STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The news we have this morning is a big deal if you're a Democrat, hoping that your party does well in this fall's elections, or if you're a Republican, hoping that your party hangs on in this fall's elections, or if you're just watching with interest because we have results in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary. And Abdul El-Sayed has won, the progressive candidate, against a Democrat who was seen as more moderate. Let's talk through why this matters, and then we will hear from the winner himself. First, NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith is on the line. Tam, good morning.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: OK, so what do you learn from Abdul El-Sayed's primary win?
KEITH: The race was very close, but this is the strongest evidence yet that the far left of the Democratic Party is ascendant. But the left-right, progressive-moderate ideological spectrum doesn't quite capture it. It's also insiders versus outsiders, incremental change versus shake up the system. A lot of Democrats blame their own party's establishment for Donald Trump's return to office. And so in the end here, the majority of Democratic primary voters in Michigan were willing to ignore the warnings of party elites and take a chance on El-Sayed, who's an epidemiologist and former public health official.
INSKEEP: And, I suppose we should mention, also someone who won after a very fiercely contested, even bitter primary at times.
KEITH: Yes. And Democrats are going to have a lot of repair work to do. Congresswoman Haley Stevens started that this morning by conceding. She put out a statement saying that she is proud to support El-Sayed in the general election. And she described him as a doctor, a community health official, a Rhodes scholar and a dedicated Michigander. This primary, though, was so bitter, it left some voters saying they simply couldn't stomach a vote for the other candidate in November, so that is something to watch. Republicans have already been painting El-Sayed as too extreme for Michigan and plan to spend tens of millions of dollars to drive that message home. Here was El-Sayed at a press conference just moments ago.
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ABDUL EL-SAYED: The campaign that Mike Rogers and Donald Trump and their GOP MAGA allies are launching is already more bitter. All you got to do is look at the ads you're already watching on TV. Started today.
KEITH: Yeah. And Mike Rogers is the Trump-endorsed nominee on the Republican side.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
KEITH: Anyone who tells you they know how this is going to turn out is fooling themselves. El-Sayed isn't a democratic socialist. Yes, he has taken some controversial positions in the past, but he is relentlessly focused on the economy. And Rogers is more of an insider, and he'll have to overcome the headwinds created by President Trump's historically low approval rating.
INSKEEP: Yeah, and they'll compete across a purple state, a swing state, but one where voters are frustrated, as you have noted. What are some of the other primary races you were watching last night?
KEITH: Yeah. Michigan's 7th Congressional District is the only true toss-up in the state. And the progressive outsider won there, too. William Lawrence, an environmental activist, argued that playing it safe was the real electibility risk, and now that will be put to the test. And in another progressive upset, democratic socialist Donavan McKinney beat incumbent Congressman Shri Thanedar in the safe blue Detroit district. In Washington state, though, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez was able to find off a progressive challenger, so it's not universal.
INSKEEP: Tam, when we talk about progressives and moderates, one issue where that can be measured is support or criticism of Israel. What did the results say there about Israel as a campaign issue and also an issue that people spend money on?
KEITH: Right. So the American Democracy Project, which is a group linked to the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, spent $32 million on ads to support Haley Stevens in the Michigan Senate race. That's, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact. It totally dwarfed spending by El-Sayed. And he effectively made it a campaign issue and capitalized on the growing antipathy towards Israel, especially in light of the unpopular war with Iran. But in Missouri's 1st Congressional District, where that AIPAC-linked group was also the biggest spender, the AIPAC-favored candidate, Wesley Bell, easily defeated former Congresswoman Cori Bush.
INSKEEP: Tamara, thanks for the update. Really appreciate it.
KEITH: You're welcome.
That's NPR's Tamara Keith. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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