McMorrow Suspends Senate Campaign, Leaving Michigan Democrats To Choose Between a Progressive and an Establishment Favorite
It's a two-way race between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed.
And then there were two.
Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow suspended her U.S. Senate campaign Sunday, turning the Democratic primary from a three-way dance into a one-on-one battle pitting Congresswoman Haley Stevens against former public-health official Abdul El-Sayed.
Ms. McMorrow’s dropout caused an immediate shift in the race, with Attorney General Dana Nessel taking the opportunity to endorse Ms. Stevens.
“With today’s announcement by Senator McMorrow, the choice is clear,” the Democrat posted on social media. “Haley is wicked smart, has won multiple highly competitive races, and she connects with people on a level so sincere and genuine that everyone who meets her feels truly seen and heard.”
Republicans were not sad to see Ms. McMorrow exit the field.
“Michigan’s Senate Democrat primary has shifted from a three-car pileup to a head-on collision,” said Greg Manz, a Michigan Republican Party consultant.
“Whoever survives the messy Democrat primary will be held accountable at the ballot box this November for turning their backs on Michigan’s working families — Mike Rogers will beat whoever emerges from their chaotic primary,” Mr. Manz told The Washington Star.
When the race started, Mr. El-Sayed and Ms. McMorrow were thought to be the left-wing candidates and Ms. Stevens the moderate.
But Mr. El-Sayed dominated among progressives, earning Senator Bernie Sanders’ and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s backing. Ms. McMorrow was left with nowhere to pivot, Ms. Stevens having captured the Democratic Party establishment’s support, including Senate leader Chuck Schumer.
If the state senator wasn’t the favorite of progressives and wasn’t the choice of the establishment, who did that leave? Not enough supporters to stay campaigning until the August 4 primary.
Why drop out now, after absentee ballots have already gone out? This is “debate week“ in Michigan politics. A Grand Rapids news station, WOOD-TV, will host a debate Tuesday night among the Senate Democratic contenders. By withdrawing today, Ms. McMorrow saves herself a trip to the west side of the state. (Wednesday and Thursday nights see debates among Republican gubernatorial contenders.)
Ms. McMorrow entered the race a rising star in Democrat politics. She published a 2025 memoir, “Hate Won’t Win,” and had a memorable speaking role at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
But that speech did not go as planned. She brought a prop on stage, an extra-large copy of the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025.” But that night brought not memes of Ms. McMorrow carrying in the large book but memes of her licking her lips repeatedly when her mouth went dry. Lizard emojis followed her on social media from that day forward, but she kept rising.
In the spring, the candidate, who prided herself on “authenticity,” took heat after deleting tweets, many of which were negative toward her adopted state of Michigan. She complained of the weather after moving from California, for example, though she said in one post she was still voting in the Golden State.
At the Democratic state convention in April, Ms. McMorrow skipped through the convention hall — another move panned on social media. Between that and the deleted tweets, Ms. McMorrow lost the new-penny shine and never recovered it.
Twice in Ms. McMorrow’s memoir, she said to “ignore the feds.” Then she ran for U.S. Senate.
Her rise owes to a 2022 speech on the Michigan Senate floor she gave after a Republican colleague put her in league with “groomers” in a fundraising letter. Her speech traveled the world and resulted in $1 million of donations and national media attention a.
Four years later, Ms. McMorrow is out of electoral politics. It’s too late to pivot and run for her seat in the Michigan Senate. She insists her work in politics is not over, and she will remain active in the progressive movement.
Anna Hoffman, a conservative strategist in Michigan, found it interesting she didn’t back one of the other two candidates in her dropout video.
“I think if she really wanted to make an endorsement, she would endorse Abdul,” Ms. Hoffman told the Star.
“The fact that she didn’t, but she also didn’t endorse Haley, says a lot,” she added. “It says that the DNC establishment was pressuring her to drop out and endorse Haley, but she wasn’t willing to go that far.”
A progressive pollster, Data for Progress, found Ms. McMorrow supporters’ second choice is Ms. Stevens over Mr. El-Sayed by a margin of 55 to 25.
One of the two will face Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman, in the general election.
Experts believe the Michigan Senate race will augur whether Republicans will hold the Senate or Democrats will flip it going into 2027.
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