Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary was hotly contested until the end. And it may take nearly every vote counted before we get a call — with the state’s largest population center still outstanding hours after polls closed.
With a bit shy of 30 percent votes counted according to the Associated Press, former public health official Abdul El-Sayed narrowly leads Rep. Haley Stevens by about five points.
El-Sayed is performing especially well in highly educated suburban areas, including his home county of Washtenaw and Stevens’ home county of Oakland. But Stevens is winning rural counties across the state, keeping the race close for now.
The biggest question is Wayne County.
Relatively few votes have been counted so far from the county, which usually accounts for roughly 1 in 5 Democratic votes in Michigan. The county includes the city of Detroit, where Stevens is expecting a boost from Black voters, as well as predominantly Arab American cities such as Dearborn and Hamtramck, where El-Sayed could put up big numbers. The margins and turnout in those places could be determinative.
Results are also still mostly outstanding in Ingham County, which includes the state capital of Lansing, and in a handful of rural counties scattered across the state. In a close race like this one, all of those votes will matter.
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