BREAKING: 'Abolish ICE' leftist Abdul El-Sayed beats Haley Stevens to win Michigan Democrat Senate primary

Abdul El-Sayed has won the Michigan Democrat primary for Senate and will go on to face GOP contender Mike Rogers in November. More than 95% of the votes had been counted before the call was made, giving El-Sayed 48.6% of the vote to Haley Stevens' 47.3%. The difference between the two contenders was less than 20,000 votes. 

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was one of the first to congratulate El-Sayed, for whom she campaigned. "Congratulations Abdul El-Sayed," she said, "on securing the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate! Now we get to work. 90 days till Election Day starts now. We've got a world to win." Then she asked for donations.

The results were tight throughout the count, with both Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed gaining or losing points as different districts handed in their returns, staying within three points of each other as the vote tallies rolled in. Mallory McMorrow gained a small portion of the vote despite no longer being in the running. She suspended her candidacy on July 5, but her name was still on the ballot and she received about 4% of the votes—points that could have bolstered the ambitions of Stevens and El-Sayed.

Stevens, who gained the endorsement of Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was the more moderate candidate between the two. Establishment Democrats in the Great Lake State also backed Stevens while DSA-adjacent El-Sayed received support from the far-left of his party. Far-left radical streamer Hassan Piker, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Senator Bernie Sanders, and other far-left figures all campaigned with El-Sayed.

Both Stevens and El-Sayed were vying for retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters’ seat. Peters endorsed Stevens ahead of the primary election. Mike Rogers ran uncontested in the GOP Senate primary.

During the campaign, both Stevens and El-Sayed pledged to support the eventual Democrat nominee, whoever that may be. The race, however, became increasingly contentious. Like many Democrat primary races, Israel became a defining issue.

The Democrat Party has become fractured on the topic, and El-Sayed attacked Stevens over a pro-Israel vote she had cast in Congress during the primary debate, saying, “That is the pro quo that comes with the quid. It really comes down to how you are funded.” El-Sayed sides with the far-left, anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian wing of his party.

He argued during their debate that Stevens would only push for incremental change regarding Israel, which he believes should be fully removed as an American interest. El-Sayed was mired in controversy during the campaign over his past comments claiming that he was a “physician” and his foreign financial interests in India and other locales came under question. Despite claiming to be a doctor, he has barely any experience as a medical doctor.

“The perception in Michigan is that he is, at least at one point in his life, a licensed physician,” Democrat strategist Chris Dewitt told reporters previously when it surfaced that El-Sayed had little experience as a physician. “That apparently is not the case, and it blows up a big part of his campaign.”

Reports during the campaign also surfaced that El-Sayed said that he did not want to comment on the killing of the Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran because some of his constituents would be sad over the terror regime leader's death.