Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just won their biggest Senate primary of the 2026 midterms.
The Michigan Democrat establishment spent millions trying to stop them – and lost anyway.
Now the man who ran Bill Clinton's campaigns is explaining what that victory is going to cost Democrats in November.
How the Democrat Establishment Lost Michigan to Bernie Sanders
Abdul El-Sayed is a former Wayne County health director who ran for Michigan governor in 2018 and lost the Democrat primary to Gretchen Whitmer.
He came back this cycle for Gary Peters' open Senate seat, picked up endorsements from Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and immediately became the candidate the entire Democrat establishment tried to destroy.
Chuck Schumer backed Rep. Haley Stevens. So did Nancy Pelosi, outgoing Sen. Gary Peters, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer – the same governor who beat El-Sayed eight years ago.
The primary turned ugly fast.
Stevens accused El-Sayed of sexism. Rep. Hillary Scholten and other moderate Michigan Democrats announced publicly they could not support El-Sayed in November.
El-Sayed won anyway – by less than one percentage point last week.
Mark Penn Shows Exactly How Abdul El-Sayed Loses Michigan
The moment El-Sayed's win was called, every Democrat who wasn't already flying a socialist flag knew what it meant for November.
Mark Penn – Bill Clinton's former chief pollster and campaign strategist – went to Fox News with the math.
Penn knows exactly what a fractured primary does to a general election in a state decided by fractions of a percentage point.
"Is it possible to find 5% that will do that?" Penn asked on Fox News. "It is highly likely that you're gonna find 5% of those Stevens voters who are going to switch to the other side, and that alone would give a margin of victory to Rogers."
https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/2085443190203592990
Five percent is not a stretch. In Michigan, it is practically a certainty.
Mike Rogers lost Michigan's Senate race in 2024 to then-Rep. Elissa Slotkin by 0.34 percentage points.
A pre-primary poll from the Michigan Education survey showed Rogers beating El-Sayed by 10 points in a head-to-head matchup.
That same poll showed Stevens essentially tied with Rogers.
Michigan Democrats just traded a winnable Senate race for a socialist symbol.
Hasan Piker Praised Mao Zedong and El-Sayed Brought Him Anyway
The night before last Tuesday's primary, El-Sayed was not knocking on doors in Detroit or making a closing argument to undecided voters.
He was at a pool party with Hasan Piker.
Piker is the far-left Twitch streamer who declared in 2019 that "America deserved 9/11" and who earlier this year called Mao Zedong "one of the great leaders of this world."
El-Sayed refused to cut ties with Piker at any point in the campaign.
He rallied with him on college campuses across Michigan and took selfies with fans at his events.
The night before Michigan Democrats chose their Senate nominee, El-Sayed was poolside at Piker's party.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee had the response ready within hours: "Instead of spending his final hours campaigning with Michiganders, Abdul El-Sayed spent it poolside with an antisemite and terrorist sympathizer who believes America deserved 9/11."
The ads are already written, and Republicans have three months to run them.
The Michigan Senate Race Was Already Over Before El-Sayed Won
Donald Trump carried Michigan by 1.4 points in 2024 – a state Democrats once considered a firewall.
Rogers nearly won in 2024, losing by less than half a point.
Now Democrats have nominated a candidate whose closest campaign surrogate said America deserved the September 11th attacks and called the architect of China's Cultural Revolution a great leader.
Mark Penn is not revealing something Republican strategists did not already know the moment El-Sayed's primary win was called.
El-Sayed won a primary of far-left activists. He now has to win a state full of autoworkers, veterans, and suburban parents who would never vote for someone who spent election eve poolside with a man who praised Mao Zedong.
The 5 percent Penn identified is already walking out the door. And that could be the whole ballgame in an evenly divided battleground state.
Sources:
- Mike LaChance, "Former Clinton Pollster Mark Penn Explains How Easy it Will be for Abdul El-Sayed to LOSE Michigan in the General Election," The Gateway Pundit, August 6, 2026.
- Staff, "El-Sayed pals around with far-left streamer Hasan Piker the day before crucial Michigan Senate election," Fox News, August 4, 2026.
- Taylor Penley, "Michigan Democrat defends appearing with Hasan Piker, distances himself from podcaster's controversial remarks," Fox News, April 7, 2026.