Gary Peters

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is calling for debates − lots of them − ahead of the Aug. 4 primary to decide the Democratic Party's nominee for a soon-to-be-open U.S. Senate seat and one of the most-closely watched congressional races in the nation this year.

On Monday, March 30, McMorrow said she wants five debates, all of them televised, ahead of the primary. And she wants the first to be sometime before early voting begins in Michigan on July 6.

"Voters are tired of politics as usual — and tired of being talked at entirely through ads. That has to change. I'm calling on every candidate in this race to join me for five debates before the August primary, so Michiganders can hear from us directly, ask hard questions and make an informed choice,” McMorrow said.

McMorrow, of Royal Oak, is in what appears to be a tightly contested race for the nomination with U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham and former Wayne County and Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor. So far, there has been little independent polling in the race and what polling has been done shows no clear frontrunner.

There have been no formal debates in the race to date but some or all of the main candidates have participated in forums, where instead of challenging each other with questions or responses on issues, candidates generally have questions put to them individually by moderators or members of an audience.

A spokeswoman for Stevens' campaign, Joetta Appiah, didn't specifically address the question of five debates but said Stevens has already committed to a debate with the Council of Baptist Pastors in Detroit on April 24, that the other candidates are expected to attend.

“Haley's been campaigning all over the state so Michiganders have the opportunity to hear directly from her about her vision for the future of the state," Appiah said, adding that conversations about a debate schedule are ongoing. "We look forward to a robust and substantive debate process that reaches voters across our state," she said.

A spokesperson for El-Sayed's campaign, Sophie Pollock, shared a statement from El-Sayed, saying, "We’ve been out here from day one, taking questions, having real conversations and earning support face-to-face. If you want a debate, I’m there. If you want to talk to voters, I already have been.”

Five debates would be a sizeable number ahead of any Michigan election. Given how tightly the candidates are believed to be running, however, McMorrow may be calculating that she can increase her name recognition and improve her chances of winning the nomination by confronting her rivals directly before TV audiences. Debates, however, can be risky, as flubs or mistakes can be magnified and difficult to overcome.

Whoever wins the Democratic primary is widely expected to face former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake, the perceived frontrunner for the Republican nomination. Rogers has been endorsed by President Donald Trump and lost a narrow race to U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., in 2024.

Political observers are closely monitoring the Michigan race, which will decide who replaces U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat who is stepping down after two six-year terms. Democrats already face tough odds in their hopes of flipping four currently Republican-held seats nationally in order to regain majority control of the Senate; if they were to lose in Michigan that becomes far more unlikely.

Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on X @tsspangler.

This story has been updated with additional information and edited to remove an earlier comment from the McMorrow campaign that the Council of Baptist Pastors event might not be a debate. The campaign said it now understands that event is to be a debate.