Michigan Black Voters Resist Abdul El-Sayed as $51 Million Ad Blitz Lifts Haley Stevens
Updated
Updated · CNN · Jul 27
Michigan Black Voters Resist Abdul El-Sayed as $51 Million Ad Blitz Lifts Haley Stevens
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Jul 27
Summary
One-fifth of Michigan’s Democratic primary electorate — Black voters — remains a major obstacle for Abdul El-Sayed in the August 4 Senate race, with interviews around Detroit showing broad skepticism despite his late outreach.
About $51 million in outside spending, including $30 million from AIPAC-aligned United Democracy Project, has fueled ads attacking El-Sayed over past remarks on Michelle Obama and other Democrats, while he argues the barrage is distorting his record.
Many Black voters and leaders also fault El-Sayed for backing the 2024 “uncommitted” movement, which drew more than 100,000 votes in Michigan and is still blamed by some for weakening Democrats before Trump carried the state.
Haley Stevens is benefiting from years of personal ties in Black communities, support from figures including Jim Clyburn and Chuck Schumer, and her Obama-era auto rescue credentials, which voters cited more often than ideology.
The primary has become a high-stakes test of Democratic progressives in a battleground state: the nominee faces Republican Mike Rogers in a race crucial to Democrats’ bid to gain 4 Senate seats.