{"id":29775,"date":"2026-08-06T11:46:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T06:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29775"},"modified":"2026-08-06T11:46:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T06:46:30","slug":"three-michigan-races-put-the-progressive-movements-reach-on-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=29775","title":{"rendered":"Three Michigan races put the progressive movement&#039;s reach on display"},"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<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/zulW9KUL0z3XKw1fPBG8uTnLMEs=\/0x0:5717x3216\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/05\/1785931772712.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Michigan progressives woke up Wednesday after a banner night: Abdul El-Sayed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/detroit\/2026\/08\/05\/michigan-senate-primary-el-sayed-narrow-lead-stevens\" target=\"_blank\">leads<\/a> the uncalled Democratic Senate primary, Will Lawrence <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/05\/michigan-7th-district-will-lawrence-maasdam-brink\" target=\"_blank\">won<\/a> a battleground House nomination, and Donavan McKinney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/22\/shri-thanedar-dsa-donavan-mckinney-detroit-mi-13\" target=\"_blank\">threatens<\/a> to oust Rep. Shri Thanedar.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Of the three Democratic primaries, only Lawrence&#8217;s victory has been called.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>A sweep would signal the left&#8217;s growing strength in a key swing state.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>The state&#8217;s Democratic Socialists of America chapters, the Working Families Party and the United Auto Workers all flexed their muscles Tuesday up and down the ballot.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>State of play: <\/strong>El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, clung to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2026\/08\/04\/us\/elections\/results-michigan-us-senate-primary.html\" target=\"_blank\">narrow lead<\/a> over four-term Rep. Haley <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/michigan-senate-democrats-stevens-elsayed-b493c8c5d3897b4f82418f9df1f8b078\" target=\"_blank\">Stevens<\/a> \u2014 48.5%\u201347.5% with <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/projects\/elections-2026\/michigan-primary-results-us-senate\/#Dem\" target=\"_blank\">96% of the vote<\/a> counted. The winner will face Republican Mike Rogers for Michigan&#8217;s open Senate seat, a must-win for Democrats hoping to gain Senate control.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lawrence, a Sunrise Movement co-founder, upset Bridget Brink, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and Matt Maasdam, a former Navy SEAL, winning the 7th district nomination by 15 points. Lawrence will try to flip the swing seat held by GOP Rep. Tom Barrett.<\/li>\n<li>State Rep. McKinney, a Democratic Socialists of America member backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), is up this morning 51.6%\u201348.4% against Thanedar in a solidly blue seat. A McKinney victory would make Thanedar the latest House Democrat toppled by the left.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The latest: <\/strong>Both El-Sayed and Stevens told supporters the vote count could continue well into Wednesday.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>While NBC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/abdul-el-sayed-wins-michigans-democratic-senate-primary-notching-midwe-rcna589750\" target=\"_blank\">called the race<\/a> for El-Sayed, AP and CNN held off, even as the number of remaining ballots has dwindled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The big picture: <\/strong>The bitter and expensive campaign became the most notable proxy battle between the Democratic Party&#8217;s establishment and progressive wings.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>El-Sayed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/the-new-yorker-interview\/abdul-el-sayeds-argument-for-america-and-against-his-own-party\" target=\"_blank\">has said<\/a> he&#8217;s not a democratic socialist, but many DSA members have backed him.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom in: <\/strong>The left saw even more victories downballot, with a DSA member <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DemSocialists\/status\/2084852648726127058\" target=\"_blank\">ousting<\/a> an incumbent state representative, a cofounder of the Uncommitted Movement <a href=\"https:\/\/votes.decisiondeskhq.com\/races\/2026-08-04\/michigan-state-senate-2-democratic-primary\" target=\"_blank\">nominated<\/a> in a state senate race and a Working Families Party-endorsed candidate <a href=\"https:\/\/votes.decisiondeskhq.com\/races\/2026-08-04\/michigan-state-house-11-democratic-primary\" target=\"_blank\">set to win<\/a> an open state house seat.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A socialist was also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wemu.org\/wemu-news\/2026-08-05\/yousef-rabhi-declares-victory-in-ann-arbor-mayoral-race\" target=\"_blank\">named<\/a> the Democratic nominee in Ann Arbor&#8217;s mayoral race and is unopposed in November.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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 progressives woke up Wednesday after a banner night: Abdul El-Sayed leads the uncalled Democratic Senate primary, Will Lawrence won a battleground House nomination, and Donavan McKinney threatens to oust Rep. Shri Thanedar. Of the three Democratic primaries, only Lawrence&#8217;s victory has been called. Why it matters: A sweep would signal the left&#8217;s growing strength&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/zulW9KUL0z3XKw1fPBG8uTnLMEs=\/0x0:5717x3216\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/05\/1785931772712.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29775","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\/29775","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=29775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}