The Memo: Left looks to seize on momentum from El-Sayed's win
The Hill · C · trust 39/100
Comments: by Niall Stanage - 08/05/26 6:35 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Niall Stanage - 08/05/26 6:35 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING The left of the Democratic Party kept up its strong momentum on Tuesday, even if primary results in Michigan and several other states stopped short of unequivocal triumph.
The marquee race in Michigan ended in a narrow victory for Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive public health expert who now becomes the party’s nominee in a Senate race against former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich).
El-Sayed’s primary victory over Rep. Haley Stevens (D) was far tighter than polls had predicted. El-Sayed had been up by double digits in several surveys shortly before the primary but in the end vanquished Stevens by about 1 percentage point.
Progressive strategists dismiss the idea that this amounts to anything underwhelming — or that the small margin of victory flashes warning signs about El-Sayed’s chances against Rogers in November.
Instead, they stress the scale of El-Sayed’s achievement. Having never held elected office, he defeated a fourth-term congresswoman who enjoyed a massive advantage in outside financial support.
More than $60 million was spent to back Stevens’s candidacy and to thwart El-Sayed. Around half of that total came from sources affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
AIPAC funding has become a deeply controversial topic in a Democratic Party whose supporters have largely recoiled from Israel’s actions in Gaza. El-Sayed, who calls those actions a genocide, sought to use the AIPAC issue against Stevens.
The larger picture is that El-Sayed was outgunned roughly 8-1 in outside spending but still prevailed.
Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who is now executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, told this column that any suggestion El-Sayed’s performance was disappointing was “ridiculous.”
“The bottom line is that Abdul El-Sayed faced an unprecedented amount of outside spending, he faced a Democratic establishment that was pretty much all-in against him, and he overcame that with a great message, with some real political skills, and with a really excellent organizing operation,” Duss said.
The El-Sayed vs. Stevens race was emblematic of the broader faultlines within a restive Democratic Party.
Beyond the question of Israel and the Palestinians, El-Sayed leaned into a more populist message, summed up in his slogan: “Money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare-for-All.” Stevens, a more cautious and centrist figure, blasted her rival as a “celebrity” candidate whom she cast as unelectable.
El-Sayed was endorsed by virtually every leading light in the progressive movement, including Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and fellow Michigander Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D).
Stevens had the backing of retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), as well as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
In the wake of El-Sayed’s victory, the party made a swift effort to unify. Peters and Whitmer endorsed El-Sayed — as did Stevens herself, in a message met warmly by the nominee after their sometimes-bitter primary fight.
Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the head of Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, released a joint statement that also endorsed El-Sayed, while the Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC released a slick ad backing his candidacy.
Still, the fissures within the Democratic Party are not going to fully close anytime soon — even as its different factions come together to try to push El-Sayed across the finish line.
Left-wing challengers have enjoyed considerable success against more pro-establishment incumbents recently. In doing so, they have channeled an energy among many of the party’s grassroots supporters who want a more ambitious agenda and a greater passion to fight for it.
On Tuesday, another progressive figure, Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney (D), joined the list of victors, defeating incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar (D) in a House primary to represent the 13th District.
Elsewhere in Michigan, the left notched another win when Will Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, clinched the House primary in the state’s 7th District.
The Michigan wins are but the latest for the left.
In the New York primaries in June, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D) was defeated by Darializa Avila Chevalier, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) also went down against a leftist rival, Brad Lander.
One week later, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) was defeated in a primary by DSA member Melat Kiros. DeGette was seeking her 16th term in Congress. Her first term began in 1997, the year of Kiros’s birth.
Before all that, there was the landmark victory of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
But the left has suffered defeats along the way, too. It incurred another loss on Tuesday in Missouri, when progressive favorite Cori Bush was defeated comfortably as she sought to wrest her old St. Louis-area seat back from Rep. Wesley Bell (D).
The differences within the Democratic coalition have led to plenty of prominent spats, too.
Advocates for a more centrist course, including Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and veteran strategist James Carville, have vigorously criticized the left, contending that elections are won in the center ground, even in a polarized society.
Progressives have responded in kind. Sanders, interviewed by CNN’s Abby Phillip on Tuesday evening, suggested Carville should “start his own party” if he feels so alienated from the leftists within Democratic ranks.
The centrists are especially concerned about the chances of a figure like…
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