Michigan's Midterm moment

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Chris Bentley** (0:16)
WBUR Podcasts, Boston.

**ML Elric** (0:21)
So you can really see sort of the old lions, all the old war horses coming out to try and prop up Haley Stevens, because they're rightfully concerned that the party is shifting.

**Chris Bentley** (0:33)
All roads lead to Michigan this election season. How the state could steer the direction of the Democratic Party and control of the Senate.
It's Monday, July 27th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR. I'm Chris Bentley. Today on the show, we are in Michigan. There's probably no better state to go to this election season for a read on American politics right now. We'll hear about the Republican primary for governor and just what an endorsement from the president is good for in 2026

**ML Elric** (1:15)
In the primary, Trump's a lodestone. You get Trump, he'll lead you anywhere. In the general, he's a millstone who could bring you right down to the bottom.

**Chris Bentley** (1:23)
We'll also hear from Democratic voters who want to send a message to party leaders.

**Calvis Burnett** (1:28)
The average American, I don't feel like our voice is being heard. I feel like a little man at the bottom of the total poll.

**Chris Bentley** (1:34)
But first, Michigan voters have picked the winning candidate for president in five straight elections. That's one reason to pay attention to politics there. And in the primary, a week from Tuesday, Democratic voters are going to send a message to their party about the possible path forward in that next presidential election. Do they want a new direction? Or do establishment candidates still have some fight in them? The Democratic National Committee acknowledged Michigan's central role in elections last week when it moved the state up to an early primary voting block for 2028
For more on the key races on the ballot in Michigan this year, Scott Tong met up in Detroit with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist ML. Elric, a lifelong Michigander who is with the Detroit Free Press.
Their conversation began with Democratic candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, who's running against Congresswoman Haley Stevens in the US. Senate primary.

**ML Elric** (2:31)
El-Sayed is one of the most impressive politicians that I've seen in Michigan in a long time.

**Abdul El-Sayed** (2:36)
I'm the only candidate running for US. Senate who's never taken a dime from a corporation or on a campaign and never worked. Then let's talk about the fact that we are paying more and more for less and less every single place we turn. It is because those very same corporations charging us more get to rig the system by buying politicians so that they do their bidding instead of ours.

**ML Elric** (3:01)
I mean, he's got a lot of energy. He's got a lot of charisma. He seems to have a mastery of the subjects. He's able to move people with his words.
And he has the support of Bernie Sanders and AOC. He's kind of one of the Bernie Bro candidates out there, the new progressives, very anti-establishment, down on corporations, wants health care for all, and very, very critical of Israel. And that's a message that really appeals with younger Democrats, with progressives.

**Scott Tong** (3:32)
Well, nationwide, of course, we may be in a moment for politicians who are part of the Democratic Socialist Party, right? Of course, New York City, Colorado. Do you see Al Sayed as, at least as politics, his positions being kind of adjacent to kind of that side of the political spectrum?

**ML Elric** (3:51)
Michigan is going to be another one of these battlefields where we see whether the Democratic Party is going to move to the left going forward or whether the establishment Democrats still have another couple of rounds in them. And Haley Stevens is most certainly an establishment Democrat.

**Haley Stevens** (4:08)
I'm not in the business of slogans. We all know that the costs are too damn high. Here are our indicators, 60% of Americans now living paycheck to paycheck. Something that I have been eyeing for the last handful of years is the ballooning consumer debt and default rates as someone who was in the Department of the Treasury during the Great Recession, working on the auto rescue.

**ML Elric** (4:29)
She helped run the auto bailout under President Obama. She has the support of Chuck Schumer.
She has the support of former Senator Debbie Stabenow. She was just endorsed by outgoing Senator Gary Peters and former Governor Jennifer Granholm endorsed her as well. So you can really see sort of the old lions, all the old war horses coming out to try and prop up Haley Stevens because they're rightfully concerned that the party is shifting and in their minds, it could lead the Democrats to nominate someone who won't be as viable in a general election.