Stevens holds 7-point lead over El-Sayed in Michigan Senate Democratic primary polling

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) is leading progressive Abdul El-Sayed in the Democratic primary race for Sen. Gary Peters’s (D-Mich.) seat by about 7 points, according to a new poll.

In the Detroit News/WDIV-TV poll, 41.4 percent of respondents said they would “definitely” or “probably” back El-Sayed, while 48.2 percent of respondents said the same of Stevens. The poll found that 9.5 percent of respondents were undecided.

Stevens, a moderate, recently received Peters’s endorsement, while El-Sayed has support from key progressive figures such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). In a post Monday morning on social platform X, Peters described Stevens as “the fighter we need” and said “she has the record to back it up.” The primary between Stevens and El-Sayed is scheduled for Aug. 4.

Many Democrats view Michigan’s Senate race as the first major test for the party’s conflict over its identity as it looks past November to the 2028 presidential race.

The battle in the Wolverine State follows recent wins by progressive insurgents in Democratic primaries across the country, including in New York, Colorado and Washington, D.C. It also comes after heated debate within the party over whether to lean more left or toward the center, especially in the wake of election losses in 2024.

The poll also found that 51.5 percent of respondents said they viewed El-Sayed favorably, while 49.5 percent said they viewed Stevens favorably. El-Sayed was seen unfavorably by 15.4 percent of respondents, and Stevens was seen unfavorably by 21 percent.

The Detroit News/WDIV-TV poll, conducted by the Glengariff Group, took place July 8-11, featuring 500 likely Democratic primary voters with 4.4 percentage points as is margin of error.

Tags

2026 Michigan Senate race

Abdul El-Sayed

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Bernie Sanders

Gary Peters

Haley Stevens

Haley Stevens

Michigan

Senate

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