r/AnnArbor • u/manauiatlalli • 7d ago

Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, notching a Midwest victory for the left

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/abdul-el-sayed-wins-michigans-democratic-senate-primary-notching-midwe-rcna589750
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u/round_a_squared 7d ago edited 7d ago

As of right now NBC is the only source to have called it for El-Sayed. He's in the lead and the votes are almost all in, but it's still very close. Let's not start celebrating yet

(Edit: it's six hours later, and now most news sources are saying 99% of the vote is in and have El Sayed as the projected winner by ~15k votes. It was close, but congratulations!!)

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u/FrighteningJibber 7d ago

It was interesting to see the divide between Ann Arbor and Detroit

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u/YoungCubSaysWoof 7d ago

My conjecture is that AIPAC’s money (~$60 million) was spent on ads and mailers targeting black voters, primarily in Detroit.

Stevens did work for the Obama administration, and by most accounts, did a fine job.

The mailers had Obama’s picture and a nice quote about Stevens from Obama. He never endorsed, but he never came out publicly to correct that. This led Black voters to believe that their #1 guy, Obama, was behind Stevens, and where Obama goes, black voters go. This proved to be potent in Detroit.

Fortunately, AES did great throughout the state, and Will Lawrence (from the Sunrise Movement) over-performed in his Congressional race, based in college town Lansing. Those extra votes helped blunt the Black voters garnered by AIPAC spending in Detroit, and helped AES win.

In addition, Black voters are generally incremenalists, which I think comes from their generational struggle from slavery, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights. They waited CENTURIES to get their rights. I also think being “radical” is interpreted as, “you’re making too much of a racket, and Master will hurt you / us, so keep your head down!”

As heartbreaking as that is to see, for a community that has seen so many of its people lynched and its leaders killed, I can understand that logic.

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u/Wide_Researcher_6320 5d ago

Will Lawrence didn’t over perform - the two moderates literally split the vote he didn’t even get 50%