Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow withdrew from the Democratic Senate primary on Sunday. Once running neck and neck with her rivals for the seat being vacated by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who is retiring, McMorrow had plummeted to a distant third after revelations about previously deleted tweets and a series of other campaign missteps.
While McMorrow is considered far-left, she stops short of being a democratic socialist.
She did not endorse either of the two candidates remaining in the race: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is backed by both the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the United Democracy Project, the primary super PAC affiliated with AIPAC; or the radical Abdul El-Sayed, who has been endorsed by democratic socialists Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Nevertheless, until Sunday’s announcement, McMorrow had appeared determined to fight it out until the end.
Her abrupt exit from the race is being portrayed as a move by establishment Democrats to block El-Sayed from winning the primary, which is set for Aug. 4.
Perhaps the recent sweep by democratic socialist candidates in New York, followed by radical Melat Kiros’ upset victory over a 15-term congresswoman in Colorado, has finally awakened establishment Democrats to the fact that democratic socialists are taking over their party.
Although McMorrow has yet to make an endorsement, most of her supporters are expected to back Stevens, who currently trails El-Sayed in the RealClearPolitics polling average. As of June 30, El-Sayed is the clear frontrunner at 35%, followed by Stevens at 29.7% and McMorrow at 7.7%. If most of McMorrow’s supporters shift to Stevens, they could significantly boost her chances of winning the nomination.
Beyond that, some Democrats fear an El-Sayed nomination could hand Republican Mike Rogers his best chance to flip the Democratic-held seat to the GOP. Although public polling offers little evidence to support that concern, it’s entirely possible that Democrats’ internal polling of head-to-head general election matchups shows Stevens faring better against Rogers than El-Sayed.
The current RealClearPolitics polling averages, however, show El-Sayed leading Rogers by 0.5 points, while Stevens trails him by the same margin. What’s more, El-Sayed appears to be gaining momentum.
There was a time when El-Sayed trailed both Stevens and McMorrow in the polls. But, in late March, he made national headlines when leaked audio of his reaction to the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei surfaced. In the clip below, he tells supporters, “I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. So like, I just don’t want to comment on Khamenei at all.”
Whether it was the national attention generated by the controversy or genuine enthusiasm for his message, he began gaining ground in the polls almost immediately after the story broke.
In late May, he made another controversial statement at a campaign event. He said he “struggle[s] with the question of whether Israel should exist as a Jewish state.” Again, his performance in the polls improved. It’s starting to seem like the more incendiary El-Sayed’s rhetoric becomes, the more he rises in the polls.
While El-Sayed does not identify himself as a socialist or democratic socialist, he is certainly closely aligned with democratic socialists: he supports Medicare for All, taxing billionaire wealth, abolishing ICE, and other policies associated with the most progressive wing of the party.
Four weeks ago, the Fighting for Michigan PAC, a newly formed progressive super PAC that backs El-Sayed, released an internal poll showing him leading Rogers by five points, 51% to 46%. The group told Axios it plans to spend “millions” to boost El-Sayed’s campaign in the primary.
Taken together, El-Sayed’s rise explains why McMorrow’s abrupt departure from the race is attracting so much attention. Whether her exit was orchestrated by party leaders or simply the decision of a candidate who saw no path to victory, the effect is the same: It gives establishment Democrats their best chance to stop El-Sayed. After watching democratic socialists and other far-left candidates topple establishment Democrats elsewhere, party leaders may have finally decided that Michigan is one race they cannot afford to leave to chance.
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