In Macomb County, a blue-collar Detroit suburb that twice voted for Barack Obama before backing Donald Trump three times, residents are exhausted.
Township trustee Shannon King, a Democrat still undecided, hears the same complaints: stagnant paychecks, rising healthcare costs, and the struggle to afford childcare despite multiple jobs.
As the Democratic Party chooses its candidate for the US Senate race in Michigan—one of the most closely watched contests in the 2026 midterms—voters in key battlegrounds like Lansing, Macomb, Dearborn, and Grand Rapids are not focused on primary politics.
Instead, they talk about healthcare, rent, Social Security, the devastation in Gaza, and whether any official will act before it's too late.
In Washington, the race is seen as a proxy war over the Democratic Party's direction after its 2024 defeat.
Cable panels debate whether Abdul El-Sayed's rise is an insurgency or whether Haley Stevens is the safe, electable pick.
Three candidates were vying for the nomination until Mallory McMorrow dropped out on Sunday.
Spending has flooded the airwaves: at least five groups have spent over $34 million boosting Stevens, led by a PAC that alone spent roughly $20 million.
Stevens's ads highlight her work with Obama's auto industry rescue, while El-Sayed's ads emphasize his Michigan roots and ties to Bernie Sanders.
With McMorrow out, El-Sayed's apparent poll lead is being tested as both contenders court her supporters.
Few of the beltway-centric conversations about a party wing fight seem to resonate in Michigan.
“I think inaction on behalf of the Democrats is costing them votes,” said Toni Gordon, an East Lansing election chairperson.
“The performative, old-school way of doing things … it’s costing them voter support.”
Gordon, a left-leaning former Army reservist, backs El-Sayed but predicts Stevens will win due to name recognition and party machine support.
Detroit, home to one of the largest Black populations in the US, could decide the state's outcome.
“Michigan is only a swing state if Black people choose not to vote,” Gordon noted. “A large number of them will not vote this election.”
Turnout among young voters is also critical.
Polls show El-Sayed leading among voters under 44, but the August 4 primary falls during summer break, when many college students are away from their Michigan addresses.
Michigan, which Trump won in 2024, is a diverse political patchwork. Macomb, which flipped from Obama to Trump, gave Trump 53% in 2020 and nearly 56% in 2024.
Wayne County, home to Detroit and Dearborn, went for Kamala Harris in 2024 but swung nine points toward Trump.
Dearborn itself flipped, with Trump becoming the first Republican to win a plurality there since 2000 in a city with a large Arab American population.
Kent County, anchored by Grand Rapids, moved the opposite way, voting for Harris by five points.
Trump was the first Republican to win the White House without Kent County since 1916.
Dispatches from Dearborn
Ali Fawaz, 34, a lifelong Dearborn resident and independent, said the city's Trump vote was never about Trump.
He pointed to restaurant owner Ali Abbas, who hosted Trump and later sold his business after threats, as a measure of how polarizing that moment was.
“They watched the genocide in Gaza, and they saw Biden do absolutely nothing,” Fawaz said. “Out of desperation, they looked for other options.”
Fawaz believes Dearborn's community is disproportionately attuned to geopolitics, with little attention to Congress's domestic business. A single senator's vote on Middle East policy would register directly.
“Every single person has family in Lebanon, or Palestinians here who have family back there, wondering on the daily what’s going to happen to them.”
El-Sayed has engaged this community. In June, he delivered the keynote at the inauguration of a $16 million mosque in Dearborn Heights.
Fawaz said El-Sayed has “changed his tone” since his 2018 gubernatorial run.
“His talking points to the Arabs was a lot different than what it was a few years ago.”
El-Sayed, an epidemiologist, has not taken corporate PAC money.
He campaigns for universal healthcare, an end to military aid for Israel, abolition of ICE, and aggressive AI regulation.
He calls himself a capitalist in an oligarchic society and has endorsements from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and Jewish Voice for Peace Action—its first Senate endorsement.
Stevens, who flipped a Republican House seat, is backed by much of the party's Washington wing, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Detroit News.
She wants to expand Obamacare and authored a bill to investigate ICE misconduct, but faces criticism over a vote seen as friendly to the agency and her support for Israel.
Stevens has held few public town halls this cycle, a contrast to El-Sayed and McMorrow's months-long swing through Michigan.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who prosecuted pro-Palestinian student activists, endorsed Stevens, calling her “wicked smart” and someone who connects with people sincerely.
A Paradigm Shift
Misty Ramsey, an El-Sayed supporter, used to landscape yards in Macomb and now does deliveries. But it's not the economy that animates her.
After hearing a Macklemore song about Hind Rajab, a five-year-old killed in Gaza, Ramsey's views on Biden's Israel policy and campaign finance shifted.
“When I realized the scope of the lies, not only is that devastating for the people of Gaza, it’s terrifying for us that we’ve been conditioned to not care,” she said.
El-Sayed is riding this anti-establishment wave.
At a recent western Michigan rally, Grand Rapids voter Ms. Dushane, once a Republican, said she backs him for his opposition to certain campaign funding and support for Medicare for All.
“He seems to be the only one who is truly for the people,” she said.
With about a month to go, the primary remains unsettled.
Recent polling showed El-Sayed with a single-digit lead over Stevens, with McMorrow at a distant third before she dropped out.
Voting is already underway, with ballots mailed out in late June.
