The Daily - Will Michigan Rewrite the Rules of Democratic Politics?

Episode Date: August 4, 2026

In Michigan, a race for U.S. Senate is not only testing the growing appeal of left-wing populism. It could also be a turning point in a long-running debate among Democratic voters about the importance of electability. Michael Kruse, who writes about politics for The New York Times, traveled to Michigan with the producers Asthaa Chaturvedi and Anna Foley of “The Daily” to speak to voters and campaign volunteers. Guest: Michael Kruse, a politics reporter for The New York Times. Background reading:  Michigan’s tense Democratic Senate race poses a big test for a divided party. Can a progressive win in a purple state? Abdul El-Sayed wants to find out. Photo: Nic Antaya for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What is that doing to say back? Oh, just not just testing. Looks like we've already got some people going in. From New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro. Hello. This is the Daily. They're here today to hear what Michigan thinks about the race between Bill El Sajed and Haley Stevens. A few days ago, my colleague, political correspondent Michael Cruz, traveled to Michigan.

with two producers from the Daily, Asta Chatharvedi and Anna Foley, to report on the most closely watched Democratic primary of the year. Locked down to Michigan. A race for U.S. Senate that not only tests the growing appeal of left-wing populism,

but could also mark a turning point in a long-running debate among Democratic voters about the importance of electability. How many of you? You are going to vote on Tuesday, August 4th. Yeah. It is Tuesday, August 4th. So Michael Cruz, happy to have you on The Daily.

I believe this is your first time on the show. It is. Long-time listener, first-time caller. Happy to be here. Well, I'm a long-time admirer, so I'm glad to have you. You just got back from a reporting trip to Michigan with two producers from the Daily. And I wanted to start by asking you to explain

why in your mind the Democratic primary that's happening today in Michigan is such an important moment in this long-running battle over the future of the Democratic Party. It is to date the most important moment in this whole midterm cycle when we are thinking about the question of what the Democratic Party is and where it is headed. Because I think in Michigan we have the purest test yet of whether a progressive vision of the Democratic Party can succeed in American politics. In the last year or so, we've seen compelling progressive victories, but in a certain kind of place, in blue places, Zorn Mamm'd in New York, congressional primaries in Philadelphia and Denver. Grand Platner felt a little bit like

a test case, but his scandals, the way his campaign ended hard to sort of extrapolate grand conclusions from Maine. So here in Michigan, we have a race that feels like a much better, truer test of this fight between progressives and moderates. And that's because, Michael, this race is happening in a swing state. In the middle of the country, Trump won here in 2016 and 2024. And if the progressive candidate wins this election in Michigan, it would really reorient our understanding of the progressive movement's appeal. in our politics at this point in time. Right, and just to put a really fine point on it,

it would show that in places that we think of as inherently moderate, Democratic primary voters are ready to lurch meaningfully to the left. And of course, this test case you're describing is happening in a race where the stakes are already quite high just based on the math of the United States Senate. Right. This is a Senate seat that Democrats almost have to hold if they have any shot of flipping the Senate. And whichever Democrat wins on Tuesday has a formidable challenger come November because Mike Rogers, the Republican waiting for one of these two candidates, ran for Michigan's other's Senate seat two years ago and lost by

not even 20,000 votes to Alyssa Slotkin, very much a more centrist, more moderate Democrat. So the question of who comes out of this primary is critical for Democrats' hopes this year. So introduce us to the two candidates who embody this latest chapter of that long-running clash between the incrementalists, the moderate, and the progressives who would like to bust it all up. So the more progressive candidate is Abdul El-Sayed. I'm running for U.S. Senate because in the state that built the American dream, it shouldn't be this hard just to get by. He's 41 years old, a former gubernatorial candidate in 2018,

former public health official. I grew up all-American here. Became a doctor to help people and spent my career making government deliver for us. He is running. on Medicare for all. Anti-Israel platform wants to cut aid to Israel's efforts in Gaza, keep that taxpayer money here to invest in public infrastructure, public schools. The disease is the corruption of our politics by billionaires and corporations.

It's worth noting, though, that he does not call himself a socialist. He's not a member of the DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America, even though he's endorsed by key socialist political figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Understood. So that's his platform, but the way his vibe reads is not, say, the stereotypical lefty. And yeah, I'm a bro with a podcast. To dig into the epidemics America's facing. He's quite conventionally charismatic.

One of his aides in one of our conversations described him to me as, Muslim Bruce Springsteen. He lifts weights in his gym, in his basement. I spent some time down there earlier this summer working on a profile, watching him do squats and pull-ups. He is not the picture of the nerdy socialist that I think some critics might have. I'm Dr. Abdul al-Said, and I'm running for U.S. Senate.

Let's go. So tell us about his opponent. in this Democratic primary. His opponent is Haley Stevens. I remember being handed the keys to my first car. I'm Haley Stevens, and I bet you do too. A moderate four-term member of Congress, she is 43 years old, so similarly aged,

but much more of an old-school type of politician. As chief of staff to President Obama's auto rescue, we help save over 200,000 Michigan jobs and stabilize our economy. She has worked in various presidential administrations or campaigns. Her basic pitch is, I'm a legislative workhorse, not a show horse. Incremental changes to health care, aid should continue to support Israel. She is by far and away the most APEC support. candidate not only in this race, but in any race ever.

Wow. She is the pick of the Democratic establishment. Growing up in Michigan meant being surrounded by innovation, ingenuity, and pride in hard work. And she makes the case that she is made in Michigan, the classic Michigander. Abdul-El-Sayed was born and bred in Michigan, too. But she has this foxy, almost zany. about her. I'm proud of Michigan, and I'll never get tired of saying it.

It would be my honor to fight for you in the Senate. So with all that in mind, Michael, tell us about the time that you spent with both of these candidates and campaigns when you were in Michigan. Who was here for their very first time never came to before? Also fantastic. So we went to Lansing, the state capital, pretty blue, especially in the the part of Lansing we were in to watch El-Sayed whip up his supporters to go knock on doors around that area.

All right, y'all, money out up? Money in York? He came out on the stage and did what he always does with his events. Started with a chant of sorts, a call and response. It should be as hard in the richest, most powerful country in the world to afford. to fill up your truck. Shouldn't be this hard to get a second

bag of groceries. Shouldn't be this hard. We talked about how politicians, elected officials need to respond to their constituents, more than their donors. Doctor, how you don't pay for that? I don't know. Maybe instead of fighting

dumbass wars, we had no business fighting in the first place, we can keep our money here and start investing in health care and basic services here. It sounds like what he's really tapping into here is a profound disaffection with modern politics. No question. Thank you so much for yourself. So we're out for the UAW.

I'm an ascetician. So I'm a student, but I work at a daycare. The people we talk to at the event. Are you team, Abdul? Everyday Americans are not being heard and represented by their government. They talk about a real disaffection with politics as you. usual. Money out of politics. A-PAC. You know, it's obscene how our money is spent in... Not being able to live the same lives that their parents did.

Like, I graduated high school in 2020. So basically, as long as I can remember, things have been getting, like, significantly worse. Can't afford their rent, can't afford health care. You know, this is not the future I want for my kids. And a sense that Democrats are very much part of the problem too. Everybody's sick of this nonsense that we get every election cycle, that we just have to go for the middle of the road, moderate, boring, bland candidate that doesn't stand for anything. And so now, why vote for the same old kind of Democrat

that they've voted for before? At the end of the day, I don't want, Like, I just want health care. What is it like when this room full of volunteers then heads out and attempts to make this pitch to voters in Lansing? So we ended up tagging along with a volunteer named Mary. I couldn't help and notice your vote for Abdul bracelet. I've got my friendship bracelets. White woman, 70s, retired.

She had been a school teacher. She had been a lobbyist for the United Auto Workers Union. She's been active in democratic politics for decades. When I went to the nudist colony to talk about health care story. Wow. What I did. What I did. She talked to us about efforts at health care reform in the 90s,

led by then-first lady Hillary Clinton when Bill Clinton was the president. And this guy's like, will you come talk about health care? When you pitched them? Sorry, were they wearing clothes? No. But now... The money and politics thing is the thing that just sticks with me. And the need for new ideas and new people.

She, I think, has felt really let down by Democrats that she voted for, that she knocked on doors for. It's like a sports team. You don't change the players. You're going to get the same result. And now is... so much a supporter of El-Sayed that she knocks on door after door after door around Michigan on his behalf. She sees the thing that in her mind all these previous Democratic campaigns and even elected officials have failed to deliver. Correct.

Which is why I'm out here, bust her my ass. I'm like, this is the hill I'm going to die on. This is the one. So here we go. And how did it go for Mary when she's knocking on? on these doors. So we're going to start over here. We were in kind of the suburban outskirts of Lansing. Hi there. Hi.

How are you? Good. How are you? How are you? Surprise. You're on a candid camera. Kidding. My name is Mary.

I'm a canvasser for these candidates. Do you think we can count in your support? Oh, yeah. I've actually sent in my absentee valid. Excellent. Okay. Many of the doors she knocked on were already El-Syad supporters. I know.

I love that. Are you on board, too? Yes. Okay, good. He's my husband, yes. I know. Trust me. I've got them at home, too.

To be quite frank. Please. I'm not a big Bernie supporter. We did encounter, though, some people who were more skeptical. What I'm seeing with the Democrats is a lot of them are going further left than they used to be. that woke and words like woke and words like socialist. So I'm not really sure what's going on. For instance, this guy, John, former Republican voter at this point wants Democrats to take control.

Not sure, though, what kind of Democrat that should be. Well, these are progressive candidates. They've both been endorsed by Bernie Sanders. You'll see that on their leg. I like Bernie, but he scares me a little bit to me. He's got a lot of ideas, but I don't know how he expects all those things to be funded. What about Haley Stevens? What's your opinion on her? Haley Stevens campaign, she's taken all kinds of corporate money.

She's getting all kinds of money from APEC. That is not acceptable. He wanted to know, I think, more about Haley Stevens, and he wanted to know... Who's more likely to beat the Republicans? Who would have the better chance to beat the Republican? come November after this primary. He's invoking that classic democratic concept of electability that has dominated democratic politics,

you could argue, for quite some time, all the way back to Hillary Clinton, 2016, Joe Biden, 2020, and it sounds like is still a factor for a certain kind of democratic voter in 26. And supercharged by the specter of Donald Trump and Republicans who have his backing. Who can beat Donald Trump and these kinds of Republicans? What is the right kind of Democrat? The conventional way of thinking about electability for Democrats,

for as long as most people can remember, has been the more centrist, more moderate candidate is the more electable candidate. So what does Mary, as you're standing with her, say to that, electability question that I voted like John is asking. Mary's argument, in essence, is that this is a different moment. Because of the change people want, and they will appeal to a sort of moment that requires

a different kind of voting. Vote for the change candidate because this is a change election. Abdul is polling at 80 plus percent in the 18 to 44 yield demographic. That demographic, if not this year, by 2028, is going to be the biggest voting block in this country. Not us. If they'll vote. If they'll vote. Absolutely.

But there's a lot of enthusiasm. And I think if the Democratic Party is looking at its future, it's got to take that into consideration. And in that sense, she's arguing El Sayyad is electable. Is electable because the electability question itself has changed because of where we've gotten to in politics, because of the sense that voters, Across the political spectrum feel like politics is unresponsive. It's so irreparably broken that we need to do something so very different. And the different candidate here. And therefore, perhaps actually the more electable candidate is Abdul El-Sayed rather than the moderate.

And I can't guarantee you which way I'm going to go. I was kind of leaning towards Stevens, but one thing I can tell you for sure, I don't know who I'm going to vote for honestly, but it's not going to be a Republican. So I hope that makes you feel a little bit more. It makes me feel better about November, but I'm hoping you'll be with us when you actually fill it out.

But most of all, I appreciate you. And that's the question here in Michigan. Does electability at this point means something different? Or does it mean what it's always meant that the candidate, more like Haley Stevens, is, in fact, the most electable candidate? We'll be right back.

So Michael, you next spend time with the campaign of Congresswoman Haley Stevens, the moderate in this race, the traditionally electable candidate in a race like this. Right. We went to see Haley Stevens canvas kickoff in a suburb of Lansing called Okamis. Could not have been more different than the El-Sayed event. First of all, it wasn't a rally at all. It was at a supporters house. Well, I got cookies and water in a bathroom, so, you know, I got it all going on.

It was barely more than a dozen people. There were more reporters and staffers there than door dockers. Huh. She stepped out of her black SUV. And a staffer started a Haley chant. And she. How fun. And she.

did her version of retail politics. We got some big time people here. Like the Blue Brigade. There is no character in politics quite like Haley Stevens. You know what? This argument of ideas, you know, to have real debates, not just on the twit. I call it the twit. That's what I call it. Just corny language.

I'm going to stick it to them. Her Mishagander accent. the way she interacts with people is its own kind of endearing. I think she understands that she is this way and embraces it. And she went into her pitch. We need honest, dedicated public servants. I'm the workhorse working for you in the halls of Congress.

What about lowering the cost of groceries? I actually have a piece of legislation on that. All of which landed on... We're going to win big in November. Absolutely. You know, I mean, and we're going to win. I'm going to beat Mike Rogers. I'm the candidate who can beat Mike Rogers and her proof.

There certainly has been consistent evidence that the Republicans want to run against him to duel. Mike Rogers leaked a phone call to that tune. Mike Rogers essentially says so himself. He thinks it makes it easier for him to win. says that he would rather run against El-Sayed than against her. So electability is explicitly Haley Stevens' argument, so much so that she says, look, my own Republican rival thinks that I'm the most electable,

fears me the most. Right. I'm going to make sure that we are heard in the halls of power, and I'm going to make damn sure. Then Mike Rogers goes back to Florida. So after Stephen's made a remarks, we all split up. And one of the daily producers I was with, Anna, she spent a bunch of time with two door knockers. And have you been in Michigan your whole life?

Nope. But I've been here 50 years. There was Alyssa. I'm really proud to be a Michigander. She's a former librarian, originally moved to Lansing for grad school, never left. Okay, so you're going to drive? Yes. She was joined by Marie.

A Chevy, very classic Michigan. Yeah. No doubt about that. She's a former elections clerk. Then I retired and I became a precinct chair. You said I'm not done. I got more elections than me. Who just can't quit politics.

Can you tell me what you like about Congresswoman Stevens? I just like her record, what she's done. And I feel like her moving from the House to the Senate, she's just going to be ready to run. And we love her accent. Alyssa and Marie had knocked on doors before, but this was their first time canvassing for Stevens. So we've got two on this side, two on that side.

They got to a neighborhood about five minutes away from the Stevens event, just a couple hours before it got dark. They were dropping off a lot of flyers because a lot of people weren't home or weren't answering. The people they did talk to, though, seemed fairly steady. Stevens friendly, including an older black man named Julius, who didn't answer his door, but did talk through his doorbell video camera. Very modern. Have you heard of her? Oh, yes.

Have you voted yet? Not yet. I plan to vote for her. Oh, terrific. Yay. Oh, thank you so much. Julius was a fan of Stevens. He was actually so on board that he said, Alyssa and Marie.

could put a Stevens sign in his yard. I mean, that's like, you know, when you're canvassing, that's the thing. If you could get a sign. And after Alyssa and Marie were done. This is my first interview I've ever done through a ring doorbell. Anna stayed back and asked Julius a few more questions about why he was interested in Stevens. But she worked on some very important issues with Obama. That itself is so important.

You're a fan of his. He was familiar with. her work years ago for the administration of Barack Obama. Obama hasn't endorsed Stevens but there's an association that I think still matters

to a certain kind of Democrat in Michigan. He was familiar with the people who've endorsed her. Gretchen Whitmer, the governor, Gary Peters, the senator she's trying to replace these established

endorsements that are a bonus, a sign of electability for Julius. So did you ever consider any of the other candidates? Did you ever consider Abdul? Oh, yes, I've considered Abdul. I'm thinking about who will have the best chances of winning election. The general. Yes. It sounds like Julius is the kind of voter that the Stevens campaign is bending backwards to get.

He's appealed to by the very establishment credentials that she presents as her calling cards in this campaign. No question. Her core constituency is traditional democratic-based voters, black voters, older voters, perhaps more moderate, who still see themselves as more moderate, a much more pragmatic Democrat. without them, she cannot win. I think it's time to stop. I agree. So Alyssa and Marie wrapped up. They were ready to go home, but before we all left, we talked to them a little bit more.

How do you feel about the APAC money? Oh, I don't feel great about it. Do I wish that she wasn't taking that money? Yes. What I wish we could do is stop with the purity test. because I think both sides are absolutely guilty of it. It was interesting, even as they knocked on doors for Stevens, Marie did have some reservations about all the APAC money.

We've got this real schism between so-called establishment Democrats and Democratic Socialists, and I find that to be a bummer because I support everything that a progressive would support. I support the platform, but somehow or another I feel like I'm, relegated to a pole-clutching baby boomer, which I don't think I am. If you support, you know, like you're saying, like a more progressive agenda, how does that lead you to, you know, someone who is a little bit more moderate? I think it takes a lot of people to get stuffed on.

It's great to have all, you know, lofty ideals. We all have them. But to really get stuffed on it impacts people every day. We got to have some bipartisanship. But Marie said at the end of the day, We need someone who can win, someone who can get things done in Washington. It is important. Electability is important.

She has the best chance to beat Mike Rogers. And Marie and Alyssa both still see her as the more electable candidate than El-Said. Well, thank you so much for being so open. Yeah, of course, of course. It's striking to me that even a volunteer doorknocker for Stevens-like Marie, who's giving up pretty meaningful amounts of her time to do this work is very freely telling you that she sees Stevens as imperfect, but electable enough? And I guess what she really means is electable against a Republican in the general. Exactly. She's thinking about November more than she's thinking about August.

So, Michael, you're describing what feels pretty evidently like an enthusiasm gap between these two events and between these two candidates. What is the polling at this point right on the heels of the primary telling us about who's most likely to win? The polls say that he's leading. And of late, over the last couple weeks, the poll. say he is pulling away. His margin in a number of these most recent surveys are in double digits. Interesting. These are polls. Polls aren't votes. Polls can be fallible as we've seen over the years. But especially of late, polls show the momentum with El-Sayed more than Stevens.

I have to think, Michael, that somewhat consistent and now at the end of this race, growing lead for El-Sayed, is telling us something about the chances of progressivism in a purple state and also something about this big question of electability. Totally. And here's the thing. If we take polls at face value, it feels like Democratic voters in Michigan are ready to challenge this. conventional notion that the more moderate candidate is, by definition, the more electable candidate. And we had a fascinating series of conversations with some El-Said voters about just this shift or potential shift in a place called Manistee, which is the western part of the state,

far more north in the state on Lake Michigan. John? Yeah, nice to meet you. When we got to the office of the Democratic Party of Manistee County. And you're wearing an Abdul for Senate shirt. I didn't see that. Absolutely. There was no shortage of El-Said, flyers, buttons, political paraphernalia, signs of support for El-Said.

Nothing for Stevens. Does he the Manusie Dems mask on? Yes. Yes. Come on, set that pace so they can see your paws. There was even a hudel named Hazel. She has blue paws. And she was wearing an El-Sayed shirt.

Amazing. Hazel's for Abdul. Little surprising because we were in a Republican county, a county that is a Trump county. Granted, we were in a small city, and a blue municipality, but still not a place where I expected to see so much support for the more progressive of the two Democrats

running in this primary. And we wanted to watch people watch a debate between Stevens and El-Sayed and talked to them about what they made of the debate. Very good. Former Wayne County Health Director, Dr. Adul Al-Sayette. Woo! So after we watched them,

watched the debate, I ended up asking them how they were feeling and electability definitely came up. When people talk about electability, what does it mean to you? What makes a candidate more electable? I think it means about who's more politically connected. That's usually what that sounds like to me.

And it's like, I don't care about that. It's who's got a point? Who do I want to lead for me? Not who is electable? That's what I think. I feel the opposite. I feel that electability is everything. Because if we don't take the Senate, much less the House, we're screwed.

Amen. Some of them had this question of electability still front of mind. But some of them had decided that, to some extent, to hell with electability. I've heard of people to go to the polls. and they vote for someone because, well, the other person can't get elected. Well, aren't we like chopping ourselves off with the knees? Because if we're assuming someone can't get elected and we're going to vote for the person that maybe we don't think will be the best one, we're selling ourselves short and we're selling everyone else in Michigan short.

We're thinking that we know what other people think. And we don't know. What was so interesting was listening to them get to a place where they're not going to try to, play this electability 3D chess and send the person they think can win in November, they're going to pick the person

who is speaking to them the most, and let the chips fall in the general. Which of these candidates do you think your neighbors, your undecided neighbors, non-voting neighbors, maybe even Republican neighbors, are more

likely to vote for Abdul Al-Said or Haley Stevens? Probably Haley. If the Republicans are coming over, they're probably going to vote for the Republican in sheep's clothing. I mean, some of them even acknowledge that some of their Republican neighbors in Manistee County, some of the more centrist independence they know, might not vote for El-Sayed come November, should he make it through the primary. But then don't you have to keep the Senate seat? So how do you feel about that, given that?

I'm willing to take my chances for a guy that I think, honestly, has. has our best interest at heart. But that, at least this time around, would not determine the decision they themselves made in this primary. This is really interesting because these voters seem to be taking things a step further than Mary, that El-Sayed volunteer,

who you were telling us about earlier. What Mary was saying was that she thinks El-Sayed is electable. And what these voters are saying is different. They're saying maybe he is electable, maybe he isn't, but either way we're done even dealing with this electability question in the first place. Right. And this crowd was thinking differently than they were thinking not that long ago in the last decade in how they decided where to put their vote.

So, in fact, like, I probably considered back, you know, like when Bernie Sanders was running for president way back, I thought he didn't have the electability. And now I wish to hell I would have bought in. We did hear from people who wanted to vote for Bernie Sanders but didn't. And this year, in a way that felt pretty different and new and distinct, they were just going to vote for El-Syed. screw it. Donald Trump came in in 2016. Now, he was not at all a middle ground candidate, but he spoke to people that hadn't voted in years. He wasn't trying to convert other Democrats. He was trying to bring new people into the process. And it worked. He won this county. And Abdul is saying, hey, we need to do something different. And think back to 20.

2016, all of the conventional wisdom up until election day that said, surely, Donald Trump could not win. But clearly, enough Republicans made him their nominee in 2016 and then just enough people in just enough places, the places that matter the most, made him the president. And perhaps Democrats find themselves now a decade later at a similar juncture. We'll be in touch. Thank you. Thank you all so much. I love it. I love it.

It feels like what you and Asanana really saw in Michigan was not just the latest test of whether Democrats want a progressive or a moderate, but a genuinely new approach to this. for Democrats anyway, agonizing question of electability. And that new mindset is that some of these Democrats, who are now behind El-Sayed, have decided to stop talking themselves out of picking the exciting, disruptive candidate for fear that their Republican neighbors won't back them.

And instead, they're doing this more Republican thing in the Trump era, and they're just saying, we're going to follow our hearts. We're going to vote for the person we like and to hell with the consequences. Right. And maybe the consequences include you do get the person you actually want and want with your whole heart. There is no shortage of voters across the political spectrum, not just Republicans who are so angry at politics. as usual, at the system, that they're willing to just say, you know what, it's time for something different. It's time for something new. It's time for the change candidate, even if we're being told that the change candidate is not the electable candidate. Maybe the change candidate is the

electable candidate. Maybe electability is something totally new in 2026 on both sides of the political aisle. Oh, Michael. Thank you very much. Thank you. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need, Toner today. After a rocky start to his confirmation process, President Trump's acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche,

won over two crucial Republican holdouts in the U.S. Senate on Monday, paving the way for Blanche to be confirmed by the full Senate as soon as this week. To placate Republican senators Tom Tillis of North Carolina, and John Cornyn of Texas. Blanche provided written assurances of two actions. First, that he had killed off a fund to pay Trump allies who claimed they were unfairly prosecuted by the government. And second, that Blanche had narrowed the scope of a deal to protect Trump,

his family, and their businesses from the IRS. But the narrowed IRS deal still prevents the IRS from auditing the previous tax returns of Trump, his two oldest sons, and the Trump organization, an unprecedented act of self-dealing by the president. And health officials have reported two deaths linked to the parasite cyclospora, which is spread through food contaminated with human feces. Both of the deaths involved people in Michigan with significant underlying health conditions. The deaths come amid the worst outbreak of the parasite in U.S.

U.S. history, health officials have confirmed or are investigating more than 18,000 infections across 45 states. Today's episode was produced by Astha Chatharvedi, Anna Foley, Eric Kruppki, and Claire Tennis Getter. It was edited by Rob Zipko and Rachel Quester, and contains music by Marion Lazano, Alicia Aetupah, and Pat McCusker. Our theme music is by Wonderly. This episode was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. That's it for the daily.

I'm Michael Bobarro. See you tomorrow.