After a bruising primary, Democrats in Michigan are working to unify their coalition ahead of what is expected to be a razor-thin Senate race this fall for a seat they need to hold if they hope to retake the Senate majority.
Transcript
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
After a bruising primary, Michigan Democrats are trying to unify so that they can hold on to a must-win seat to reclaim the majority in the U.S. Senate. Healing these fractures is proving complicated. Here’s NPR congressional reporter Sam Gringlas.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: From a rented strip mall space decorated with district maps and a literal blue wall, the Midland County Democrats marshal volunteers. Tonight, members are getting a pep talk from Senator Elissa Slotkin. She’d just come from the annual motorcycle tour hosted by fellow Michigan Senate Democrat Gary Peters.
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ELISSA SLOTKIN: I did not, like, drive the Harley. I just strapped myself to a dude named DJ from Fenton, Michigan, an ironworker.
GRINGLAS: Peters is retiring. Former public health official Abdul El-Sayed is the Democrat vying to follow him. Peters and most of the Democratic establishment supported another candidate in the primary. El-Sayed, backed by progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders, won by less than a percentage point. Slotkin did not endorse in the primary but is now trying to rally her party around their nominee.
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SLOTKIN: I know that you’re encountering neighbors and people at the door who are not sure. But let me tell you, there are plenty of things that I don’t agree with Abdul on, but we agree on the really important stuff.
GRINGLAS: Like defending democracy – Slotkin is a moderate, El-Sayed much further left, but Slotkin says, like her, El-Sayed is willing to fight. Here’s Midland Democrats co-chair Lara Bell Phillips.
LARA BELL PHILLIPS: These issues that we’ve talked about are so unifying, that is going to be what is going to heal any schism that’s there.
GRINGLAS: Bringing Democrats together is one challenge. Another is winning over independents, like in this deep red corner of mid-Michigan. Kathleen Currell worries some voters may be scared off by El-Sayed’s positions, like saying he wants to abolish and replace ICE. Republicans are characterizing El-Sayed as dangerous.
KATHLEEN CURRELL: I think he’s a great candidate. I want to believe he’s going to win. I mean, I’d love to think people are changing, but just the name alone, Abdul – some people are very tainted in the stereotypes, and I’ve talked to some of these people.
GRINGLAS: After a primary season rife with debates over the direction of the party, Democrats are trying to stitch their coalition back together. In an interview, Slotkin acknowledged there’s work to do in Michigan. Still…
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SLOTKIN: Good Midwesterners, good Michiganders are pragmatists, and they understand that, OK, someone wins a primary, and then you move forward.
GRINGLAS: For some Democrats, though, moving on has not been easy. A hundred miles away in the Detroit suburbs, post-primary unity was tested as El-Sayed hosted an event in Farmington Hills.
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ABDUL EL-SAYED: When they lie on us and tell us that somebody like me can’t win, I want to show them the big-hearted and open-minded Michigan I know.
GRINGLAS: The mayor here had endorsed El-Sayed’s opponent in the primary. Now she was on hand rallying for the nominee. But voter Judy Kessler and her three friends came hoping to hear more from El-Sayed. They were hurt by his comments after a March vehicle attack on the nearby Temple Israel preschool. Members of the assailant’s family had been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon. At the time, El-Sayed said in part that violence is a cycle and that hurt people hurt people.
JUDY KESSLER: He knows that’s a sensitivity for people around here.
GRINGLAS: Despite being billed as a town hall, El-Sayed did not take questions.
KESSLER: I feel like there was some mysterious thing in the room that no one was willing to say, people say this about me, let me tell you this, rather than just cliches. And that’s what I felt I got.
GRINGLAS: Last week, El-Sayed came under renewed scrutiny for his relationship with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker. Piker had made comments implying that Jews’ support for Israel put them at risk of violence. El-Sayed sought to distance himself from the controversy, calling antisemitism a scourge and saying Piker does not speak for the campaign. After the event, I asked El-Sayed how he’s pivoting from the primary to cultivating broader appeal.
EL-SAYED: My message hasn’t really changed, but we’re a lot more focused on the contrast with Mike Rogers.
GRINGLAS: Rogers is his Republican opponent. I told El-Sayed about the conversation with Kessler.
EL-SAYED: I know that the things that unify us are so much bigger than the things that divide us. And I hope that I can continue to make the argument that inspires them to not just come out and vote, but to bring others out to vote.
GRINGLAS: A few days later, at events with Jewish Democrats, El-Sayed apologized for his comment after the Synagogue attack. Whether that is enough is something Democrats like Kessler will now decide. Sam Gringlas, NPR News, Farmington Hills, Michigan.
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