The Democratic Party’s fractures will be on full display tonight. Whether they can be remedied will determine how the party does in November and beyond.
After months of flaying each other in Michigan’s divisive Senate primary, either Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) or former public health official Abdul El-Sayed will have just three months to win over the other’s supporters in order to defeat former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers and help Democrats’ chances of taking back the Senate.
It’s a trend that has played out across the map as Democratic primaries have exposed the party’s major divisions on issues from Israel to “Medicare for All” — and left scars on the eventual winners. To win back power in Washington and statehouses, the party will need to find a way past those divisions.
That means the work is just beginning for whoever wins in Michigan tonight. Some moderate Democrats “are going to have a harder time supporting Abdul versus supporting Mike Rogers,” said Angela Rogensues, a city council member from Warren, Michigan, and a Democratic National Committee member who endorsed Stevens last year.
Stevens would face a different problem, Rogensues said: Arab Americans and other progressive voters who disagreed with her on Israel in the primary.
“I think that is going to be a really difficult thing for folks to believe that they will be fairly represented, and just choose to not vote in that race,” she said.
Democrats’ goal of taking back the Senate in November all but requires the party to win in Michigan. But they’ve been busier attacking each other than Rogers, focusing on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s involvement in the race and taking personal jabs.
El-Sayed described Stevens as a “suit with a large AIPAC bank account” and said he hoped AIPAC would “find some way to teach her how to string together two coherent sentences.” Stevens has said El-Sayed wants to be a “celebrity” and accused him of blaming his problems on Jewish Americans. The AIPAC-linked super PAC, United Democracy Project, has accused El-Sayed of having a “long history of disrespecting women.” Those are all attacks that Republicans might be eager to reprise in the general election.
Lon Johnson, former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said the party managed to come together successfully after “very aggressive” primaries in the past. “It will take some leadership from both candidates, a winning candidate and a losing candidate,” he said.
The race is the marquee matchup in a series of tests for the direction of the Democratic Party:
- In Michigan’s 7th District, progressive Sunrise Movement co-founder Will Lawrence is trying to beat two moderate opponents.
- In Michigan’s 13th District, incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar is trying to defend against democratic socialist state Rep. Donavan McKinney.
- And in Missouri’s 1st District, former “Squad” member Cori Bush is trying to make a comeback.
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