Now that Abdul El-Sayed has won a bruising Democratic primary for Michigan’s open Senate seat, concerns about the Bernie-endorsed ideologue’s electability are top-of-mind for the state’s Democrats.
Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet knows a thing or two about winning in Michigan. She is the only Democrat currently representing a Michigan district Donald Trump won in 2024 and had one of the highest Wins Above Replacement (WAR) scores in the 2024 cycle. Though McDonald Rivet herself was recruited to run for Senate, she decided to stay in the House given that she was only recently elected.
McDonald Rivet joined The Argument’s Lakshya Jain and VoteHub’s Zachary Donnini for a Substack Live conversation yesterday to provide her analysis of the Senate race.
Though American support for Israel took center stage for most of the primary, McDonald Rivet doesn’t see the issue as key to El-Sayed’s victory. Instead, she pointed to his success highlighting Michiganders’ pocketbook concerns.
“Abdul being able to talk about ‘more money in your pockets,’ that was far more resonating, I think, than anything else,” she said.
Check out the full conversation above, and read Lakshya’s analysis of El-Sayed’s chances below:
The Michigan senate race is Abdul El-Sayed’s to lose
The Split Ticket midterms model is updated daily at 5 p.m. Eastern with the latest polls on our website.
