McMorrow suspends campaign for Michigan Senate seat

Campaign McMorrow suspends campaign for Michigan Senate seat Comments: by Max Rego - 07/05/26 2:28 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Max Rego - 07/05/26 2:28 PM ET Comments: Link copied

NOW PLAYING

Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow (D) suspended her campaign on Sunday, amid low polling numbers in the race.

“Today, I’m announcing that I am suspending my campaign for United States Senate. And I’m doing it with a deep, deep sense of gratitude,” McMorrow said in a video she posted to social platform X.

McMorrow, the majority whip in the Michigan state Senate since January 2023, launched her campaign in April 2025 to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

Her departure from the race clears the stage for a two-way battle between moderate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and progressive Abdul El-Sayed, the former director of the Department of Health, Human and Veterans Service of Wayne County, Mich., for the Democratic nomination. The primary is scheduled for Aug. 4.

In her announcement video, McMorrow thanked her campaign volunteers, donors, staff and her family. She also said she is “not leaving the fight,” despite her departure from the race.

McMorrow notably did not endorse El-Sayed or Stevens, the latter of whom she has sharply criticized on the campaign trail for accepting corporate PAC donations.

However, the state senator noted the winner of the Democratic primary “will have my full support” in the general election against the likely GOP nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.).

After McMorrow suspended her campaign, El-Sayed thanked her and her supporters “for the work that you did for democracy,” despite their policy differences. He also struck a defiant tone against the Democratic Party establishment, large corporations and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), accusing them of tipping the scales in favor of Stevens.

“The question to all of us now is this: Are we willing to allow AIPAC or big corporations, [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer, to show up and rig our democracy, to choose who our Democratic nominee is going to be?” El-Sayed remarked in a video he posted to X.

El-Sayed also welcomed McMorrow’s supporters into his campaign, saying his “movement is about joy.”

Stevens, meanwhile, called McMorrow “an important voice” in the race and in the state Senate “for policies that benefit Michigan’s children and families” and noted she looks “forward to working with her in the future to build a stronger Michigan for everyone.”

In a statement, Stevens added she is “excited to continue to make my case to Michiganders” over the final month before the primary as to why she is the “strongest Democrat” to defeat Rogers.

Stevens has the support of former Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D), former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) — who served as Energy secretary during the Biden administration Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and a slew of local unions.

After McMorrow dropped out of the race, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel endorsed Stevens, calling the four-term representative a “seasoned fighter” for the state.

El-Sayed has the backing of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chris Van Hollen, along with progressive Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). The influential United Auto Workers union also threw its support behind the former Wayne County official last month.

A survey conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research from June 9-14 found 22 percent of 380 likely Democratic primary voters backed El-Sayed, while 20 percent supported Stevens and 9 percent backed McMorrow. A plurality of respondents, 49 percent, said they were unsure of whom they would back.

Early voting in the primary runs from July 25 through Aug. 2, with Election Day set for two days after it concludes.

The general election projects to be one of the closest Senate races in the country. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as one of just four “toss-ups” of 35 Senate seats up for grabs in November. Rogers also lost to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) in 2024 by fewer than 30,000 votes.

Updated at 3:30 p.m. EDT