US midterm primary elections live updates: High-stakes Michigan Senate race among key contests in five states

Key events

Abdul El-Sayed: Will he win a key Senate race in Michigan?

Joseph Gedeon

Abdul El-Sayed spends a fair amount of his day not taking himself so seriously. He jokes about his haircut, films selfie videos with supporters and has taken – more than once – to cringey dancing and lip-syncing on camera.

But ask him after a long day on the campaign trail to explain the difference between a virus and a bacterium, and the epidemiologist takes over from the entertainer.

El-Sayed, running in Michigan to be the Democratic candidate for US Senate this November, is trying to strike a delicate balance between policy wonk and performer – capable of detailing the mechanics of the proposed Medicare for All system of universal healthcare one minute and delivering a punchline the next.

At a moment when American politics has become conspicuously humorless, he is an unusual political persona. And in a matter of days, on 4 August, Michigan Democrats will decide whether he’s their type to send him to the United States Senate.

El-Sayed faces the more moderate representative Haley Stevens, who has the backing of the Democratic party establishment. The duo are virtually neck-and-neck at the polls – raising the prospect of the party’s grassroots voters again defying the wishes of its leaders.

While a string of socialist victories across Democratic primaries in recent months has boosted the left of the party, El-Sayed rejects the label. He just wants capitalism that works.

Will Missouri be the next primary win for a democratic socialist challenger?

In Tuesday’s Democratic congressional primary, voters in Missouri’s deep-blue first congressional district will decide whether to give pro-Israel incumbent Wesley Bell a second term, or replace him with Cori Bush, a former progressive congresswoman who accuses Israel of perpetrating genocide in Gaza.

Cori Bush and Wesley Bell Composite: AP

Along with a heated primary in Michigan, the contest has become a proxy battle over the Democratic party’s role in supporting Israel’s military before the November midterm elections, which will determine which party holds the majority in both chambers of Congress.

After losing to Bell two years ago, Bush, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is vying for her seat back, and a Super Pac linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has so far spent more than $3m to try to keep her out.

In recent weeks, Democratic voters in New York City and Denver ousted incumbents in favor of candidates who promised they would take a hard line against support for Israel. In Congress, large shares of Democrats have voted for unsuccessful efforts to block arms sales to the country’s security forces, and progressives hope that a win by Bush will underscore their movement’s momentum.

Democrats face most contentious – and crucial – test yet with Michigan primary

Rachel Leingang

The Michigan Democratic Senate primary is, perhaps, the most contentious Democratic primary this year – and a test for the party’s future.

Voters are weighing the policies and personalities of the candidates as they once again consider the thorny question of electability: who can win this purple state in November, and potentially push the party towards a majority in the Senate?

Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens Photograph: getty im

Recent surveys have shown Abdul El-Sayed pulling ahead. A non-partisan Emerson poll this week of likely Democratic voters found 54% intended to vote for El-Sayed compared with 39% for Haley Stevens, with a stark age divide. Voters under 50 broke for El-Sayed by 42 percentage points, while voters over 60 preferred Stevens by a 14-point margin, it showed. Independents were siding with El-Sayed by a 27-point margin.

Stevens, 43, has represented Michigan’s 11th House district since 2019, after flipping the seat. She has been endorsed by the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and Gary Peters, the retiring senator who holds the seat she and El-Sayed, 41, are now running for.

El-Sayed, an epidemiologist who served in health director roles in Detroit and its county, counts leading progressive officials among his supporters, including the US senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen, who rallied with him in Michigan last weekend alongside a host of representatives and former elected officials.

The winner of Tuesday’s Democratic primary will face Mike Rogers, a former congressman from the state who was also the Republican nominee for US Senate in 2024, when he lost to Elissa Slotkin.

Five states hold primary elections with all eyes on high-stakes Michigan Senate race

Good evening. In Michigan, voters are casting ballots in a Democratic primary that has become a high-stakes test of the party’s future. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time.

Michigan is one of five states holding primary elections today, along with Kansas, Virginia, Washington and Missouri.

Voters in Michigan are choosing between Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive former public health official, and representative Haley Stevens, a centrist backed by Democratic leaders.

The race has become the Democratic Party’s most expensive and contentious Senate primary, with Stevens benefiting from more than $60m in outside spending from super PACs backing her campaign. Still, recent polls gave El-Sayed a slight lead as voting got underway today.

Lawmakers are laser-focused on the race’s outcome as it serves as a gauge of whether Democratic voters favor a more progressive, anti-establishment vision or a centrist path heading into the November midterm elections.

In Kansas, the race is on to replace governor Laura Kelly as she leaves office due to term limits. Three Democrats are pitted against each other for the role of Kansas governor, while Republican candidates include current secretary of state Scott Schwab, senate president and Trump-endorsed Ty Masterson and insurance commissioner Vicki Schmidt.

In Missouri, voters are deciding a slate of high-profile primary races and constitutional ballot measures. The most closely watched contest is a Democratic House primary rematch between incumbent Wesley Bell and progressive former representative Cori Bush, while voters are also considering multiple statewide amendments, including one that would phase out the income tax.

Virginians are choosing nominees, in a delayed manner, for a US Senate race and several congressional districts after redistricting pushed back the election schedule. Democrats see two House seats as their best opportunities to help flip in November as they try to regain control of the US House. Republicans, meanwhile, are choosing their nominee to challenge Democratic senator Mark Warner.

Moving on to Washington state, Democratic representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is seeking a third term to represent the third congressional district, where she faces several challengers in the primary, including Republican state Senate minority leader John Braun, who has received President Trump’s endorsement. Washington state has a top-two primary system in which all candidates compete on the same ballot and the two highest vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election.