The Democrat Party spent $65 million trying to stop one man from winning a Senate primary in Michigan.
They lost anyway – and now their own leaders are whispering off the record about what comes next.
A CNN reporter just put on the record what Michigan Democrat leaders will only whisper in private.
Democrat Party Unity in Michigan Is Already Collapsing After El-Sayed Primary Win
CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere traveled Michigan during the bruising senate primary battle between left-wing Abdul El-Sayed and establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens.
"While the microphones are on, political leaders talk confidently about how they know the party can come together behind El-Sayed against Mike Rogers," Dovere reported on CNN.com. Then, he said, "they often ask to go off the record to say how terrified they are that the wounds are too deep and festering to heal."
On camera: unity. Off camera: panic.
Dovere went further. He spoke directly to Stevens voters at polling locations across Detroit, Dearborn, and Birmingham.
Their message was blunt: they might not vote for El-Sayed at all. Some said they would look at Republican Mike Rogers.
Abdul El-Sayed Called Israel a Rogue State and Campaigned With a Man Who Said America Deserved 9/11
El-Sayed, a Bernie Sanders-endorsed physician and son of Egyptian immigrants, called the Israeli government "evil" – the same word he used for Hamas. He told CNN in July that Israel is "certainly a rogue state." And Sayed campaigned alongside internet streamer Hasan Piker, who once said "America deserved 9/11," within weeks of a man ramming a truck into a Michigan synagogue.
At his victory speech at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit, El-Sayed spent the opening minutes attacking AIPAC – the pro-Israel lobby – then pivoted in the same remarks to ask Stevens to campaign alongside him. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency called the whiplash "jarring."
His campaign website pledges to cut all U.S. military aid to Israel and redirect the money to domestic programs. On a livestream the Sunday before the primary, El-Sayed said he wanted a T-shirt printed declaring himself "the most dangerous candidate for the U.S.-Israel relationship."
That is who just won a Senate primary in Michigan – one of the states Democrats can’t afford to lose if they want to flip control of the Senate.
Mike Rogers vs El-Sayed Michigan Senate 2026 and Why Democrats Fear This Matchup
Michigan is not a safe Democrat state. The 2024 Senate race there was decided by 0.34 percentage points. Elissa Slotkin beat Mike Rogers by 19,000 votes out of millions cast. Rogers got right back up, ran again, and is now the Republican nominee for the same seat.
He ran unopposed on the Republican side. El-Sayed survived a 1-point squeaker against a moderate backed by Gretchen Whitmer, Nancy Pelosi, and $54 million in outside spending.
That is the general election setup Democrats built for themselves.
The Emerson College poll taken days before the primary showed voters over 60 – the highest-turnout demographic in any election – broke for Stevens by 14 points. El-Sayed's strength came entirely from voters under 50.
Senior Michigan Democrats know what that age breakdown means in a November general election. That is what they will not say on the record.
Michigan Senate Race Could Flip as Stevens Voters Threaten to Cross the Aisle
Many Arab voters in Dearborn withheld their support from Democrats in 2024 over Gaza.
Now Democrats have nominated a candidate who ran on cutting every dollar of U.S. military aid to Israel – and Jewish Stevens voters are openly saying they might pull the lever for Mike Rogers.
Michigan is a must-win for Democrats trying to retake the Senate, and they needed a candidate who could hold their fractured coalition together. A man who called both Israel and Hamas "evil" is now asking those same voters to trust him in November.
CNN's reporter caught Democrat insiders admitting what they know: the wounds are too deep and festering to heal.
Mike Rogers lost Michigan by 19,000 votes in 2024. He is running again. And the other side just handed him the one opponent their own leaders feared most.
Sources:
- Edward-Isaac Dovere, "Michigan Democrats terrified over party unity after El-Sayed primary win," CNN, August 6, 2026.
- Henry J. Gomez, "Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan's Democratic Senate primary," NBC News, August 5, 2026.
- "Anti-Israel Democratic candidate El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate primary," Times of Israel, August 5, 2026.
- "El-Sayed decried AIPAC. Now he hopes to win over pro-Israel Democrats," Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 5, 2026.
- "Pro-Israel Lobby Defeated in Michigan as El-Sayed Wins Senate Primary," Newsweek, August 5, 2026.
- "Michigan senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed takes heat for Khamenei comments, Hasan Piker event," Fox News.
- "Mike Rogers advances to high-stakes Michigan Senate showdown," Washington Examiner, August 4, 2026.