Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan Senate race

Abdul El-Sayed, a 41-year-old former public health official running as the progressive candidate in Michigan's competitive Democratic Senate primary against establishment favorite Rep. Haley Stevens, won the nomination despite facing more than $50m in spending from pro-Israel groups including AIPAC and skepticism from Black voters, who have historically backed more moderate Democrats in the state. He faces Republican nominee and former Rep. Mike Rogers in a race seen as pivotal to both parties' hopes of controlling the Senate.

The race turned personal in September when Vice President JD Vance, campaigning for Rogers, called El-Sayed 'very, very evil' and accused him of having 'sympathy and compassion for people who share his religion, but have nothing for people who don't' - a response to El-Sayed's earlier post questioning whether Vance would 'take Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw,' seen by critics as targeting Second Lady Usha Vance's Indian and Hindu heritage. Vance also warned El-Sayed to 'keep my wife's name the hell out of your mouth.' El-Sayed, who had separately apologized for saying after a March synagogue attack that 'violence is a cycle,' accused Vance and the administration in turn of 'evil' policies on healthcare and the economy; by mid-September Vance was urging House Republicans nationally to invoke El-Sayed as a boogeyman against Democrats generally, saying 'he's got enough material for the whole country.'