DETROIT — Michigan Democrats nominated Abdul El-Sayed for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, ending a bruising primary in which the former public health official defeated four-term Rep. Haley Stevens despite being outspent nearly nine to one on advertising, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm. Rep. John James won the Republican nomination for governor, and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson claimed the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, setting up two of the most consequential general elections of the 2026 cycle in a battleground President Trump carried in November.
The Senate outcome installs a Bernie Sanders-aligned insurgent as the Democratic standard-bearer in a race that could determine which party controls the chamber. Republicans hold 53 seats, and Democrats need to flip four to swing the majority while defending seats in Michigan and Georgia. El-Sayed will face former Rep. Mike Rogers, who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination after an early Trump endorsement cleared the field. Whoever wins in November will succeed Sen. Gary Peters, who is not seeking a third term.
The Senate upset
El-Sayed, who lost the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary to Gretchen Whitmer, overcame what NBC News called a nearly $65 million onslaught of outside money aligned against him, including more than $30 million from a group affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Whitmer endorsed Stevens on July 24 in a move viewed as a late attempt to halt El-Sayed's rise. Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the United Auto Workers campaigned for El-Sayed, who ran on Medicare for All, opposition to corporate PAC money and criticism of U.S. aid to Israel, which he accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
"If you need a $60 million crutch, you probably can’t be elected on your own terms," El-Sayed said at a Detroit debate last week. He has told The Wall Street Journal he is "not technically or practically DSA." Prominent Democratic Socialists of America members nonetheless barnstormed the state on his behalf.
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the primary in its closing weeks and endorsed El-Sayed after the race was called, said in a statement, "Take it from me — this was a brutal primary. But whatever differences there were between the candidates in this race, those differences are nothing compared to the contrast in November."
James takes the GOP
James, 45, an Army veteran who represents the Detroit suburbs in the House, won the Republican nomination for governor over wealthy businessman Perry Johnson despite spending only $2.8 million on advertising to Johnson's more than $31 million, according to AdImpact. Trump endorsed James and traveled to Michigan last week to campaign for him, having initially worried that vacating the House seat would put a competitive district at risk. Former state Attorney General Mike Cox dropped out on July 17 and endorsed James, closing a path Johnson had needed in a fractured field.
"This is an amazing state with all the great ingredients, but for the past seven-and-a-half years, under Gretchen Whitmer, we’ve been led to higher taxes, more crime on the roads — and frankly, the roads we have aren’t fixed yet," James said at a televised debate last month, invoking Whitmer's 2018 vow to "fix the damn roads."
Benson and the open governorship
Benson, elected secretary of state in 2018, defeated Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. CBS News, citing unofficial returns with 17 percent of votes counted, reported Benson leading 211,877 votes to 38,439. Whitmer is term-limited, and Michigan voters have not elected a Democrat to succeed a Democrat as governor in more than 65 years. Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan ended an independent bid in May, easing the general-election math for Benson's team.
Democratic Governors Association Chair Andy Beshear said Benson "understands the challenges families are facing, and she has been a fearless public servant who fixes broken systems and improves the lives of Michiganders." A Benson campaign memo took aim at the GOP field, saying, "Both Republican candidates focused on election denying and Donald Trump, while Jocelyn has stayed focused on the issues affecting Michigan families every day."
The Republican view
Rogers and the National Republican Senatorial Committee had signaled they considered El-Sayed the easier general-election opponent, and the NRSC produced a digital ad emphasizing his progressive credentials and Sanders endorsement — a move widely read as an attempt to boost him through the primary. Trump made his preference plain Tuesday night on Fox News, saying Rogers will "do much better against Abdul than he’s going to do against the congresswoman" and warning that Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidates would "ruin our country." Trump described cities run by the left in the same interview as "always filthy, dirty." Direct on-the-record reaction from Rogers, the James campaign or a Trump administration spokesperson on the primary results does not appear in the sources reviewed for this article — NBC News and CBS News, both lean-left outlets.
What's next
The November ballot pairs Rogers against El-Sayed for Peters's seat and James against Benson for Whitmer's job — two contests that will test whether Michigan's 2024 shift toward Trump reshaped one of the country's marquee swing states, and whether a Sanders-aligned Democrat can hold a Rust Belt seat Republicans have circled as a top pickup opportunity.