El-Sayed's victory sends tremors through Democratic Party

Abdul El-Sayed, a former Michigan health official and child of Egyptian immigrants, won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary in August 2026, defeating establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens despite being outspent roughly nine-to-one by outside groups, including $32-54 million from AIPAC in what became the most expensive Democratic Senate primary in US history. Running on government-sponsored health insurance, lower drug costs and campaign finance reform with backing from Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers in November in a race that could decide Senate control; the same night, Democratic Socialist Donavan McKinney and William Lawrence -- both critics of continued US support for Israel -- also ousted more moderate incumbents in Michigan primaries, part of a broader pattern of AIPAC-aligned candidates losing ground, though centrist Democrats in Missouri and Washington state beat back left-wing primary challengers in the same cycle. In New Jersey, surgeon and former Gaza medical volunteer Adam Hamawy also won a 12-person House primary.

The results intensified an intraparty rift: Democratic strategist James Carville publicly criticized the Democratic Socialists of America at a 'Promise to America' event promoting centrist principles, saying 'if you hate the Democratic Party so much... don't use our god[damn] name,' while organizers Tom Suozzi and Adam Gray said their moderate pledge had only secured about 10 congressional signatories so far. A separate Al Jazeera opinion piece argued the primary wins by Israel critics did not reflect a genuine Democratic establishment shift, noting the party's national leadership had rejected even a symbolic resolution condemning AIPAC's influence and that progressive winners like El-Sayed and Ro Khanna, despite calling for cut aid to Israel, still stopped short of endorsing full Palestinian self-defense rights; the piece cited polling showing 80% of Democrats viewed Israel unfavorably by 2026, up from 53% in 2022, and a July House vote in which 103 Democrats supported (unsuccessfully) stripping $3.3 billion in annual US military aid to Israel.