Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., threw her support behind former Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed on Thursday, giving the progressive candidate a high-profile endorsement just one month before Michigan Democrats head to the polls to choose their nominee for the U.S. Senate.
The endorsement comes as Democrats battle over the direction of their party in one of the cycle’s most closely watched primary races. Michigan’s open Senate seat has drawn national attention following the retirement of Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and is viewed as one of Senate Republicans’ top pickup opportunities this fall in a battleground state that voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
Ocasio-Cortez’s team announced the endorsement in a post on the social platform X, praising El-Sayed’s campaign and its focus on working-class voters.
“We are proud to endorse Abdul El-Sayed to be Michigan’s next senator. Abdul is building a winning coalition by putting forward an agenda that speaks directly to working people,” the statement said.
The endorsement was first reported by The New York Times. In an interview with the newspaper, Ocasio-Cortez said she believes El-Sayed gives Democrats their strongest chance of holding the seat in the general election.
Ocasio-Cortez, who has frequently been mentioned as a possible contender for higher office in the future, has generally avoided becoming involved in contested Democratic Senate primaries. Her decision to weigh in on the Michigan race stands out because she has largely stayed on the sidelines during many of the party’s most competitive nomination battles this election cycle.
El-Sayed welcomed the endorsement, calling it an honor to receive support from one of the nation’s most recognizable progressive lawmakers.
“AOC has spent her career taking on the powerful on behalf of everyday people, and she has shown all of us what courageous, smart, values-driven leadership looks like,” El-Sayed wrote in a statement posted online alongside photographs of himself with Ocasio-Cortez from 2018 and again this year.
Michigan Democrats are preparing for a three-way primary contest scheduled for Aug. 4. El-Sayed is competing against Rep. Haley Stevens, who has been viewed as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s preferred candidate, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.
The race has become a broader test of the Democratic Party’s competing factions. El-Sayed has emerged as a leading figure among the party’s progressive wing, while Stevens has been associated with its establishment faction.
Recent polling has shown El-Sayed leading the Democratic field as debates over the future direction of the party continue to shape the campaign.
The latest endorsement also builds on momentum El-Sayed gained last month when the United Auto Workers announced it would support his campaign in the Democratic primary. The union remains one of Michigan’s most influential labor organizations, particularly in a state with deep ties to the auto industry.
Ocasio-Cortez’s backing provides another boost to El-Sayed at a time when progressive Democrats have scored several notable victories in safely Democratic primary races. The Michigan contest is expected to provide another measure of whether progressive candidates can continue that success in a more competitive statewide race.
With just weeks remaining before Democratic voters cast their ballots, the Michigan Senate primary is shaping up as a closely watched contest that could have significant implications both for the future direction of the Democratic Party and for control of a Senate seat Republicans hope to flip in November.
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