a baseline option for everyone, “and if folks want additional private coverage through a union or an employer then that can be there for them too.”<\/p>\n

The conflict in Gaza has also led to sharp divisions in the race.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed, who is the son of Egyptian immigrants, has been an outspoken critic of Israel, which he has long said<\/a> was committing genocide in Gaza. That\u2019s a major issue in a state with the highest percent of Arab-Americans in the country; more than 100,000 people voted \u201cuncommitted\u201d instead of backing then-President Joe Biden in the 2024 primary over his administration\u2019s support of Israel \u2014 an effort El-Sayed helped lead.<\/p>\n

He told Blue Light News that when he talks about U.S. tax dollars \u201cbeing misappropriated to weaponize food against children and to subsidize a genocide, rather than to invest in real people in their communities and their kids and their schools and their health care, it is the single biggest applause line in every speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMorrow took a bit more time to come to that view. In October, when asked whether she thought the conflict was a genocide, she paused for several seconds, exhaled, and responded, \u201cBased on the definition, yes.\u201d Her campaign said her view was informed by a September United Nations Commission of Inquiry report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stevens has been more supportive of Israel, and has the support of AIPAC, the politically influential pro-Israel lobby. Some senior Michigan Democrats have expressed concern that an AIPAC independent expenditure campaign backing Haley could make the primary even more toxic ahead of the general election. Asked about their plans, an AIPAC spokesperson told Blue Light News they had no updates.<\/p>\n

Asked by Blue Light News in November whether she was comfortable with AIPAC support, Stevens dodged, saying she\u2019s delighted to \u201csee the hostages get home,\u201d and added she \u201cwanted to see an enduring ceasefire where Hamas surrenders and so that we can get the people of Palestine and Israel in long standing peace, living peacefully, side by side with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens’ campaign also attacked both El-Sayed and McMorrow’s record on manufacturing, a sector that employs some 600,000 in Michigan. She told Blue Light News that McMorrow “has a history of criticizing Michigan’s key industries” and that El-Sayed “supports policies that would decimate Michigan’s manufacturing economy,” citing his support for the Green New Deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to call out what isn\u2019t working for Michigan\u2019s manufacturing economy, whether it is Mike Rogers or members of my own party,\u201d Stevens said in an interview in the conference room of the Teamsters Local 234 union hall in Plymouth.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Old school vs. new school<\/h4>\n

The race is also shaping up as a test of offline coalitional politics at a moment increasingly defined more by viral videos than baby-kissing and union hall campaign stops.<\/p>\n

Stevens has leaned hardest into traditional brick-and-mortar campaigning, while El-Sayed has been much more focused online, with McMorrow\u2019s approach once again falling between them.<\/p>\n

McMorrow\u2019s biggest splash of the campaign so far came with a viral video<\/a> that attacked NFL RedZone for adding ads as \u201cthe latest example of corporate greed,\u201d and tied it to spiking grocery costs. It earned nearly 2 million views.<\/p>\n

El-Sayed has built a national profile and fundraising network in part with a health care-focused podcast on Crooked Media, the network run by the Pod Save America team made up largely of former Obama senior advisers. At least three members, Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Ben Rhodes, appeared as hosts on an invite to El-Sayed\u2019s fundraiser earlier this month in California.<\/p>\n

Stevens has taken a different tack, putting more focus on campaign stops and meat-and-potatoes fights for local industry, especially auto and other factory jobs.<\/p>\n

In a year-out-from-election day memo, Stevens\u2019 campaign argued that her \u201cstrength with Black Michiganders and union workers, her relentless focus on lowering costs and protecting Michigan manufacturing, and her record fighting for Michiganders \u2014 which has led to her winning tough primaries and general elections \u2014 will propel her to victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campaigning at a Teamsters Local 234 union hall in Plymouth, she spent a lot more time talking about a local labor contract dispute than national concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, manufacturing might not light up the internet, but it fuels a lot of jobs here,\u201d she told Blue Light News afterward.<\/p>\n

That dogged approach helped her flip and hold a swing seat<\/a>, then win a tough incumbent-on-incumbent primary<\/a> in 2022, and is one she thinks will pay dividends now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a couple of tough primaries before, and I\u2019m just out here trying to win it for Michiganders,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But it remains unclear how well it will translate in a statewide campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaley seems to have more institutional support \u2014 whether or not it\u2019s admitted as such \u2014 and that is a strength, but it also could be a weakness,\u201d said a longtime Michigan Democratic operative who remains neutral in the race and was granted anonymity to assess the primary. \u201cHer presence on the campaign trail I\u2019m not sure is one that\u2019s really like, Man, I got to be with her.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Stevens has earned criticism over whether she can galvanize the online, grassroots activists, or electrify crowds on the trail. \u201cShe’s [an] uneven campaigner when it comes to the retail stuff,\u201d said Adam Jentleson, a longtime Democratic campaign strategist whois pushing for the party to break more with left-wing interest groups<\/a> and focus more on expanding the party\u2019s coalition to win (he also voiced concern about El-Sayed as a general-election candidate).<\/p>\n

Right now, both El-Sayed and Stevens have been training most of their fire on McMorrow rather than each other, seeing her as the bigger threat to their potential voting coalitions.<\/p>\n

\"Abdul<\/p>\n

Insiders and outsiders<\/h4>\n

Stevens\u2019 electoral track record is part of why many establishment-leaning Democrats in D.C. prefer her in the race.<\/p>\n

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) invited her to attend a fundraising retreat in Napa Valley that featured a crypto roundtable, but Stevens told Blue Light News she did not attend due to the government shutdown.<\/p>\n

In an interview with POLITICO<\/a>, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was bullish on defending Michigan but declined to appraise any individual candidacies; a DSCC spokesperson declined to comment on whether the committee would officially endorse in the race.<\/p>\n

McMorrow has taken a very different approach to D.C.\u2019s Democratic leadership.<\/p>\n

Shetold POLITICO last March<\/a>, before she was even officially a candidate, that she wouldn\u2019t vote for Schumer as party leader should she win her Senate seat. She also previously penned a scathing letter to Biden following his disastrous debate with Donald Trump, urging him to drop out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re drawing a contrast that is really about defining my lane,\u201d McMorrow said in an interview at a campaign stop at a park in Grand Rapids late last year, suggesting Stevens, without naming her, was running \u201can uninspiring campaign that\u2019s right out of the D.C. playbook\u201d and that El-Sayed, also without naming him, was campaigning on the idea \u201cthat there\u2019s just one weird trick to fix democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens has said it\u2019s too early to determine whether to would back Schumer; she has called him \u201ca great leader.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

El-Sayed also hasn\u2019t said whether he\u2019d back Schumer for leader. But he\u2019s made it clear he is running headlong against the Democratic establishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe movement we\u2019re building is about taking a bet on the divide in our politics not really being about left versus right, but being about the folks who are locked out and the folks who are locking them out,\u201d El-Sayed told Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

About the only thing the candidates can all agree on is the stakes of the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future of this party is going to be based on what happens in this race,\u201d McMorrow said.<\/p>\n

Elena Scheider contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 As a professional driver navigated a gleaming new Ford Bronco Sport up a steep ridge, Mallory McMorrow found herself pinned in the back seat clinging to the overhead roll bar. The Detroit Auto Show course is designed to show off the Bronco\u2019s capabilities \u2014 while putting an escapist scare into its thrill-seeking passengers. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}