The Future of the Democratic Party Runs Through Michigan

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.

**David Gura** (0:08)
While many folks have been enjoying beach trips and holiday getaways, Ron Brownstein and Nancy Cook have spent their summers looking ahead to the midterm elections.

**Ronald Brownstein** (0:19)
There had been more consequential primaries this year, Nancy, I think, than any year I can remember.

**Nancy Cook** (0:25)
I mean, there's kind of been this civil war going on in the Democratic Party.

**Ronald Brownstein** (0:28)
Yeah, I've been covering national politics since the 80s. I cannot remember a year when I have written as many stories about Democratic primaries or primaries in either party.

**David Gura** (0:36)
Ron is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, and Nancy is a senior national political correspondent for Bloomberg News. And they've both been following races across the country, from Maine to Colorado, where centrist Democrats and progressives have been facing off for some key seats.

**Ronald Brownstein** (0:52)
In the history of the party, there is nothing quite as systematic as what we are seeing now on the left, in terms of the infrastructure to find candidates, train candidates, fund candidates, support candidates.

**David Gura** (1:05)
That structure and the success many of those left-of-center Democratic candidates have had have become a major theme this cycle, and they loom large over the future of the Democratic Party.

**Ronald Brownstein** (1:16)
The scorecard so far is that the left is clearly ascending, but still primarily in safe places, and that in the competitive districts, Democrats are still relying more on centrist nominees, but that firewall is breaking down, and Michigan next week is going to be critical in determining how far it breaks down.

**David Gura** (1:44)
I'm David Gura, and this is the Big Take from Bloomberg News. Today on the show, why the Democratic primaries in this midterm cycle matter? For control of Congress, for influence over the Democratic Party's priorities, and what the upcoming primary in Michigan, in particular, could signal about where things are headed in 2028 and beyond.
A few days ahead of the primary in Michigan, scheduled to take place on Tuesday, I sat down with Bloomberg's Nancy Cook and Ron Brownstein, and Nancy told me ideological infighting among Democrats is something she's tracking very closely.

**Nancy Cook** (2:21)
You know, so much of the Democratic primary process has been the party warring between moderates and progressives, between like sort of new economic policy ideas and old ones. I mean, the party is really in search of both leadership and its identity, and all of this is going to set the stage for what happens and what the 2028 presidential race looks like and what the field looks like. And so the primaries have been really important on the Democratic side.

**David Gura** (2:48)
On that notion of there being a civil war within the Democratic Party, Ron, what kind of impact is that likely to have beyond these primaries, looking at the midterms and looking at the general election on the heels of that?

**Ronald Brownstein** (2:58)
Yeah, so most of the wins by the left have been in solidly blue places. The three Mamdani candidates all won in New York. Those were all districts where Harris won over 70%. Same thing with Colorado, safe district. But by and large, the left hasn't really broken through. That's what makes the Michigan Senate race so important.

**David Gura** (3:19)
Nancy, you've written about the upcoming Democratic Senate primary in Michigan. The other day, you called it, quote, one of the signature races of the year. Why is this particular race shaping up to be such a key battleground, a key litmus here for Democrats?

**Nancy Cook** (3:32)
It's so important because Michigan is a swing state and it will be in 2028 in the presidential race. And so it will offer us all these clues about both parties and what is going to be, what's going to work in this battleground state for the presidential election. But it's been so important because in Michigan, you have, you know, El-Sayed, who was a former health official, who is a progressive. He is backed by Senators Warren and Sanders. He is giving rise to a lot of the economic populism. He's anti-incumbent. You know, all these things that the progressive movement really wants against Haley Stevens, who is a current House member.
And this is for the Senate seat. And, you know, she's backed by Truck Schumer and also APEC, which is the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group. Gretchen Whitmer, the popular, very popular Michigan governor, just came out and endorsed her. And underlying that is a very interesting growing sentiment in the party that is increasingly anti-Israel.
And so El-Sayed and the progressive wing are increasingly skeptical of the US giving so much support to Israel. And so that is sort of an undercurrent in this race as well.