Michigan Democrat Mallory McMorrow ends US Senate primary campaign

Mallory McMorrow listens to questions from the media during the Michigan Democratic party state endorsement convention on 19 April in Detroit. Photograph: Jose Juarez/AP View image in fullscreen Mallory McMorrow listens to questions from the media during the Michigan Democratic party state endorsement convention on 19 April in Detroit. Photograph: Jose Juarez/AP Michigan Democrat Mallory McMorrow ends US Senate primary campaign Lawmaker’s exit gives voters choice between progressive Abdul El-Sayed and centrist Haley Stevens in must-win seat Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan Democrat, has dropped out of a contentious US Senate primary campaign , setting up a straight fight between the party’s progressive and establishment wings – represented by Abdul El-Sayed , a former public health official, and Haley Stevens, a congresswoman. McMorrow ’s retreat marks the end of a center-left bid to hold the seat being vacated this year by the Democrat Gary Peters. The three-way primary contest was a close one earlier in the campaign, but polls indicated that McMorrow’s support had plunged in recent weeks, as El-Sayed raced past her and Stevens to emerge as the frontrunner for the party’s nomination. “I may be suspending this campaign, but I am not leaving the fight,” McMorrow said in a video statement announcing her decision to drop out. “When regular people get in the fight, things can change,” she added. AOC endorses progressive Democrat in closely watched Michigan race for US Senate seat Read more With McMorrow’s exit, the August Democratic primary now evolves into what is becoming a familiar pattern of an establishment candidate facing an opponent from the left. El-Sayed, a supporter of Medicare for all who would be the first Muslim US senator, has drawn high-profile backing from leaders of the American left, including Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed him last week. Stevens, a moderate Democrat, has the support of Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, and Super Pacs have spent more than $16m on her campaign, including pro-Israel groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) outraged by El-Sayed’s refusal to say that nation has a right to exist as a Jewish state. “Israel exists,” he told CNN last week. “The question is whether or not we want a politics where our money is sent over to Israel to do genocide and apartheid, instead of investing in our own kids.” Schumer and other leaders of the Democratic establishment are betting that Stevens would have a better chance of staving off Republican Mike Rogers’ attempt in the November general election, despite the fact that Democratic voters have chosen leftwing challengers over incumbent lawmakers in a string of recent primaries, from New York to Colorado. McMorrow first attracted national attention in 2022, with a viral speech denouncing Republican attempts to characterize her as a “groomer” for publicly defending LGBTQ+ righ