Folks, I’m sipping my coffee and reading about the Michigan Senate primary, and let me tell you, it’s a wild ride. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, is trying to get involved in the primary to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters. Schumer believes Abdul El-Sayed’s poll numbers have fallen, and he thinks there’s a chance to beat him. He doesn’t want El-Sayed as the Democratic nominee because of his ideology and concerns that he would lose the November election to former Rep. Mike Rogers.
Schumer had a chat with Peters in late June, and it sounds like he was trying to convince Peters to get Mallory McMorrow to drop out of the race. Peters apparently walked away thinking his mission was to get McMorrow to drop out and give Rep. Haley Stevens a one-on-one matchup against El-Sayed. Bless their hearts, it’s like they think they can just manipulate the whole thing.
The three-way Democratic race was a mess, and Schumer told Peters that McMorrow was clearly not going to win. He never said it outright, but Peters got the message. It’s like they’re trying to play chess, but they’re not even sure what pieces they’re moving around.
Meanwhile, Stevens has been talking up her experience working for former President Barack Obama and trying to focus on manufacturing and other Michigan issues. She’s also been kept afloat by over $50 million in outside spending. El-Sayed, on the other hand, has been building his campaign around promoting Medicare for All and targeting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other outside interests that have tried to stop him.
It’s getting ugly, folks. Committed supporters of El-Sayed and Stevens can’t stand each other, and it’s like they’re treating this race as an existential crisis. With just a few dozen hours left until the results come in, no one on either campaign is quite sure where the race stands, other than the very real possibility of Democrats wounding themselves for November no matter who wins.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, one of the few Michigan Democrats who haven’t taken sides in the Senate primary, said, “There are a lot of very strong, intense feelings right now, and we have to bring people together because we have to remember what the November election is about. It is about winning the House and the Senate, so we cannot lose the Senate seat.” Dingell also said, “Nobody can like the kind of brutality, the ugliness that we have seen… That makes it harder to come together. But we have no choice.”
Somewhere in Atlanta, a producer thought this sounded terrifying, and now we’ve got a full-blown drama on our hands. The fight in Michigan has become the greatest showcase yet of a party split into bitter factions and an establishment struggling to lead it.
Schumer’s first choice to succeed Peters was term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but she shut him down completely. For months, Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York had made their unofficial backing of Stevens clear. Gillibrand even suggested to several donors that McMorrow had been a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, even though McMorrow isn’t.
You can’t make this stuff up, folks. The Stevens campaign has been trying to stick it to El-Sayed, and it’s been a bumpy ride. Stevens trudged through months of mostly small crowds and awkward moments clipped and quickly shared online. The staff was demoralized, and the candidate sometimes struggled to keep up her own determination when friends texted her the worst bits.
But then, something unexpected happened. A C-SPAN camera showed up at an otherwise unremarkable campaign event, and a Republican-linked account posted 18 seconds of it, including her promise that she would campaign with “a little bit of ‘stick it to ’em,’ because that’s the Michigan way.” That clip has 3.4 million views on X, and it drew a wave of sympathetic attention from fans who saw her delivery as folksy.
El-Sayed, on the other hand, has been making some of his staff uncomfortable with his attacks on Stevens and the feared political fallout. But he’s kept going, suggesting to supporters that his campaign was walking “the exact same path” as movements like the push for LGBT rights or ending Jim Crow.
Bernie Sanders has been coaching El-Sayed, telling him to showcase his medical experience and not shy away from talking about Gaza. El-Sayed has been deliberately unapologetic, standing by positions even when they go beyond where some think the median voter seems to be.
As the primary comes to a close, it’s clear that this race has been a microcosm of the larger Democratic Party struggles. The question is, what’s next? Will the Democrats be able to come together and support their nominee, or will the wounds from this primary linger? One thing’s for sure, folks, it’s been a wild ride, and I’m just glad I’ve got my coffee to get me through it.
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
