Abdul El-Sayed and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens made their final pitches to Democratic voters in Michigan churches and union halls over the weekend, with less than 48 hours left in the state’s fiercely contested Democratic Senate primary. The primary has become a test of where Democratic voters want their party to go, with El-Sayed, a progressive backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, running against the Democratic establishment, and Stevens, a four-term congresswoman backed by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, emphasizing electability and experience.
El-Sayed spent Sunday morning at a packed Detroit church, where he asked for votes and outlined his vision for economic opportunity and equal treatment. He was joined by Democratic Reps. Summer Lee and Ayanna Pressley, as well as Yusef Jackson, the son of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Stevens, meanwhile, made her own appeal at another Black church, where one of the city’s most prominent pastors made the case for her. Stevens has a name for the frenzy of the closing days: “the last word phenomenon.” “Everyone’s trying to get in their last points,” Stevens said.
The candidates’ choices of where to make their final pitches reflected the simple contest underneath all the money and ideological warfare: which one can assemble enough of Michigan’s Democratic coalition to win. The stakes extend well beyond the primary, with the nominee needing to bring a fractured Democratic coalition back together to defeat Republican Mike Rogers in November and hold an open seat critical to the party’s hopes of taking control of the Senate next year.
Both hopefuls focused on the Detroit area, where Democratic primaries are often decided, and support from the city’s Black voters is often key to success. El-Sayed’s pitch to those voters centered on a vision of economic opportunity and equal treatment. “I believe in the kind of America where no matter where you grow up, the color of your skin, how you pray, you deserve equal rights in this country,” El-Sayed told the congregation at Kingdom Covenant Church.
For Robin Robertson, a 59-year-old Detroit resident, El-Sayed’s visit came just in time, and she ultimately settled on supporting him. Stevens, meanwhile, emphasized her longstanding connections to Detroit-area churches, staying after a service to speak individually with congregants and greeting many like familiar faces.
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Stevens and her allies have also made a direct appeal to Black voters through advertisements. After spending much of Sunday pursuing some of the same Democratic constituencies, El-Sayed and Stevens will take different paths across Michigan for the final full day of the primary.
El-Sayed plans to remain in Detroit, joining canvass launches and trying to turn enthusiasm into votes, while Stevens will head west, making stops across West Michigan as she tries to maximize support in a region with Democratic strongholds. The divergent schedules reflect the final calculation facing both campaigns: there are few voters left to persuade, and increasingly the task is making sure the ones already won over actually cast a ballot.
For El-Sayed, that means leaning into a volunteer operation his campaign says has grown to 12,000 people statewide, while Stevens is relying on the broader institutional support she has accumulated across the state. By Monday night, there will be no more churches to visit, union halls to address, or rallies to hold, and the television ads that have blanketed Michigan will have run their course.
Then comes what Stevens described as the inevitable other side of the “last word phenomenon”: the votes will be counted, and the election will be had. They will find out who will face Republican Mike Rogers in November.
It is a critical election.