Polls closed in parts of Michigan on Tuesday as Democrats voted in the Msnow Michigan Senate primary, with Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed competing for the nomination. The winner will face former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers in the general election in November.
Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed
Haley Stevens has the backing of retiring Sen. Gary Peters, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. El-Sayed has endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The race is for an open seat, which makes the nominee’s path to Mike Rogers the immediate next step for Michigan Democrats. Public polling before Tuesday showed the contest moving on different assumptions about who would turn out.
William Lawrence and Matt Maasdam
William Lawrence, a Democratic candidate in Michigan's 7th Congressional District, said the Justice Department's presence at polling sites “absolutely does raise concerns.” He said his campaign had not heard any reports of issues at the locations being monitored.
Lawrence said, “But to me it looks like a dry run and a fact-finding mission to interfere in a bigger way with the general election in November.” Matt Maasdam said the Trump administration is “trying to inoculate people to thinking this is normal, and it’s not.”
Justice Department in Michigan
Harmeet K. Dhillon said the department’s “primary monitoring efforts continue today as we seek to ensure free and fair elections nationwide.” She also said, “The Department of Justice is devoting extensive resources to ensure uniform and nondiscriminatory monitoring.”
Two Democrats running in Michigan's 7th Congressional District voiced concerns about the monitoring of polling locations in four Michigan cities. Three recent public polls had Abdul El-Sayed leading significantly with Black voter share at about 20% of the electorate, while an earlier Glengariff Group for the Detroit News and NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit poll put Black voters at about 30% of the primary electorate and showed Stevens ahead by 7 percentage points.
The practical question now is which candidate will emerge from the Michigan Democratic primary and how the federal monitoring effort will be judged once the vote is counted.
