{"id":7349,"date":"2026-07-27T09:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7349"},"modified":"2026-07-27T09:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:35:08","slug":"black-voters-may-decide-the-nations-biggest-democratic-primary-many-are-clearly-against-the-more-progressive-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7349","title":{"rendered":"Black voters may decide the nation\u2019s biggest Democratic primary. Many are clearly against the more progressive option"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\nPontiac, Michigan<\/span>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/cite><\/div>\n

\n Larry Nix pulled into a cookout hosted by Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s campaign on Sunday, rolled down his window and told the progressive Senate candidate he needed answers.\n <\/p>

Read more Trump administration demands hospitals share emergency room records<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Nix, a 63-year-old Army veteran, shares some of El-Sayed\u2019s concerns with the direction of the country. He\u2019s furious at how high the war in Iran has driven up the price of gas for his Ford Expedition, and he thinks Democratic leaders in Washington are \u201cgetting a little soft\u201d when it comes to taking on President Donald Trump.\n <\/p>\n

\n But El-Sayed\u2019s more moderate opponent in the August 4 primary, four-term Rep. Haley Stevens, has come to Nix\u2019s house during previous congressional campaigns, spoken with him and put a sign in his yard. \u201cThat\u2019s my girl,\u201d he told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Nix had also seen the barrage of television advertisements portraying El-Sayed as disparaging toward women, highlighting his past criticism of former first lady Michelle Obama\u2019s anti-obesity initiative. \u201cI\u2019m a big pro-Obama person and you\u2019re dogging his wife,\u201d Nix said of his concerns. He told El-Sayed he wanted to know \u201cwhat the hell is going on.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The battle over the direction of the Democratic Party is being waged in conversations like this one, in a parking lot in Pontiac where El-Sayed\u2019s campaign was hosting a get-out-the-vote gathering after he visited Black churches in the area.\n <\/p>\n

\n The 41-year-old son of Egyptian immigrants is seeking to deliver the party\u2019s progressive insurgency its biggest win yet in the Michigan Senate primary. But he is running into resistance among Black voters, many of whom say the establishment he eschews has delivered for them in important ways.\n <\/p>\n

\n El-Sayed, a former public health official, told Nix the same thing he\u2019d told about 40 attendees at New Bethel Baptist Church minutes earlier: The ads were a distortion of previous comments he\u2019d made about Michelle Obama, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and more, and an example of why he was running to get big money \u2014 including that of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has spent millions on ads opposing El-Sayed \u2014 out of politics.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe opened my mind,\u201d Nix said of El-Sayed. \u201cI\u2019m going to go home and do my research, and then I\u2019m going to decide if he switched me over.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But El-Sayed may still have an uphill battle ahead of him. Dozens of interviews across the Detroit metropolitan area over the first weekend of early voting revealed the skepticism he faces among Black voters like Nix.\n <\/p>\n

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\"El-Sayed<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n
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\nEl-Sayed speaks to Larry Nix as he pulls up to “Souls to the Polls” outside Pontiac Public Library.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\nEl-Sayed speaks to a potential voter during “Souls to the Polls.”<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Emily Elconin for CNN<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n The Senate primary has emerged as this year\u2019s most important test of the party\u2019s ideological gulf \u2014 with El-Sayed and Stevens, the favorite of the Democratic establishment in Washington and in Michigan, squaring off in a race that is both critical to Democrats\u2019 hopes of claiming a Senate majority in November, and an early preview of the battles to come in the 2028 presidential primary.\n <\/p>\n

\n Black voters make up about one-fifth of the state\u2019s Democratic primary electorate, and they have a history of overwhelmingly backing the more moderate candidate in similar ideological battles in Michigan. Hillary Clinton bested Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by about 40 percentage points among Black voters in the state\u2019s 2016 presidential primary, exit polls showed, and Joe Biden racked up a similar margin in 2020 against the progressive stalwart.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sanders\u2019 weakness with Black voters was the obstacle he never overcame, although he narrowly defeated Clinton in Michigan in 2016 while losing to Biden in 2020.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now, those voters are once again a focal point in the primary\u2019s closing stretch, as El-Sayed seeks to chip into Stevens\u2019 advantage and Stevens looks to run up a big enough margin to overcome El-Sayed\u2019s edge among White progressive voters.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some of the skepticism El-Sayed faces is fueled by the negative advertisements like those Nix highlighted. But he\u2019s also hampered by lingering resentment from prominent Black Democrats who view his initial support for the \u201cuncommitted\u201d movement in the state\u2019s 2024 presidential primary as ultimately helping President Donald Trump win Michigan that November and who worry about his campaign\u2019s focus on opposing US support for Israel.\n <\/p>\n

\n Other voters said Stevens, a White woman, has been an extremely active presence in their communities since being elected to Congress in the Democratic wave of 2018. More pointed to her role working on President Barack Obama\u2019s task force that rescued the automotive industry \u2014 the economic driver of southeastern Michigan.\n <\/p>\n

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\nBarack Obama hasn\u2019t endorsed a Michigan Senate candidate. An AIPAC-linked group is spending millions on ads with him anyway<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

9 min read<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\n At the Soul Day Festival at Northwestern High School in Detroit, which Stevens attended on Saturday, it was the portion of her biography that voters were most familiar with \u2014 and an example of the achievements of a Democratic establishment that El-Sayed has cast as a failure.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cShe was on the team that helped save our state when Obama was president. She was right there on the forefront,\u201d said Kathie House Vinson, a retired college administrator who lives in Detroit.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think in my heart of hearts that (El-Sayed) is a good candidate,\u201d she said, \u201cbut Haley has the track record, and I know what she\u2019s done for me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\nA proving ground for progressives<\/strong>\n<\/h2>\n

\n For the Democratic Party\u2019s ascendant progressive insurgency, Michigan is a proving ground \u2014 a perennial presidential battleground where the stakes are much higher than the handful of House primaries in deep-blue districts where progressive challengers have ousted incumbents this year.\n <\/p>\n

\n The winner of next\u2019s month Senate primary will take on Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. For Democrats, retaining the seat is crucial to the party\u2019s hopes of the net four-seat gain they\u2019d need in November to win the Senate majority.\n <\/p>\n

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\nExplore big campaigns and issues through the eyes of everyday American voters with John King<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

\n Leaders of the progressive movement, including Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have lined up behind El-Sayed. The more moderate establishment, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a slew of top current and former elected officials in Michigan, the Congressional Black Caucus\u2019 political action committee and influential South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, are supporting Stevens.\n <\/p>\n

\n Stevens, when asked about her Black support, pointed to her efforts to secure investments in infrastructure and Black-owned businesses, as well as support for Michigan\u2019s manufacturing sector.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMy campaign approach is to campaign like I govern, and govern like I campaign. To show up, to be trusted, to listen, to hear from folks, and then to lead for them,\u201d Stevens told reporters Saturday at the Soul Day Festival in Detroit.\n <\/p>\n

\n El-Sayed, who boasts his own long list of Black supporters, told reporters Sunday that Stevens\u2019 advantage among Black voters comes down to ad spending.\n <\/p>\n

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\nChurch-goers listen to a sermon before El-Sayed speaks at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Pontiac, Michigan, on Sunday.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\nEl-Sayed holds hands with church-goers during a closing prayer at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Emily Elconin for CNN<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s what $60 million in advertising does,\u201d he said after a church visit. \u201cThere\u2019s a reason they spend that money. \u2026 Sixty million dollars is what you need to move a message that does not really offer anything to anyone unless you\u2019re a corporate PAC or AIPAC.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Outside groups have committed about $51 million to running ads boosting Stevens or attacking El-Sayed, including $30 million from the United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-aligned super PAC, according to AdImpact data.\n <\/p>\n

\n For some Black voters who to CNN, the ideological schism is a major factor.\n <\/p>\n

\n Demetria Card, a 68-year-old Pontiac housewife, said she is \u201cnot progressive really at all,\u201d and thinks Stevens is \u201cthe voice of the people.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Most, though, downplayed the role ideology is playing in their primary votes.\n <\/p>\n

\n Card\u2019s daughter, 45-year-old Natasha Bartley, an information technology student in Novi, said she is backing Stevens because she\u2019s consistently shown up for her community.\n <\/p>\n

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\nDemocratic US Senate candidate Haley Stevens converses with Heaster Wheeler at the Soul Day Festival in Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday, July 25.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\nStevens poses for a photo with an attendee at the Soul Day Festival in Detroit.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Emily Elconin for CNN<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nDemetria Card says she thinks Stevens is \u201cthe voice of the people.\u201d<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Emily Elconin for CNN<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n \u201cThis won\u2019t be the first day she\u2019s been somewhere that we\u2019ve been,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know, she seems approachable. I talked to her. She seems like she\u2019s honest. You know, doesn\u2019t look like she\u2019s hiding anything, and I like that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Likewise, Rex Close, a 54-year-old HVAC technician in Pontiac, said he voted for El-Sayed because he\u2019s \u201can honest guy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI listen to everything he\u2019s saying, what he\u2019s going to do, and I believe him,\u201d Close said.\n <\/p>\n

\nLingering resentment over \u2018Uncommitted\u2019 movement<\/strong>\n<\/h2>\n

\n But in conversations with prominent Black leaders from Michigan about the state\u2019s Democratic Senate primary, a recurring complaint came up: El-Sayed\u2019s support for \u201cuncommitted\u201d in 2024.\n <\/p>\n

\n The pro-Palestinian protest movement was a critical factor in Michigan, with its large Arab immigrant community, as opponents of the war in Gaza voted \u201cuncommitted\u201d on Democratic presidential primary ballots to register their dissatisfaction with Biden\u2019s steadfast support for Israel.\n <\/p>

Read more 6 looming questions about the Iran war<\/a><\/p>\n

\n El-Sayed, a prominent Arab American then serving as director of the Wayne County Department of Health, publicly backed \u201cuncommitted,\u201d which garnered more than 100,000 votes in the state.\n <\/p>\n

\n While Biden ultimately withdrew and the party attempted to rally around former Vice President Kamala Harris, Black leaders in Michigan who spoke to CNN in recent weeks remain convinced the effort did lasting damage to the Democratic presidential ticket\u2019s chances that year.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMany people believe that he was a part of that. And had Kamala Harris been elected, we would not be in the mess we\u2019re in right now. Gaza would not be what Gaza is right now,\u201d said Rev. Dr. Anthony Wendell of Fellowship Chapel, the president of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP and a Stevens supporter.\n <\/p>\n

\n Though El-Sayed ultimately endorsed Harris, and encouraged his followers to vote for her, his critics argue it was too little, too late. As he runs for US Senate with an ongoing focus on US policy toward Israel, doubts also linger about El-Sayed\u2019s priorities.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe question is now: Are you going to be more concerned about the West Bank than the West Side of Detroit?\u201d Anthony asked.\n <\/p>\n

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\nEl-Sayed converses with voters during “Souls to the Polls” outside Pontiac Public Library in Pontiac, Michigan, on Sunday.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n Remarks from a Farmington school board member Angie Smith also made waves over the weekend, when she told local reporter Sam Robinson that she was backing Stevens because she believed the congresswoman would represent all races.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe need someone that can represent all of us. Not just one race, but all races,\u201d she said in a clip that circulated online. \u201cYou have to know how to work the room. Don\u2019t come out speaking only Arabic. Don\u2019t come out with your Arabic music on. Represent everyone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Stevens\u2019 camp denounced Smith\u2019s comments.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHaley disagrees with and disavows this comment. Her campaign is about bringing Michiganders together, not dividing them,\u201d spokesperson Arik Wolk said in a statement.\n <\/p>\n

\n El-Sayed\u2019s campaign is working to address those critiques. His campaign launched a new TV ad, touting his role as \u201cthe first Muslim American leader to endorse Kamala Harris for president.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Whether it\u2019s enough to overcome enduring skepticism is an open question.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe bottom line is, he\u2019s been a little cute with that. He was with the \u2018uncommitted\u2019 during the primaries when it was convenient,\u201d said Keith Williams, the chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus who is backing the congresswoman. \u201cHe was a part of the movement in the beginning. So to me, you can\u2019t have your cake and eat it too.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Darius Jones, the founder and president of the National Black Empowerment Action Fund, said El-Sayed is \u201cgoing to continuously have work to do to repair that breach.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt definitely didn\u2019t do anything to benefit people from my community in the Midwest,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think this was a situation where the political judgment of people who were in the leadership of that movement should be called into question, and Black folks have real questions around that strategy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\nKeyon Green said he voted for El-Sayed because he felt he\u2019d been a regular presence in the community.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Emily Elconin for CNN<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nEl-Sayed speaks to reporters following a Sunday service at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Pontiac, Michigan, on Sunday.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n Other Black Democratic leaders in Michigan said they don\u2019t think the \u201cuncommitted\u201d movement will play a major role in the outcome on August 4.\n <\/p>\n

\n Virgie Rollins, the Democratic National Committee\u2019s Black Caucus chair and a Michigan power broker who has not endorsed in the Senate race, pointed to El-Sayed\u2019s ultimate support for Harris.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI had 50 Arab leaders in my house, and he came in to talk. He talked to them in order to support Kamala,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t see a big issue with uncommitted with Abdul. I think it\u2019s an issue, but it\u2019s not a big issue.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n She added: \u201cIf he wins the nomination, everybody will be behind him, 100%. I can guarantee that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Wayne County Commissioner Martha Scott, who appeared in a pro-El Sayed ad, also downplayed the role any lingering resentments over the \u201cuncommitted\u201d movement will play but acknowledged the 2024 loss is \u201con all of our minds.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYou know, we just keep working at it and hope things change for the better for people,\u201d Scott said.\n <\/p>\n

\nStevens\u2019 personal connections<\/strong>\n<\/h2>\n

\n Online, Stevens\u2019 heavy Michigan accent \u2014 on display in a recent viral clip in which she told a crowd she was campaigning with \u201ca little bit of stick it to \u2018em\u201d \u2014 often is the target of mockery. In person, though, it plays much differently.\n <\/p>\n

\n The word Black voters most frequently used to describe Stevens in interviews with CNN was \u201cfighter.\u201d Those who had met her said she came across as more genuine than most politicians.\n <\/p>\n

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\nStevens dances as she arrives to the Soul Festival in Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n \u201cI vibe with her,\u201d said Kelly Garrett, the former mayor of Lathrup Village, just northwest of Detroit, shortly after a Stevens rally in Detroit Friday night attended by Whitmer and Clyburn.\n <\/p>\n

\n Garrett said she got to know Stevens when the congresswoman called her after Garrett\u2019s 21-year-old son died from sickle cell anemia in 2021. About a month later, she said she was surprised when she received a package from Stevens\u2019 office containing a flag that flew over the US Capitol.\n <\/p>\n

\n The two have become close since, and Garrett \u2014 who spoke to CNN minutes after electrifying the crowd at the rally \u2014 said they often talk when Stevens \u201cneeds to be pumped up.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe person you saw on stage is the person you see at home, and is the person you see out. That\u2019s who Haley is. There is no different person,\u201d Garrett said. \u201cAnd if she sounds like she has a twang, I\u2019m down with it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In Detroit and Pontiac, many people \u2014 including those who are not active in politics \u2014 said they\u2019d met Stevens not just once, but several times.\n <\/p>\n

\n At El-Sayed\u2019s gathering Sunday in Pontiac, an elderly woman who asked not to be named said she appreciated that El-Sayed showed up, but said she\u2019d met Stevens four times over nearly a decade, and that the congresswoman had been to her apartment complex.\n <\/p>\n

\n At the Soul Day Festival, Anita Moncrease, a 70-year-old retired physician in Southfield, said she\u2019d met Stevens in Washington during a group trip to discuss health care issues. She said she backed Stevens, even though both she and El-Sayed have \u201cpositive stands\u201d on health care policy.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI like the energy and I like the availability,\u201d Moncrease said of Stevens. \u201cIt\u2019s the little things that make the difference.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

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\nStevens embraces an attendee while speaking with voters at the Soul Day Festival in Detroit.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\nKatanya Johnson says she is backing Stevens in the primary election.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Emily Elconin for CNN<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nStevens converses with Soul Day Festival attendees in Detroit, Michigan, on Saturday.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Emily Elconin for CNN<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Supporters of El-Sayed have also highlighted the impact of an on the ground presence in their community.\n <\/p>\n

\n Keyon Green, a 52-year-old automotive factory manager in Pontiac, said he voted for El-Sayed because he felt he\u2019d been a regular presence in the community \u2014 even though he doesn\u2019t have any problems with Stevens.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe\u2019s always around. He shows up a lot,\u201d Green said of El-Sayed. \u201cPeople tend to vote for people that they that they see or you know have some type of connection to.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n But for Katanya Johnson, a 58-year-old retired postal worker from Redford who is backing Stevens, it comes down to experience.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m not interested in anybody that\u2019s flying by the seat of their pants and trying to run our country in any way,\u201d Johnson said.\n <\/p>

Read more Inside the fights to maintain TPS status for thousands after the Supreme Court sided with Trump<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abdul El-Sayed is seeking to deliver the Democratic Party\u2019s progressive insurgency its biggest win yet in the Michigan Senate primary. But he is running into resistance among Black voters, many of whom say the establishment he eschews has delivered for them in important ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nBlack voters may decide the nation\u2019s biggest Democratic primary. Many are clearly against the more progressive option - Relocation Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=7349\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black voters may decide the nation\u2019s biggest Democratic primary. Many are clearly against the more progressive option - Relocation Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abdul El-Sayed is seeking to deliver the Democratic Party\u2019s progressive insurgency its biggest win yet in the Michigan Senate primary. 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