Tuesday night marked another significant battle in the clash between establishment Democrats and insurgent progressives that has come to define the 2026 primary season. After hard-fought battles in Michigan, Missouri, and elsewhere, progressive candidates defied expectations and reams of outside spending to emerge victorious in most of the closely watched races. In Michigan…
Source
Early in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary, Erin Mallen sent $10 to State Senator Mallory McMorrow. Mallen, a mom who runs an Etsy shop near Traverse City, a liberal bastion in northern Michigan, liked McMorrow — she is young and a break from the Senate’s establishment who occupied a middle lane between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed, Mallen said. Lagging in the polls…
Source
Michigan’s Senate race has become one of the most pivotal electoral battlegrounds in the country. With primaries taking place on August 4, all eyes are on the high-stakes competition between progressive candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and establishment candidate Haley Stephens to see who will represent Democrats in the general election.
In this raw, unedited interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez sits down with El-Sayed in Saginaw, Michigan, to talk about his campaign, the civil war within the Democratic party, and about fighting corporate oligarchy and MAGA fascism at the same time.
Credits:
Videography: Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Maximillian Alvarez: I’m here in the Mexican American Council Building in Saginaw, Michigan, and I’m sitting with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who is running to represent Michigan in the United States Senate. Brother Abdul, great to see you again, man. Thanks for joining me. I really appreciate it.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed: An honor.
Maximillian Alvarez: And we first met when you were running for governor here in Michigan in 2018.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed: Feels like yesterday. It feels like 15 years ago.
Maximillian Alvarez: Exactly. Both a day ago and a lifetime ago. And I think the circumstances around each election can sort of trick us into feeling like they’re very similar moments. When you were running in 2018, the question was how are Democrats going to respond to Trump? But also, who’s going to inherit the Bernie Sanders mantle? AOC just won. And so you were part of that progressive cohort. And now we kind of have a similar situation. How are Democrats going to respond to Trump
The outcome of Michigan’s Senate race will have major implications for the balance of power in Washington, DC, and for the future of the Democratic Party itself. With primaries taking place on August 4, all eyes are on the battle between progressive candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and establishment candidate Haley Stephens to see who will represent Democrats in the general election. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez sits down with El-Sayed to talk about his campaign, the civil war within the Democratic party, and about fighting corporate oligarchy and MAGA fascism at the same time.
Credits:
Videography: Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production: Maximillian Alvarez, David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Speaker 1:
Michigan is shaping up to be one of the most closely watched Senate races of this entire cycle.
Speaker 2:
Democrats will choose between Congresswoman Haley Stevens and former director of the Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services, Wayne County, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed:
We pay more for the stuff we got to buy, get paid less for the work that we do and watch as our tax dollars get misappropriated abroad to drop bombs on other people’s kids instead of to invest in our own kids and their schools and their healthcare.
Speaker 4:
We’re done. Business as usual politics is over.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed:
Most people don’t walk around thinking, where do I stand on the left right spectrum? Most people walk around thinking, how am I going to afford my groceries? How am I going to pay for my rent? Can I ever afford a home? What am I going to do if I get sick? The majority of Democrats
“Why the Vetting of Graham Platner Failed” read a July 2026 New York Magazine headline. The rapid ascent of political outsider Graham Platner to Democratic Party nominee for the Maine Senate seat, and his subsequent campaign suspension following sexual assault allegations by Jenny Racicot and Lyndsey Fifield, has been widely used by the media to criticize the democratic socialists who backed him.
Source