<p>Progressives scored their biggest win of the year Tuesday in <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/05/michigan-elections-dsa-wfp-uaw-progressives-win" target="_blank">Michigan's Senate primary</a>, narrowly defeating the Democratic establishment in the clearest sign yet of how a populist surge is remaking the party.</p><p><strong>Why it matters: </strong>Left-wing outsider Abdul El-Sayed underperformed predictions, but his victory over moderate Rep. Haley Stevens was still a rebuke to party leaders in D.C. and Michigan, and to big donors who flooded Stevens' campaign with cash.</p><hr><ul><li>El-Sayed was outspent 9 to 1 by Stevens and her allies — including AIPAC's political arm. He ran on an unapologetically progressive platform to abolish ICE, support Medicare for All and staunchly oppose aid to Israel.</li><li>In a bitter campaign, El-Sayed was painted as a sexist, an antisemite and critic of former First Lady Michelle Obama — much of it on the airwaves. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer cut a slick video backing Stevens.</li><li>It wasn't enough.</li></ul><p><strong>Key takeaways from Michigan:</strong></p><p><strong>1. Progressives lay the groundwork for 2028.</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/05/michigan-elections-dsa-wfp-uaw-progressives-win" target="_blank">Progressives</a> and democratic socialists have been eager to show that one of their own can carry a battleground state that will be crucial in the next presidential election. They'll get a chance to prove that in November, now that El-Sayed has been nominated in Michigan.</li><li>If El-Sayed succeeds in November, it'll be seen as a boon for the prospects of a left-wing 2028 presidential contender such as New York Rep. <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/09/19/aoc-2028-democrats-president-senate" target="_blank">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez</a>.</li><li>On the other hand, if El-Sayed were to stumble, AOC — who's mulling a run for Senate or the White House in 2028 — likely would share some of the backlash. She's been among El-Sayed's top surrogates.</li></ul><p>2. <strong>Bernie hands Chuck an "L."</strong></p><ul><li>With the progressive movement he'd fostered for so long building unprecedented momentum, progressive icon and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders went on a mission to elect progressives up and down the ticket this year — often opposing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's favorites, including Stevens.</li><li>Sanders backed El-Sayed on the first day of his campaign. Stevens' loss marks the <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/06/10/democrats-graham-platner-maine-senate-primary" target="_blank">second time</a> this year that Schumer failed to get his preferred candidate over the finish line in a Senate primary. The last time the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee whiffed in a major primary before this year was <a href="https://x.com/Robillard/status/2084750770792976459" target="_blank">in 2010</a>.</li></ul><p>3<strong>. Money isn't everything.</strong></p><ul><li>El-Sayed, a former a former Wayne County health director, compared himself to David going up against Goliath.</li><li>The Biblical allusion made many moderate Democrats roll their eyes, but the spending disparity in the race was truly enormous: Stevens and her allies spent $65 million on ads compared to $7.5 million by El-Sayed and his supporters<strong>, </strong>according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.</li><li>Stevens' loss is a large face-plant for AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby whose super PAC poured more than $30 million into the race against El-Sayed. The results could lead more Democrats to distance themselves from AIPAC money at a time when Israel's image has nosedived among the party's voters.</li></ul><p>4.<strong> Republicans like the result, too. </strong></p><ul><li>El-Sayed has excited the left, but many Republicans are happy with his win as well. </li><li>Recent polls have suggested that former Rep. Mike Rogers, the GOP's Senate nominee, would fare better against El-Sayed than Stevens. Trump already has branded El-Sayed a "communist," a theme voters can expect to hear from the GOP throughout the fall. (El-Sayed has said he's a capitalist, not a socialist.)</li><li>El-Sayed, meanwhile, faces the challenge of reuniting a deeply divided Democratic Party, wooing independent voters and trying to attract some Republicans. </li><li>Many centrist Democrats are skeptical he can pull it off — and point to Tuesday's closer-than-expected results as evidence he could lack enough big-tent appeal in November.</li></ul><p>5. <strong>The left also shows its muscle in down-ballot races.</strong></p><ul><li>For progressives, it wasn't just El-Sayed: Will Lawrence <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/05/michigan-7th-district-will-lawrence-maasdam-brink" target="_blank">won</a> a battleground House nomination, and Donavan McKinney <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/22/shri-thanedar-dsa-donavan-mckinney-detroit-mi-13" target="_blank">was threatening</a> to oust Rep. Shri Thanedar.</li><li>Yousef Rabhi <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/08/05/ann-arbor-mayor-race-yousef-rabhi-christopher-taylor/91172554007/" target="_blank">declared victory</a> over incumbent Christopher Taylor in the Democratic primary for mayor in solidly blue Ann Arbor. </li><li>And Abbas Alawieh of Dearborn — cofounder of Uncommitted, a group formed to protest U.S. support of Israel — was ahead of state Rep. Erin Byrnes in the race for the Democratic nomination of a state Senate seat.</li></ul>