Haley Stevens

The biggest factor in the race, one senior campaign official said, has been the onslaught of outside spending — roughly $32 million across five groups — to support Stevens and establish her as the most viable mainstream candidate. The official added that $10 million in paid media had been spent before McMorrow had her first ad on the air.

It’s unclear which candidate would benefit more from the end of the bid by McMorrow, who had been polling in last place as recently as the end of June . But McMorrow staked out a lane somewhat between Stevens and El-Sayed in a manner that could leave both remaining candidates hopeful about their prospects of winning over some of her supporters.

El-Sayed has made the outside spending the McMorrow campaign official pointed to a target throughout the campaign, characterizing Stevens as a candidate propped up by the establishment. On Sunday, he wrote in a social media post that “we cannot allow the establishment to decide our nominee for us” and that he would welcome McMorrow’s supporters to “our movement to stand up against money in politics.”

Stevens , for her part, did not make a direct appeal to McMorrow’s supporters but wrote that she looks forward “to working with her in the future to build a stronger Michigan for everyone,” adding, “I’m excited to continue to make my case to Michiganders.”

The Senate primary in Michigan has come under scrutiny nationwide by Democrats, who are vying internally to decide whether the party should hew to the more traditional approach backed by national figures like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer or embrace the leftist wing, helmed by figures like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani . While Stevens has seen the support of establishment groups that argue their methods are best equipped to take on former Rep. Mike Rogers , the presumed Republican nominee, El-Sayed and his backers have made the case that the energy lies with their movement.

El-Sayed has adopted a more aggressive posture on the campaign trail, such as in his modification of former first lady Michelle Obama ’s famous line: “When they go low, we don’t go high,” El-Sayed has said. “We take them to the mud and choke them out.”