Haley Stevens

DETROIT (AP) — Michigan Democrats will gather Friday in a show of unity behind their statewide candidates, three days after a bitter U.S. Senate contest highlighted divisions between the progressive and moderate wings of the party.

Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official who narrowly beat establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens in a contentious primary for an open Senate seat, will be the most closely watched candidate at the event.

With less than three months before the general election where El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers, the Democratic Party is under pressure to close ranks in a race that will help determine control of the Senate.