Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed traveled to Washington on Wednesday for a closed-door meeting with Senate Democratic leadership, spending hours at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s headquarters as lawmakers filed in and out to discuss his campaign and the party’s push to hold the seat.
The meeting came after a bruising Democratic primary in which El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., in a fight that exposed a rift between the party’s establishment wing and its progressive base. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., declined to say directly whether he and El-Sayed had put their differences behind them.
“Look, we have to win Michigan, and we had a great and friendly meeting,” Schumer told Fox News Digital when asked if the two had moved past their disagreements.
Republicans currently hold the Senate 53-47, and Democrats view Michigan as essential to any path back to a majority. Former Rep. Mike Rogers is the Republican nominee in the race.
Establishment Democrats Rally, Cautiously
DSCC Chair Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand, D-N.Y., predicted a win for El-Sayed. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the retiring incumbent who initially backed Stevens in the primary, said he was now endorsing El-Sayed. “I’m endorsing him, and he’s been getting support across the board in Michigan. The Democrats are coming together,” Peters said, adding, “We understand how important this election is.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who had endorsed Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow before she left the race, defended El-Sayed’s outreach to former rivals. “Obviously, primaries can get really hot, and the Michigan primary got hot,” Murphy said. “This is what you do after a primary is you try to unite the party and then you do the work to reach out and cross over to independent voters and Republican voters. So, I don’t think anybody should be surprised that he’s trying to build bridges after a heated primary. That’s what good candidates, that’s what winning candidates do.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., another McMorrow supporter during the primary, described the mood inside the meeting as upbeat. “It’s hard to hear in there because so many people were talking and laughing and wanted to hear about the campaign,” Warren said. “He makes good connections because it’s a lot of people in there who are talking about, ‘What can we do next? What can we do to lower costs for families? What can we do to make this government work better for working people?’ So, it was a very enthusiastic, very cheerful group of people.”
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said he plans to campaign for El-Sayed directly, telling reporters, “I’m gonna be in Michigan here in a couple of weeks.” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., framed an affordability message as the party’s closing argument and said El-Sayed “is the answer,” adding, “I’m helping him. I think we’re all gonna help.”
Piker Question Brushed Aside
El-Sayed’s association with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who amplified his primary campaign, did not come up as a topic of concern inside the meeting, according to several senators. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he wasn’t familiar with Piker at all: “Hasan what? I don’t even know who that is.”
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said the subject wasn’t part of the discussion. “Not in terms of the conversation. Like I said, I was just trying to get to know him,” Kim said when asked whether Democrats had pressed El-Sayed to distance himself from Piker.
El-Sayed himself dismissed questions about Piker when pressed by reporters afterward. “This conversation is so far removed from what people are talking about,” he said. “Everyday, in Michigan, people sit at their kitchen tables and ask, ‘How am I going to make this work next month?’ That’s not a middle, right, left issue, that’s a basic affordability issue.” Asked again about the matter, he said Michigan voters “really don’t care about that,” repeating, “They really don’t.”
