The most expensive Senate primary in Michigan history ended in a stunning defeat for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Tuesday night, as progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeated establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens in a race that exposed the outer limits of foreign lobby money in American elections.
NBC News projected El-Sayed the winner early Wednesday morning after an all-night count that swung dramatically through the hours. He overcame what NBC estimates at nearly $65 million in outside spending — the bulk of it funneled through AIPAC and its affiliated dark money arms including the United Democracy Project — to beat Stevens by roughly two points. Total AIPAC-aligned spending in the race, including coordinated outside advertising, reached $90 million according to multiple tallies, a record for any single Senate primary in the organization’s history.
El-Sayed, a physician and former Wayne County health director of Egyptian descent, ran an explicitly anti-AIPAC campaign, calling out the lobby by name at every stop and telling Michigan voters: “This is what democracy looks like — when the people vote and the money loses.” He was outspent 11-to-1 by Stevens, who had the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and the full weight of the Democratic establishment. None of it was enough.
AIPAC’s singular focus was keeping El-Sayed — who has called for ending unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel and said The Jewish State should not exist specifically as an ethno-state — out of the Senate. The lobby’s affiliated super PAC set a single-race spending record in this contest. And it still failed. “The Democratic establishment threw everything it had at Abdul El-Sayed,” wrote Dan Pfeiffer, a senior Obama White House aide turned political analyst. “If he wins, the reverberations will be felt far outside of Michigan.”
The broader Michigan primary results compounded the drama. The Democratic Socialists of America — not a fringe club but an organized political machine — also scored wins on the down-ballot. DSA-backed William Lawrence won Michigan’s 7th district congressional primary, territory Trump carried by just one point in 2026. Former Rep. Cori Bush, attempting a comeback in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, did lose her race to incumbent Wesley Bell — himself the beneficiary of a 27-to-1 AIPAC-funded spending advantage, one of the few bright spots for the lobby in an otherwise black night.
Hellbound and Down 