{"id":27210,"date":"2026-08-04T11:18:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27210"},"modified":"2026-08-04T11:18:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:18:43","slug":"what-to-watch-in-the-aug-4-primaries-michigan-senate-race-tests-democrats-path-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27210","title":{"rendered":"What to watch in the Aug. 4 primaries: Michigan Senate race tests Democrats&#8217; path forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">Michigan will offer the country its clearest gauge yet on the direction of the Democratic Party, as primary voters in the battleground state choose between a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/michigan-senate-race-democrat-abdul-elsayed-fb8b90a59ae5df53f5c6b524968b205e\">progressive<\/a> standard-bearer and an <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/michigan-whitmer-stevens-elsayed-a638d52f9a9c0cd86c82e266aa505297\">establishment-backed<\/a> candidate. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Although there have been similar contests around the country, this one will hold extra weight because Michigan is a key state in presidential races. Abdul El-Sayed, backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, is up against four-term Rep. Haley Stevens, supported by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Democratic and Republican voters in Michigan are also deciding on their parties\u2019 nominees to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/kansas-primary-cf902a4a74502ef668ed61f6f8f65c9d\">Kansas<\/a>, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/missouri-primary-bell-bush-cleaver-b2357852fa9acf304ddb7e9f276228f4\">Missouri<\/a>, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/virginia-primary-kiggans-luria-wittman-0f0bd85ff0c6cc6996bf0100728bd5bc\">Virginia<\/a> and <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/washington-state-primary-f6430c8acc29926f0f5ec7742951c189\">Washington<\/a> state, voters are settling primaries in a host of races, including a key rematch between Democrats in a Missouri House contest. Also in play is whether Democrats, who tried to redraw districts in Virginia to their advantage but were rebuffed by the state supreme court, can pick candidates who can defeat Republicans in the fall. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The choice between El-Sayed and Stevens has become a focal point for Democrats this year, and the race has become bitter. Whoever wins will need to bring splintered factions back into the fold to beat Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The seat is open because Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is retiring, and Democrats are under pressure to defend it to preserve their chance of winning control of the chamber. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Another dynamic at play has been the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/aipac-michigan-senate-stevens-elsayed-588bb869eb557643950bf68d6a0d7a10\">influence<\/a> of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC and its affiliated groups, which have spent nearly $30 million supporting Stevens. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The issue has become a lightning rod in Democratic politics since the Gaza war has <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/democrats-israel-aid-trump-netanyahu-1b0bf0c3ab906fead410a81475a8c884\">split the party<\/a> over U.S. backing of Israel. AIPAC backs candidates who support strengthening U.S.-Israeli relations. It&#8217;s a significant issue in Michigan, which is home to the country&#8217;s largest Arab American population.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">El-Sayed cast the spending as a question of whether grassroots organizing can overcome millions in outside contributions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">That tension was also at play in 2024 when Democratic activists pressured now-Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin to take a harder line on Israel\u2019s war in Gaza. Slotkin, who is Jewish, had already distanced herself from AIPAC earlier. She ultimately defeated Rogers by fewer than 20,000 votes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Rogers is running for Senate again this year, and is unopposed in the GOP primary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Republican voters will decide on their nominee for Michigan governor on Tuesday as well. President Donald Trump has endorsed Rep. John James.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The president&#8217;s backing typically carries significant weight in Republican politics, but there could be a complicating factor. Businessman Perry Johnson has loaned his campaign more than $30 million, according to Michigan campaign finance records. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/elections-georgia-alabama-trump-california-dc-05568eca6a4e7493505a5351a3ade7fe\">similar dynamic<\/a> played out this year in Georgia&#8217;s race for governor, where Rick Jackson spent $100 million, largely of his own money, to overcome the Trump-backed Burt Jones in a runoff. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson faces Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Virginia has been one of Democrats\u2019 greatest regrets this year after the state\u2019s supreme court overturned a voter-approved referendum to redraw its House map to create four new winnable seats for the party. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The measure\u2019s failure left Republicans with a clear national lead in winnable House seats in the partisan footrace triggered by Trump\u2019s unusual mid-decade redistricting push.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Democrats are hoping to whittle away at that lead the old-fashioned way \u2014 by winning elections. The first step is Tuesday\u2019s primary, where the party will be watching races in three of the state\u2019s 11 districts to see whether the candidates its strategists see as most competitive can win the nomination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Two of those candidates are former House members. Elaine Luria, a former Naval commander, is seeking to return to her Virginia Beach-centered swing seat, which she narrowly lost in 2022 to Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans. Luria faces three other Democrats, none with a history of holding elected office, in the primary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Former Rep. Tom Perriello is running for his old central Virginia seat in the state\u2019s 5th congressional district. The district has swung even further to the right since Perriello briefly represented the region following President Barack Obama\u2019s 2008 election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Perriello ran this year hoping a remap would make it friendlier to Democrats but says he\u2019ll still compete and hope to flip it in November. He faces political commentator Robert Tracinski and physician Suzanne Krzyzanowski.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Many Democratic strategists see Shannon Taylor, the longtime Henrico County commonwealth\u2019s attorney, as their best bet out of the seven candidates competing for the party\u2019s nomination in the state\u2019s 1st congressional district, a swing seat held by Republican Rep. Rob Wittman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">All eyes have been on Michigan, but there&#8217;s another matchup between Democrats&#8217; centrist and leftist wings playing out in a safely blue House seat <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/missouri-congress-cori-bush-wesley-bell-a2d8c60a470a03791e61c1e8aafc0dad\">in the St. Louis area.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Two years ago, prosecutor Wesley Bell ousted firebrand leftist Rep. Cori Bush in the Democratic primary for the district that includes Ferguson, the city where a police killing of a Black teenager helped set off 2014\u2019s Black Lives Matter protests. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Now Bush is back, challenging Bell and arguing voters can take revenge against AIPAC for targeting her in the previous cycle. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan will offer the country its clearest gauge yet on the direction of the Democratic Party, as primary voters in the battleground state choose between a progressive standard-bearer and an establishment-backed candidate. Although there have been similar contests around the country, this one will hold extra weight because Michigan is a key state in presidential&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/b13ca545-c5b9-4ac5-ae95-b7650f9b02b7\/wirestory_c957db07eb78ea93c70208ba0a6bceed_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}