By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, July 5 (Reuters) – Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow suspended her Democratic campaign for the U.S. Senate on Sunday, turning a three-way primary race in a key battleground state into a head-to-head between a moderate and a progressive.
McMorrow’s exit leaves centrist U.S. Representative Haley Stevens and progressive public health advocate Abdul El-Sayed as the remaining candidates vying to face Republican former U.S. Representative Mike Rogers.
• In a three-minute video posted to X, McMorrow pledged her “full support” to whoever wins the August 4 primary.
• Recent polls showed McMorrow in distant third place, with El-Sayed leading Stevens.
• El-Sayed said he welcomes McMorrow’s supporters into his movement, warning that Michiganders “cannot allow the establishment to decide our nominee for us.”
• Stevens praised McMorrow’s “important voice” but reiterated that “I’m the strongest Democrat to defeat Mike Rogers this November.”
• Losing the Senate race in Michigan would make it significantly harder, though not impossible, for Democrats to flip the Senate in November.
• Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate. Republican President Donald Trump won Michigan by 1.4 percentage points in 2024.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by Sergio Non and Bill Berkrot)