Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary on August 4, according to NBC News, and will face former Rep. Mike Rogers, who ran unopposed for the Republican nomination, in the November 3 general election. The seat is open because Sen. Gary Peters announced in January 2025 that he would not seek a third term.
The race was not called on election night. Bridge Michigan reported that at 6 a.m. Wednesday, with about 95 percent of votes counted, El-Sayed held a narrow lead over Rep. Haley Stevens. El-Sayed led in Washtenaw, Kent, Kalamazoo and Ingham counties, while Stevens led in Oakland, Macomb, Saginaw and Genesee. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who suspended her campaign in July but remained on the ballot, took about 4 percent of the statewide vote.
“We knew that this was going to be a close race, and that’s exactly what we’ve got,” Stevens told supporters. El-Sayed, addressing the length of the count, said: “That tells you about the kind of movement that we were able to inspire.”
A record from AIPAC’s super PAC
The United Democracy Project, the super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, spent $30,638,639 on the Michigan contest, Al Jazeera reported, citing figures current as of the evening of Saturday, August 1. A Sludge review of Federal Election Commission records describes that as the most the organization has ever spent on a single race.
Sludge put AIPAC’s combined PAC and super PAC spending for the 2026 cycle at more than $104.3 million, the second consecutive cycle in which the group has passed $100 million in federal election spending. The review found that United Democracy Project reported another $80 million on hand as of the end of June, and noted that the $104.3 million figure excludes spending by allied groups such as Democratic Majority for Israel and by pop-up super PACs seeded by those committees.
Al Jazeera counted more than $54 million from all pro-Stevens political action committees, and roughly $60 million once a dark money group was included. In direct donations, El-Sayed raised $14.5 million to Stevens’ $11.9 million.
Outside groups supplied most of the money
A mid-July snapshot by Bridge Michigan found more than $41 million in outside spending on the race as of July 13. Of that, more than $21 million supported Stevens or opposed El-Sayed, $10.7 million supported Rogers, and $2.3 million supported El-Sayed directly.
United Democracy Project accounted for about $15 million of the July 13 total, split between $9.3 million backing Stevens and $5.7 million opposing El-Sayed. A Stronger Michigan, a PAC connected to lobbyist Jefferies Murray, spent about $12 million supporting Stevens. Americans for Prosperity spent about $4.8 million supporting Rogers. Fighting for Michigan, the largest committee backing El-Sayed, spent about $1.5 million. PolitiFact reported that El-Sayed’s father-in-law gave the committee $300,000, and that the committee says it is run by political strategists. PolitiFact also put AIPAC and affiliated groups at close to $30 million supporting Stevens and opposing El-Sayed, calling it the largest AIPAC investment in a single race.
Advertising tracker AdImpact recorded $98.2 million in ad spending and reserved airtime through July 31, which Bridge Michigan reported ranks the contest as the third most expensive Senate primary in US history. On the Democratic side, outside groups accounted for 88 percent of all spending.
The candidates on the money
“The disease is this system that allows billionaires and corporations and special interests like AIPAC to buy and sell politicians,” El-Sayed told Al Jazeera. Stevens said of the outside money: “I don’t think there’s much difference between super PACs going in for Abdul or super PACs going in for me,” and told Bridge Michigan that no one owns her vote and no one owns her policies. AIPAC has said it will not apologize for taking part in the political process.
El-Sayed campaigned on refusing corporate PAC money, and ran an ad calling himself the only Senate candidate in the race taking none. The Forward reported in July that American Priorities PAC, a committee formed to counter pro-Israel political action committees, said it would spend on his behalf despite his pledge to refuse super PAC support.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed her on July 24, saying that “just like me, Haley will do whatever it takes to get things done for the people of Michigan, and we need her now more than ever.” Peters, former Sen. Debbie Stabenow and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm also backed Stevens. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed El-Sayed.
El-Sayed ran Detroit’s health department as health officer and executive director from 2015 to 2017, and directed Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services from March 2023 until April 2025. He ran for governor in 2018, taking about 30 percent of the primary vote and losing to Whitmer, and announced his Senate campaign on April 17, 2025.
Michigan’s general election is scheduled for November 3.
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