Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI:Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who harnessed Democratic frustration with the party establishment, narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s US Senate primary, setting up a crucial test for progressives in a key battleground state.
El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman, in November in a race that will help determine control of the Senate. His first challenge will be unifying Democratic factions after a bitter primary that offered divergent visions for a party desperate for a path back to power.
El-Sayed led Stevens by 14,893 votes — just under 1 percentage point — out of more than 1.5 million ballots counted, the most in recent state history. El-Sayed, 41, has never held elected office and entered the race seven years after losing Michigan’s Democratic gubernatorial primary by more than 20 percentage points.
This time, running on an unapologetically progressive agenda, he overcame more than $60 million in outside spending and an opponent backed by many of Michigan’s top Democrats, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and outgoing Sen. Gary Peters, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
After losing the 2018 Democratic primary for governor to Whitmer, El-Sayed retreated into the political wilderness. He started a podcast, wrote a book and became a regular presence on YouTube and television, slowly building a following while waiting for a political opening he did not know would come.
