AOC endorses progressive Democrat in closely watched Michigan race for US Senate seat | US midterm elections 2026
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has thrown her support behind Abdul El-Sayed, a physician and progressive Democrat seeking the party’s nomination in Michigan’s closely watched U.S. Senate race.
Ocasio-Cortez, an influential congresswoman on the left of the Democratic party, endorsed El-Sayed, a former public health director, in an interview with the New York Times. “Regardless of our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, each of us sees this as an existential moment,” he said.
“I think a lot of people are willing to put differences aside to give us the best chance of winning,” Ocasio-Cortez, who represents part of New York, told the Times. “And I think Abdul is giving us that right now.”
The race to replace outgoing Democratic senator Gary Peters has emerged as one of the most competitive Democratic primaries of the cycle, shaping up as a test between insurgent and establishment-backed candidates and a representation of the party’s broader ideological divide.
Al-Sayed, who already has the support of independent U.S. senator Bernie Sanders, hopes to capitalize on the momentum of other progressives who have won congressional primaries in recent months.
He currently leads his rivals in recent polls; This field includes U.S. congresswoman Haley Stevens, who is backed by top Democratic leaders including Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, and state senator Mallory McMorrow, who has the backing of leading Democrats such as U.S. senator Elizabeth Warren.
The winning candidate will represent the party in the US midterm elections in November; Democrats want to wrest control of the House and Senate away from Republicans. Gaining a majority in the upper chamber is widely acknowledged to be a tougher task, and preserving seats like Michigan is seen as critical to Democrats’ broader goal of regaining control of the Senate.
El-Sayed’s populist economic platform includes banning tax incentives for companies like Amazon, imposing new taxes on billionaires, eliminating medical debt, and strengthening anti-monopoly laws to curb corporate price gouging. He also called for an end to “blank check” military aid to Israel and other countries.
Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement marks her first endorsement in competitive U.S. Senate primaries this midterm cycle. But this isn’t the first time he’s supported a progressive candidate. In 2018, after an upset over Rep. Joe Crowley in the New York House primary, Ocasio-Cortez traveled to Michigan to support El-Sayed’s long-shot bid for governor. She lost the race to Democrat Gretchen Whitmer.
El-Sayed welcomed the support, writing of
The Democratic candidate in the Great Lake state is expected to face former Republican representative Mike Rogers in the general election. Rogers previously ran for the Senate in 2024, losing to Elissa Slotkin by less than 0.5% of the vote despite Donald Trump holding the state.
