Tangle - The Michigan primaries.

Episode Date: August 5, 2026

On Tuesday, the Democratic and Republican parties held primary elections for several key seats in Michigan. The contests were headlined by the Democratic Senate primary, in which Rep. Haley Stevens (MI) faced off against former public health official Abdul El-Sayed to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters. At 8:35 AM ET on Wednesday, Decision Desk HQ declared El-Sayed the winner, and Stevens conceded the race shortly after. El-Sayed will face former Rep. Mike Rogers (R) in the general election. Ad-free podcasts are here!Get 20% off your first year of ad-free episodes, exclusive interviews, and deep dives with Tangle’s podcast membership!Coming soon: our West Virginia event.In June, Tangle hosted a live discussion about the future of artificial intelligence, featuring Executive Editor Isaac Saul, Editor-at-Large Kmele Foster, Longview’s Andy Mills, and The Free Press’s Kat Rosenfield. We’re excited to share the full recording of the event next week; in the meantime, here’s a teaser trailer. You can read today's podcast⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠ and today’s “Have a nice day” story ⁠here⁠.You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Take the survey: Who do you think will win Michigan’s Senate race? Let us know.Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.This podcast written by: Isaac Saul and audio engineered and edited by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75.Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Bailey Saul, Audrey Moorehead, and Carina Pacheco. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle podcast, a place we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I'm your host, Isaac Saul. It is Wednesday, August 5th, and dare I say, my friends, welcome to election season. I stayed up late last night watching the results in Michigan roll in, and then I was up before the sun this morning

to start processing their implications. And it just kind of feels like November, despite being August, because we are in the midst of some very, very consequential primaries. That is the subject of today's podcast. We are covering the results in Michigan, what they mean for Democrats in November.

We've also got a reader question about our daily topic selection and a newsy quick hit section with updates on the Iran War and other election results from across the country. I am joined today by Associate Editor Audrey Moorhead. I'm going to pass it over to her to get us going, and I'll be back for my take. Thanks, Isaac.

Now for today's quick hits. Number one, President Donald Trump said the U.S. is close to an agreement with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, with a formal announcement expected Wednesday or Thursday. Number two, incumbent representative Wesley Bell defeated former representative Corey Bush in the Democratic primary for Missouri's first congressional district. Number three, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12 to 10 to advance Todd Blanche's nomination for Attorney General to a full Senate vote. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine announced that she will vote against Blanche's nomination. Number four, Republican Representative Chuck Edwards of North Carolina announced he will not seek reaffirm.

election after the House Ethics Committee recommended his censure for violating the spirit of House rules on sexual harassment. Separately, Representative Max Miller, a Republican from Ohio, asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate domestic abuse allegations against him, saying that he has absolutely nothing to hide. Number five, law enforcement arrested an armed man who they said was documenting security operations at Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles, ahead of President Trump's visit to the course. American voters in five states hit the polls on Tuesday, and I've got some major results to share with you,

starting in the state of Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed has won the Democratic primary for the United States Senate. He defeats Congresswoman Haley Stevens. This was a very close race here. You can see there are still a scattering of votes to be counted, but Al-Sahed currently leading Stevens by two points here. He will be the Democratic nominee this November,

and he will face off against the Republican. Mike Rogers. On Tuesday, the Democratic and Republican parties held primary elections for several key seats in Michigan. The contests were headlined by the Democratic Senate primary, in which Representative Haley Stevens faced off against former public health official Abdul El-Sayed to replace retiring Senator Gary Peters. At 8.35 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Decision Descad H.Q declared Al-Sahed the winner, and Stevens conceded the race shortly thereafter.

El-Sahed will face former Representative Mike Rogers or Republican in the General. election. Voters also decided on their party's nominees to replace term-limited governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. In the Democratic primary, Michigan Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, defeated Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson, 83.2% to 16.8%, while Representative John James beat businessman Perry Johnson for the Republican nomination 50.1% to 35.2%. For some more context, the Senate contest between El Ceyed and Stevens garnered significant media attention as a for the progressive movement, which has been successful in primaries in liberal metropolitan areas this summer. Stevens was endorsed by the outgoing Senator Peters and Governor Whitmer,

as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator from New York. El Sayed ran as an outsider with support from Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The former public health official differentiated himself from Stevens by supporting Medicare for All and criticizing her support from pro-Israel groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or APEC. El Sayed built a significant polling lead over Stevens in the race's final weeks, but the primary proved much closer than expected, with Stevens winning in Detroit's Wayne County and overperforming in some smaller counties.

In remarks on Tuesday night, El Sayed said his campaign was inspired by the idea of government of the people, by the people, and for the people, instead of government of the corporations, by the special interests, and for the billionaires. Adding, tomorrow we begin to mend fences. Whatever happens tonight, we have a responsibility to assure that we unite, to make sure that Mike Rogers never sees the inside of the U.S. Senate. In a statement, Rogers said, Abdul doesn't represent a vision for the future.

He's leading a movement grounded in ideological fanaticism. His agenda would make our communities less safe and our state less affordable. Next up, you'll hear from the right-left in Michigan riders about the primaries before executive editor Isaac Saul comes back for his take. We'll be right back after this quick break. First up what the right is saying.

Many on the right suggest El-Sayyad's campaign could make or break the progressive left's momentum. Others say the primary result could cost Democrats' control of the Senate. In Fox News, Liz Peake said, Michigan can stop the socialist fever rage or watch it swallow the Senate. The race is a choice between normal and crazy. El-Sayyad, who wants to abolish ice, eliminate oil and gas, ban school choice, deny armed shipments to U.S. ally Israel, sharply raised taxes, provide tuition-free four-year college degrees, and establishes. wealth tax will likely win the primary. Stevens, in contrast, is a normal liberal Democrat. Why should you care? Because the critical Michigan contest could well determine whether Democrats

take over the Senate in November and effectively shut down the Trump agenda. The Michigan race will also indicate whether the progressive left, the ideological home of the Democratic Socialists of America, has the support of mainstream voters in a Midwestern purple state. If El-Sayed wins the primary but is defeated in the November election, the progressive left will lose steam and have less say in choosing the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008. That would be good for Democrats and good for the United States. In USA Today, Ingrid Jacques wrote, El-Sayed's Michigan win could cost Democrats the midterms. Winning the primary was the easy part. El-Sayyad, like every far-left Democrat who's won a primary this election cycle, now has to sell his progressive message to voters statewide. Michigan is a swing

state that's gone for Trump twice. So the prevailing logic is that El Sayed faces a tougher general election audience, and that this could help Republican candidate Mike Rogers. El Sayed is walking a fine line, appealing to progressives while distancing himself from the Democratic Socialists of America, of which he's not a member. He's even said he believes in capitalism. Who your friends are says a lot about you, and El Salliatt's friends are about as radical as they come. He has the enthusiastic backing of avowed Democratic Socialists, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Representative, Alleghenative Sandra Acacio-Cortez. Self-described Marxist, Hassan Piker, campaigned with Al-Sayyed several times.

El-Sayette has also previously advocated for defunding the police and currently supports abolishing U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. He can win a Democratic primary with Sanders, AOC, and Piker at his side. Whether he can win Michigan with them is the question he and Democrats have three months to answer. Next up, what the left is saying. Some on the left say El-Syed has laid bare the weakness of the Democratic establishment, Others say El Sayed and other progressive candidates have shown Democrats how to win. In MS Now, Max Burns argued El Sayed's campaign in Michigan has forced a democratic reckoning.

Democrats mess in Michigan and El Sayed's ability to weather what should have been a debilitating coordinated effort by Democratic leaders to dislodge him from frontrunner status should be a wake-up call to the party's Washington elite. The fight between El-Sayed and a rotating cast of Democratic challengers first drew the party's national leaders into a damaging public brawl, that blanketed voter screens with almost $100 million in attack ads. Nearly all that money came from outside groups opposing El Sayed or supporting Stevens. Yet a tidal wave of negativity did not appear to dim voter enthusiasm for El Sayed. Like Graham Platner, El Sayed's unapologetically leftist candidacy was incendiary from the start. His strong criticism of the Israeli government and the war in Gaza led centrist democratic groups like Third Way to accuse El Sajed of anti-Semitism, an attack Stevens adopted,

five days before election day. If Democratic leaders want to mend the ideological riffs tearing apart Michigan, Maine, and other key races nationwide, they'll need to stop treating the party's progressive wing as an unwelcome infection that must be eradicated at any cost. In the American prospect, David Dayan suggested the Michigan Revolution is about old-fashioned politics. Despite over $60 million in advertising, half of that from APEC's Super PAC, United Democracy Project, outside groups can't seem to make enough Michigan Democrats.

love El Syed's opponent. The fear-mongering over what may happen in these critical races three months from now has dwarfed any kind of introspection over what has already happened leading up to today. El-Sayed and other progressive candidates have put themselves in this position throughout working their opponents, finding issues that resonate broadly and energizing the party base of volunteers and donors. Both El-Sayed and congressional candidate Will Lawrence have amassed significant grassroots organizational support in their campaigns, well beyond the ground games of their opponents.

and they are rather generously running almost as a slate, not only with each other but with other candidates and organizations in the region. How this plays out in November will feel weeks' worth of factional arguments. But it's at least a little surprising how the Democrats saying they are the most serious about winning in November aren't willing to put in the time or learn any lessons about how to get to November. Finally, what Michigan riders are saying. Some Michigan riders question whether El Sayed can appeal statewide. Others suggest El Salliatt's message could play well in the general election.

In the Detroit news, Nolan Finley asked, is Abdul El-Said's win a moment or movement? Tuesday's nomination of the apparent socialist Abdul al-Said as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate and gains by far-left candidates in other races are political lunacy on a scale to match anything Republicans have done over the past two decades. It will do to Democrats what the GOP's fascination with the fringes did to that party, make it unpalatable to a wide segment of the electorate. Just like with the Republicans, the blame for the corruption of the Democratic Party, rests with its failure to deliver for its loyal base. But whether this becomes a movement, as MAGA did, or is simply a moment, depends on

whether El-Sayed and other hard progressives on the ballot, including Garland Gilchrist for Secretary of State, Eli Savitt for Attorney General, and Will Lawrence, the Socialists, who won the Democratic nomination in the 7th Congressional District, can broaden their appeal to the independents who decide most elections. Just like Trump, El-Sayed defeated an opponent who outspent him by a margin of 13.5 to 1. Representative Haley Stevens ran on cash and competence. El Sayed ran on charisma, proving again that passion can be more valuable as political capital than money. In the Detroit free press, Nancy Kaffer wrote about what's going to happen in the Senate race. Progressive or Democratic Socialists of America candidates' wins

have largely happened in deep blue states or districts. This primary is a test case for whether, by this logic, El Sayed is too radical to win in Michigan. That's where things get fuzzy. Michigan voters believe the country is on the wrong track and are more interested in unconventional policy ideas than past electorates. But the policy question is, in its way, a red herring. A lot of Michiganders debating policy in public are asking another question in private. Will Michiganers vote for an Arab-American Muslim? El-Sayyed supporters argue that, actually, he's the only electable candidate.

With more than $50 million in outside spending, they note, Stevens is at best just neck and neck with El-Sayed, while Al-Sayed has enthusiastic grassroots support and an energizing policy agenda. Today's outcome, of course, won't settle this question. Electability among a small, dedicated group of primary voters is one thing, but the top vote getter has to rally not just to the party's base, but the independence whose loyalty fluctuates from cycle to cycle. That's it for the right, left, and Michigan riders.

Next up, I'll pass it off to Isaac for his take. All right, that is it for the left and the writer saying, which brings us to my take. Since 2016, the left wing of the Democratic Party has been demanding an opportunity to carry the party torch. Ten years later, it appears they're about to get their chance. Despite the dramatics in the final hours, Abdul al-Said hung on to win the Michigan Democratic primary Wednesday morning, making the Wolverine state the latest domino to fall to the leftist wing of the Democratic Party. Progressive and Democratic Socialists of America candidates have been winning local, state, and federal elections in blue strongholds across the country, and El-Sayed's nomination gives November's general election greater progressive ideology on the ballot than any in recent memory.

Of note, El-Sayed, I should say, is not a member of DSA and was not formally endorsed by them, though he, of course, advances some of their views. Regardless, some of the left's biggest stars are self-proclaimed democratic socialist. Senator Bernie Sanders is among the most recognizable political figures in the country. So Ramam Dani, New York City's mayor, is now one of the most well-known politicians in the country, scoring White House visits and constant media attention. And now he's one of the country's more popular mayors, too. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looks like a legitimate presidential contender in 2008. and next week, another swing state is poised to tap another candidate for major office from the

progressive DSA left, Francesca Hong in Wisconsin. The rising DSA tide is truly starting to feel like a Democratic Party insurgency and one that isn't yielding to deep political funding and fear-mongering. If you want to know why El-Sayed prevailed, watching his debate with Stevens from eight days ago is a good place to start. He's a polished, clever politician with a good personal story, an Oxford-educated doctor who grew up in Michigan with immigrant parents, captained all his high school sports teams, and played Division I lacrosse. He's young at just 41 years old, and he's an epidemiologist who worked as the director of human health services and veteran services in Wayne County, Michigan.

When he speaks, Elsaid naturally falls into eloquent storytelling about fighting for clean air and solving childhood ailments. He is, in short, a successful, smart, young politician with a demonstrated track record of leadership and very good public persona. During his debate with Stevens, he insisted the focus should be on the people watching and not Democrats' intra-party squabbles. He's gifted at delivering the anti-establishment populist lines. When asked how he'd address affordability issues, he told the viewing audience that it starts with this, quote, I don't take money from the corporations jacking up your prices in the first place, end quote. He added, when you're bought off by DTE and Blue Cross and Big Pharma and Big Tech and A PAC, referencing the big money backing Stevens, don't be surprised that there's a pro quo that comes with that quid. That money doesn't just fall off trees.

$60 million from outside organizations in this race, those exact organizations expect something on the other side. and that's that they expect to own your next U.S. senator, end quote. After explaining that he was outspent 12 to 1 in the race, he said to the audience, you were going to see an ad, probably two of them, on behalf of APEC, during the next commercial break, lying about me and my record. Freedom from these donors, El-Said insists, will allow him to enforce anti-trust policy, tax billionaires, and vote to keep money in Michigan, rather than sending that money, quote, somewhere else to drop bombs on kids,

end quote. If you think this messaging has narrow appeal to just far-left progressives in Michigan, I think you need to spend more time talking to Americans. Putting aside the merits of any of these arguments, this is undeniably very good messaging, and it's why El-Sayed won. He's also adept at defending himself. He distanced himself from 2020 rhetoric on defunding the police and staked out a much more center-left stance on social justice issues. He's also deftly defended himself from charges of anti-Israel sentiment veering into anti-Semitism. He's reframed the question of whether Israel has a right to exist as a call for both Israeli Jews and Palestinians to have a homeland and self-determination and argued that the problem is not one to be solved with American tax dollars.

He said he'd support any peaceful resolution. He's defended calls to halt funding for Israeli weapons by arguing that he wants to spend that money here on things like education, adding that although his family is from Egypt, he would never suggest U.S. tax dollars should be spent solving Egypt's problems. I'm just saying that you can both say that Israel exists, but it doesn't have a right to my tax dollars, he said on Pod Save America. These are, again, resonant answers from a clever politician, and they are why he's been so successful. They're also, of course, a little slippery. We've given $4 to $5 billion to Israel annually over the last 15 years, and we spend about $180 billion on U.S. education in a year and around $2 trillion on health care.

Arming Israel is not stopping us from having better education or health care systems. In a similar vein, politicians who are forthright about their views evolution don't typically scrub their social media accounts of said views. El-Sayed has said unequivocally that he has never supported defund the police, but in the height of 2020 mania, he was tweeting with the defund hashtag and explaining what the movement was about. These weren't musings of some college undergrad figuring out his worldview and attaching himself to a movement either. He ran for governor in 2018, winning a considerable 30% of the Democratic primary vote and

establishing the foundation of his political career. He hasn't really explained his evolution except to say that defund the police was a slogan that lacked nuance. And personally, I think El-Sayed's view that we should give less money to police and more to public schools and health departments is totally defensible, and he'd be better off just owning it, but alas. His smooth, friendly demeanor on the debate stage also made Beli a different personality behind closed doors. In a leaked Zoom meeting obtained by Politico, El Saeed suggested he could use his first years in office to help primary people like Senator John Federman, the Democrat from Pennsylvania.

He said, quote, ideally, you put one ogre on a pike, and then everyone else gets the message, end quote. Now, El-Sayed will have to navigate all this in a general election in a swing state. The writer Ken Klippenstein recently argued that Democratic establishment fearmongering against candidates like El Sayed and Francesca Hong is detached from reality. That is, the establishment is exaggerating a classic electability issue with DSA candidates that just doesn't exist. And he's got a solid argument. Consultants for Hong's Republican opponent in Wisconsin have privately conceded that she is a massive electoral threat. with a platform that is, quote, broadly popular and difficult to counter, end quote, and an agenda that is, quote, built around kitchen table issues that polls strongly with independence, working families, and even some rural voters, end quote. But it is not all vibes. In Michigan, El-Sayed polls much more poorly against the Republican candidate, former representative Mike Rogers, than Stevens did.

Rogers even said outright that he preferred to run against El-Sayed. Plenty of Democrats say they don't want to share the party with candidates. candidates from the DSA, and I think whether they'll spoil a ballot for El Sayed come November is still an open question. As of publication, Stevens only trails El Sayed by 1%. El Sajad himself was part of the uncommitted movement in Michigan, which mobilized voters not to cast ballots for Democrats in 24 unless they ceded to their policy demands. He ultimately backed the national ticket, but we all know how 2024 turned out. Is he going to be able to rally those same Democrats and the 700 100,000 voters who punched a ballot for Stevens to his side now?

Zooming out, unapologetically progressive candidates won primary races this summer against other Democrats in places like New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Denver. But they have yet to prove they can win state-level general elections in more purple places like Michigan and Wisconsin. This upcoming November election is their best opportunity in a generation, and they may not get a better opportunity for another generation after this. Consider the environment candidates like El Saed and Hong are running in. A wave of populism amplified by anti-establishment sentiment, anti-corporate sentiment,

anti-war sentiment, and anti-Israel sentiment. President Trump is a historically unpopular president who has overseen a destabilizing 18 months in office, all while the Democratic Party is experiencing its own historic unpopularity. We are tangled in an unpopular war, experiencing state-backed violence in the streets, an economic sentiment is, in a word, bleak. It is also a midterm blowback year in which turnout and enthusiasm are almost always higher for the minority party and lower for the sitting president's party. Add the fact that most Americans left of center and many independents view Trump and Republicans

as an existential threat to our country, and it's pretty hard to imagine a better environment for anti-Trump, anti-democratic establishment candidates to be running in general elections. In other words, if candidates like L.S. Saeed can't win in this environment. They probably can't win in any environment. The dog has caught the proverbial car. And now we're waiting to see what he does with it. All right, that is it for my take. We have a staff to send today from Associate Editor Russell Nystrom, so I'm going to send it over to him, and I'll be back for your question's answer. While Al-Siyadh's nomination is certainly notable, and you can find plenty of articles about the

socialist left taking over the Democratic Party. I am by no means convinced that leftists are carrying the party torch going into the midterm elections, as Isaac says. There have been about 350 House primary races in this cycle. Of these, five winners have been endorsed by the National DSA. If you broaden your search to candidates endorsed by Bernie and AOC, the number only rises to 13. Instead, I think these primaries closely paralleled the 2018 primaries. Several far-left candidates won notable races, garnering heaps of media attention, but most victors were still members of the establishment.

Candidates like Daryaliza of Yelais Chivalier will wield limited influence unless Democrats squeak out a slim majority, in which case they may be able to prevent Hakeem Jeffries from becoming speaker or win key concessions for their support. I don't think the 2026 primaries have been the leftward leap, many have described, but is more so a continuation of the leftward amble the Democratic Party has been on for decades. We'll be right back after this quick break. All right, thanks, Russell.

Strong counterpoint, for sure. That brings us to your question's answer. This one is from Jerry in Columbus, Ohio. Jerry said you regularly ask your readers, to vote on a topic for you to cover. How do you use this vote? Do you always cover what the majority asked for? Do you sometimes consider the vote but then cover something else?

Is this just a ploy to make your readers feel they have a voice in the topical coverage of Tangle? You owe your readers full transparency if you want our trust. Okay, Jerry, a little pointed, but I appreciate it. Yes, we polled the readership through our text messaging service at the beginning of the week about which topics you think we should cover. It isn't an empty ploy for engagement, but we aren't completely beholden to the results either. Instead, the results of those surveys

are a valuable signal about what topics are more interesting to our most engaged readers. If we're choosing from several good options without a clear frontrunner, reader responses to that informal survey can be decisive. That was the case just this week, when our readers gave us a very clear signal that they wanted to hear more about the cyber attacks

on water systems. And since you asked for transparency, we shared a screenshot of those initial results in today's newsletter, which shows 657 responses calling for us to cover the cyber tax, and 185 responses calling for us to cover Todd Blanche's nomination, which was the second-place vote-getter. On the flip side, we have at times decided against covering the story that received the most votes in our survey. On June 22nd, readers wanted us to cover former United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmor's resignation, or the reflecting pool. However, neither selection gained a majority,

and we were not internally convinced of the relevance of those topics for the broader Tangle audience and eventually opted to cover events that we hadn't been considering at the time we sent out the survey. We wrote about that decision in a past newsletter and discussed it here on the podcast.

Every week is a different story. Sometimes readers reinforce our prior, sometimes we opt against the favorites, and other times the results are so decisive they end up setting our agenda. But we always consider these readers surveys when making our decisions. All right, that is it for your questions answered.

I'm going to send it back to Audrey for the rest of today's show, and I'll see you guys tomorrow. Have a good one. Peace. To round out today, we have our Have a Nice Day story. In the last decade, the National Hockey League or NHL recognized a need to prepare young athletes for their professional responsibilities. Their solution was surprising, improv class. They reached out to Second City Works, a business-to-business operation that

uses the principles of improv to teach soft skills to corporate executives, sales teams, and now professional hockey players. On paper, the classes accomplished the goals of media training and teamwork. In practice, young athletes face the awkwardness of learning new skills through unexpected comedic circumstances. Sandy Jobin Befons, a second city comedian, said, quote, what we discovered when we first started working with the NHL is that these guys had to be introduced to the concept of applauding. These are future superstars, so it's not something they ever had to really do before. The New York Times has the story, and you can find the link in the show notes.

That's it for today's podcast. If you'd like to support our work, head over to readtangle.com, where you can buy a newsletter subscription, a podcast subscription, or a bundle membership that gets you a discount on both. We will be right back here tomorrow, but in the meantime, this has been Associate Editor Audrey Moorhead. On behalf of Isaac and everyone else, have a great day and peace. Our executive editor and founder is me, Isaac Saul, and our executive producer.

is John Wall. Today's episode was edited and engineered by Dewey Thomas. Our editorial staff is led by managing editor Ari Weitzman with senior editor Will Kayback and associate editors Audrey Moorhead, Lindsay Canuth, and Faley Saul. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. To run more about Tangle and to sign up for a membership, please visit our website at retangle.com.