Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens in tight contest as Michigan counts Democratic Senate primary votes

Tuesday’s Michigan Democratic Senate primary race remains unsettled, with progressive Abdul El-Sayed holding onto a narrow lead over moderate Haley Stevens with votes still being counted. CBS News was describing the race overnight Wednesday as leaning toward El-Sayed.

The race between the progressive former health official and Stevens, a moderate congresswomen, has served as an increasingly bitter proxy fight between the national Democratic Party’s ideological factions.

The winner of the primary will face off against Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in November.  The race — which was left open by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ decision to retire — could prove pivotal in determining which party controls the U.S. Senate next year.

With more than 85% of the statewide vote counted, El-Sayed led by double-digit margins in Kent County, home to Grand Rapids, and Washtenaw County, home to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. He also had leads in Kalamazoo County and Ingham County, where most of the state capital of Lansing is located.

Stevens, meanwhile, has an edge in the state’s most populous county, Wayne County, which is home to Detroit and many of its suburbs. She also leads in neighboring suburban Oakland County and Macomb County, as well as Genesee County, home to Flint.

Both candidates addressed supporters early Wednesday morning, expressing optimism while cautioning that they didn’t expect to know the winner for a while.

El-Sayed celebrated his statewide lead and said “we are on track to vastly outvote the historical numbers that we should have expected.”

Stevens said “we are still waiting on results” but “I am feeling good,” pointing to large numbers of uncounted votes in Detroit.

The Democratic primary turned into a two-candidate contest after state Sen. Mallory McMorrow suspended her campaign last month — leaving the four-term House member Stevens to face off against the physician and El-Sayed, the former Wayne County health director.

El-Sayed — who ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2018 — has the backing of national progressives like independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Stevens was recruited into the Senate race by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and was endorsed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The race has grown contentious. El-Sayed has criticized the wave of outside funding that has flowed into the state to support Stevens, including from groups linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, while Stevens has cast El-Sayed as a “celebrity candidate.” 

The U.S.-Israel relationship has been a near-constant theme, with El-Sayed strongly criticizing U.S. aid to Israel, while Stevens backs the two countries’ alliance. The two candidates have also focused on cost-of-living issues, but have offered differing visions.

Stevens told CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefe in an interview Monday: “I’m Michigan’s workhorse. That’s what I want to be. My opponent, he’s already got his website for president.”

El-Sayed told O’Keefe he believes Michigan voters — who backed President Trump in two out of the last three presidential races — are “sick and tired of the establishment bought off by corporations on both sides of the political aisle.”