The progressive wing of the Michigan Democratic Party made its voice heard over the weekend during the party’s endorsement convention.

Democrats gathered in Huntington Place in Detroit Sunday to endorse party candidates for some statewide offices, like attorney general and secretary of state. Party leadership said the convention hit record numbers, and nearly every candidate backed by the party’s progressive wing won their endorsement races.

Campaigns brought drums, photo backdrops, and people in orange jumpsuits and sunglasses to carry billboards, all to stand out from the field.

But the delegates seemed to care most about substance and the issues. Often, those issues involved progressive themes like limiting corporate and outside political spending, providing universal healthcare, and ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars.

Many delegates, like Dearborn Public Schools Board member Adel Mozip, wanted candidates who inspire them.

“We’re looking forward to electing people who are going to be working for the people and not paid for by corporations and interests groups,” Mozip said outside a meeting of the Michigan Democratic Party’s Yemeni Caucus Sunday.

Campaign spending

Around the convention, canvassers gathered petition signatures for a ban on some corporate political spending. Candidates bragged about not taking money from corporate political action committees while speaking to the main crowd and in smaller meetings.

Still, attendees worried party leadership hadn’t gotten the message.

Jessie Hishon and Susan Sylvester, first-time delegates from metro Detroit who attended the party’s Progressive Caucus meeting — which spilled out of a crowded room — said they felt the party didn’t trust progressive candidates enough to win against Republicans.

“I think there are too many people who don’t believe that it can happen,” Hishon said.

Sylvester said her top issue was the influence of outside spending on Michigan campaigns.

“All of the issues are important to me but we have to take the money out of politics so we can have representation in our so-called democracy,” Sylvester said.

Who takes the blame?

Democrats lost in 2024 because of splits within their traditional coalition of moderates, progressives, and racial and ethnic minorities. With Michigan possibly deciding control of Congress this November, party leaders want to change that story.

A few 2028 presidential maybes spoke at a pre-convention event on Saturday, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, and New Jersey Senator Corey Booker. He warned Democrats that not voting is what let President Donald Trump retake the White House.

“You let somebody get in office who is locking up our children. You let somebody in office who is taking away our healthcare. You let somebody in office who’s taking away workers’ rights. You let somebody in office who got rid of the Department of Education,” Booker said to a cheering crowd at the Women’s Caucus luncheon.

At the convention, some delegates echoed calls for unity and engagement, even though that often requires listening to dissenters.

Detroiter Michelle Broughton said she’s been coming to Democratic Party conventions for over four decades.

“Our message needs to come across to all of us, whether we’re a young Dem or an old Dem,” Broughton said. “They need to talk about tabletop issues: food, gas, education, affordability, housing.”

But old battle lines remained visible on the convention floor.

Tensions over Palestine-Israel conflict

Progressive U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed received massive applause during his speech that criticized outside spending in Michigan races from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D-MI 11), who is running against El-Sayed on a more traditional Democratic platform of affordability and re-shoring American manufacturing, followed and received boos.

In the University of Michigan regents race, incumbent Jordan Acker lost his reelection bid. Acker had faced criticism for his handling of pro-Palestine student protests — a fault line that’s grown increasingly fraught for Democrats in recent years. Amir Makled, a lawyer who represented one of those protestors, beat him.

During parts of the program, some attendees said they noticed some fellow delegates causing a disruption when a proposed resolution in support of Palestinians wasn’t taken up. Videos of the crowd appear to show a handful of convention members yelling at presenters.

Kalamazoo delegates Michelle Zukowski-Serlin and her husband Troy said they felt the jeering and booing of candidates crossed a line.

Both attended the party’s Jewish Caucus meeting. They said delegates at that meeting showed more respect to candidates that opposed support for Israel than supporters of those opponents showed pro-Israel candidates on stage.

“This is a bigger issue and that is mutual respect and acting with diplomacy, I would never boo one of their candidates,” Michelle Zukowski-Serlin said.

Could a primary fix the problems?

While many agreed the Democrats should learn from 2024, not everyone agreed on the lesson. Some want a wholesale change to how the party chooses nominees for statewide office, calling for a switch from party conventions to primary elections.

Oakland University political science professor David Dulio said Michigan is a rarity: most other states do use primaries for those down-ballot races — but there is no cure-all for messy nomination fights.

“I think there’s a temptation to think the grass is always greener and that isn’t always the case,” Dulio said.

States started moving toward primaries in the early 20th century to take power away from party insiders and test candidates’ ability to win elections, Dulio said.

“That has become the dominant form of candidate selection from within a political party, but that doesn’t mean the other options aren’t legitimate or that they can’t work,” said Dulio.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said he believes a primary would be better because it would be open to all voters who choose a Democratic Party ballot.

Making that change would require voters to approve a constitutional amendment.

Michigan Republican Party Chair Jim Runestad said there’s little interest in the idea on his side of the aisle, arguing that convention nominations are less susceptible than primaries to big-money spending by outside interest groups.

Progressive surge

For some convention attendees, the lesson was to work within the current framework: support the Democratic nominees that they mostly agree with, even if the nominee is not their top choice. For others, it was that party leadership needs to get behind candidates who inspire, so voters want to support their nominee.

University of Michigan graduate student Nathan Kim said it’s not enough for the party to choose a “status quo” candidate.

“I think the Michigan Democratic Party and the party in general needs to face consequences. They need to know that they can’t get away with failing over, and over, and over again,” Kim said.

Likewise, Katarina Keating, another Michigan graduate student, said some candidates just aren’t worth supporting, even against Republicans.

“You need to draw the line somewhere. Right? If you’re going to vote for anybody if they’re in the right party, no matter what they’ve done or what they’ve said, what are you doing, what are you really voting for, what are you really trying to change?” Keating said.

At the end of the day, nearly every progressive-backed candidate won a party endorsement.

Both the upcoming August primary election, in which the U.S. Senate race remains close, and the November general election could show whether that support extends broadly outside of the convention walls — or if it’s a sign of progressive strength, just within the party’s base.

Originally posted by Michigan Public Radio.

The Metro is closely watching the race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat.

The Republican side is settled. Former Congressman Mike Rogers, who lost to Elissa Slotkin by less than half a point in 2024, is running again. This time, he wants the seat Gary Peters is leaving behind.

The Democratic side is more complicated. Three serious candidates are competing for the nomination, and the distance between them tells you something about where the party is right now.

Congresswoman Haley Stevens has Chuck Schumer’s endorsement and millions in support from AIPAC. She is running on expanding the Affordable Care Act and working within existing institutions. State Senator Mallory McMorrow wants generational change inside the party — new leadership, new tactics — but within the current system. Physician Abdul El-Sayed is running to the left of both. He wants Medicare for All, the abolition of ICE, and says Democratic leadership has lost touch with its own voters.

They disagree on healthcare. They disagree on immigration enforcement. They disagree on Israel and Gaza, on whether billionaires should exist, and on who should be leading their own party.

WDET’s Russ McNamara sat down with all three — same questions, same mic — and the answers lay out a party in the middle of an argument with itself. The Metro listened back to that story, then Russ joined Robyn Vincent for some analysis about this moment.

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

One of the most watched and most expensive U.S. Senate races in the country is happening here in Michigan. Republicans are seemingly running it back with Mike Rogers – who lost to Democrat Elissa Slotkin two years ago.

However, in the race to replace Gary Peters, there’s a trio of Democrats vying for the party’s nomination. Congresswoman Haley Stevens, State Senator Mallory McMorrow, and physician Abdul El-Sayed are all serious contenders.

WDET’s Russ McNamara has talked with the three candidates about issues that separate themselves within the Democratic Party.

There is a certain ideological split within the Democratic Party that does not exist currently within the GOP. Republicans are either pro-Donald Trump or they lose elections. Democrats are split with more nuance on some policies – but even if it’s just a wiggle, there’s still room. 

Starting with healthcare

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed has been so vocal about his perspective on healthcare that he wrote a book on it.

“Medicare for All is government health insurance guaranteed for everyone, regardless of what circumstances you’re in,” El-Sayed says.  

“If you like your insurance through your employer or through your union, I hope that will be there for you. But if you lose your job, if your factory shuts down, you shouldn’t be destitute without the health care that you need and deserve so.”

Instead of the government taking on the entire burden of the health care system, Mallory McMorrow prefers a public option. Private insurers stick around, but a government-backed option exists. For her, Medicare For All is a no-go.

“I think it’s too big of a challenge. Admittedly, we are a country of more than 360 million people. When I talk to people all across the state, they don’t say that they want one single system. They say, I want the insurance that works for me,” McMorrow said.  

“I want to be able to see my doctor. I want to be able to go to my pediatrician, and I want it to be affordable. That, to me, requires more options, not fewer.”

For Congresswoman Haley Stevens,  she wants everyone who can be covered under the Affordable Care Act to get covered.  

“I deeply believe that we need to expand the Affordable Care Act,” Stevens said. “We need to protect that and we also need to make the tax subsidies permanent.”

The Republican-led Congress did not renew those tax subsidies. Rates went up and an estimated 1,200,000 fewer people did not enroll in Obamacare this year.

Will you be a good ally?

Since the last election cycle, Republicans have worked to strip transgender Americans of their rights to seek the healthcare they need.

It became a line of attack not only against trans youth, but against Democrats.

For many within the Democratic Party, the steadfast support of the LGBTQ community has shown cracks when it comes to trans rights.

McMorrow says part of the reason why trans folks are a target is that people are looking for someone to blame for a bad economy.

“I fundamentally believe the way forward is that we have to be the party that solves those fundamental problems for people,” McMorrow said. “If we can restore the American Dream and ensure that in Michigan and in the United States, if you work hard, you play by the rules, you can achieve that life that you wanted, then there won’t be this appetite to target and hurt vulnerable kids.”

Congresswoman Stevens has been supportive of the LGBTQ community and has tweeted support saying every American, regardless of their gender identity should feel safe to be their authentic selves. She voted against the anti-trans Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act earlier this year.

Dr. El-Sayed says Democrats need to be a good ally.

“I believe that rights are rights are rights. And when you assent to somebody taking away somebody else’s rights, you are at some point assenting to somebody coming for yours,” El-Sayed said.

“We have to stand together to fight for our collective rights, even when those rights are rights we may never see ourselves using.”

The fight for trans rights will come up again, with President Trump’s Save America Act attempting to tie restrictions to healthcare for trans people to a bill about adding strict voter ID laws.

Should ICE exist?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be a hot topic this year for the midterm elections. ICE agents have killed at least three American citizens in the past year. The government has deported or jailed tens of thousands of immigrants, most with no criminal records.

Before she was fired, Congresswoman Stevens advocated for the removal of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “Well, ICE needs to be overhauled. I will tell you that we need to start seeing accountability, and we need a complete overhaul of ICE. And there has been mismanagement from the very top.”

Mallory McMorrow was asked if ICE should exist as an agency.  

 “Yes, and it needs to be vastly reformed. Michigan is a border state. We need immigration and customs enforcement to do the work of what and who comes across the border. That should be its job,” McMorrow said. “Its job should not be to be unleashed on communities, to terrorize people, to go after people whose skin color isn’t exactly right, or who have an accent.”

Abdul El-Sayed believes ICE should be abolished.

 “We can have a safe and secure southern border. We can enforce immigration law, but ICE is not about that. What ICE is about is about a paramilitary force normalizing the use of government power on peaceful streets, in thrall to one man,” El-Sayed said.

Should billionaires exist?

The concentration of wealth at the top has been a growing concern since the Reaganomics era of the mid-to-late 1980s. Now tax rates for corporations and the wealthy have been slashed – while the federal government – and many states – have defunded social programs.

The number of billionaires has tripled in the past 15 years. I asked the candidates if billionaires – from an ethical standpoint – should exist.

McMorrow was unequivocal.

“Yes, I think they can and should exist, and I look at somebody like Mark Cuban as an example. You can be a billionaire without being a jerk,” McMorrow said.

It should be noted that Cuban wrote a blurb praising the State Senator’s book that came out last year.

 El-Sayed says billionaires should be the exception, not the norm.

“I don’t think that our system should be in the business of creating billionaires. I think our system should be in the business of empowering everyday folks to be able to live a life with access to the basic dignities that they need and deserve, good housing, good health care, affordable food,” El-Sayed said.

Haley Stevens says the wealthiest need to pay higher taxes, but didn’t outright say they should be taxed out of existence.  

“Well, we’re not going to be seeing someone like myself do billionaire bidding in the United States Senate. I’ll tell you that much. And tackling where and how billionaires are not paying their fair share needs to get done.”

That’s a good lead into:

Campaign contributions

When it comes to campaign cash, El-Sayed and McMorrow aren’t taking corporate money for the senate run.

McMorrow has taken corporate money in the past. but not this round. The filings with the Federal Elections Commission bear that out.

 “More than half of our donations are from people donating $200 or less,” McMorrow said.

El-Sayed avoided taking corporate dollars in a failed run for Michigan governor in 2018.

“I’m the only person running for US Senate who’s never taken a dime of corporate money to fund a campaign, and that shows up in the ways that I stand up to corporations.”

Congresswoman Stevens has no such hangups and says she will use all avenues to raise campaign money.

 “Well, look, I’m running my campaign in a grassroots way, with individual donors who participate in the democratic process and the way that our country allows,” Stevens said.

Some of that money is coming from AIPAC – the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Stevens has taken millions from the controversial organization that aides pro-Israel Republicans and Democrats. Earlier this month, as Israel and the U.S. continued to bomb Iran, Stevens appeared in a video for AIPAC.

The war in Gaza

Stevens supports a two state solution for Israel and Palestine.  

 “We need people in Gaza Palestinian people to have dignity and peace, just as we need people in Israel to do so.”

Mallory McMorrow was initially reluctant to criticize Israel’s attacks, but this fall when asked if the tens of thousands of dead Palestinians was tantamount to genocide, McMorrow said “yes,” even if she doesn’t seem comfortable using the term.

 “I am somebody who looks at the videos, the photos, the amount of pain that has been caused in the Middle East, and you can’t not be heartbroken,” McMorrow said. “But I also feel like we are getting lost in this conversation, and it feels like a political purity test on a word—a word that, by the way, to people who lost family members in the Holocaust, does mean something very different and very visceral.”

Abdul El-Sayed has unequivocally said that Israel’s assault on Palestinians – and the role the U.S. has played in supporting it – is genocide.

“I believe in international law,” El-Sayed said. “I want our tax dollars to stop killing children.”

Do Democrats need a change at the top?

Support for the Democratic Party and its leadership are at an all-time low. The party is polling behind artificial intelligence and ahead of Iran.

The biggest complaint is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer aren’t doing enough to push back against the Trump Administration.

Mallory McMorrow says a change at the top is needed and a youth movement needs to happen among Congressional Democrats.

“We need leaders who understand how to engage with people, not as just a number, not as a voter or a donor, but as part of the team,” McMorrow said.

Abdul El-Sayed says stunning defeats in 2024 mean there’s a disconnect between party leadership and its base.

 “I think right now, we are in a place where there is so much profound frustration about the chasm between the Democratic Party writ large and its voters,” El-Sayed said. “And I think any democratic leader who wants to win elections in the future should be less worried about who holds the luxury suite on the top of the Titanic and more worried about getting in the engine room and saving the Titanic, which is where we are.”

Congresswoman Haley Stevens – who has Schumer’s support – sidestepped the question. 

“You’re asking me about the future of the Democratic Party. And there are some people who are running who assume that’s what this race is all about, and I don’t think that’s fair to the people of Michigan,” Stevens said. “I believe that this race is about the future of Michigan.”

Changes to SCOTUS?

The future of the U.S. Supreme Court has come up a lot since the conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Justices have been a bit inconsistent in their rulings depending on who was president.

Stevens says something needs to change.

“I deeply support ethics reform for the Supreme Court, what seems to look like pay-to-play, the fact that they have a different set of ethics rules, I think it would be more than appropriate, given that the Supreme Court doesn’t have elections and it’s a lifetime appointment,” Stevens said.

McMorrow thinks there needs to be a plan that makes sense both ethically and politically.

 “I am talking to some constitutional experts right now, some judicial experts on whether that means term limits, whether that means oversight, whether it means reforms, or whether it means more justices, I am open to anything to ensure the Supreme Court does its job,” McMorrow said.

El-Sayed has been working on a plan for SCOTUS for a while.

“I proposed a system here that says that every president should have three appointments, every Supreme Court justice should have at least ten years and a possible renewal for another ten years. But what that does is it incentivizes the selection of jurists who want to interpret the Constitution on its own terms,” El-Sayed said.

There are no shortage of issues for candidates in the upcoming elections, and more are sure to pop up along the way. Questions for the primary will be different than those in the general election this fall.

Detroit Public Radio plans to talk with these candidates multiple times over the next few months so our listeners can make an informed decision at the polls.

In this episode:

• How much money did the Michigan gubernatorial candidates raise for their campaigns?
• What do the campaign finance reports say about each gubernatorial candidates?
• A bipartisan approach to medical debt.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Michigan gubernatorial candidates are ramping up their campaigns, but how are they doing financially?

This week on MichMash, WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow go over the latest campaign finance reports for the upcoming election. 

These are the last reports we will see until we get closer to the primaries. Roth said the reports can be a forecast for the race ahead. “Money does not equal victory, but it does help you get there. It’s crucial for name recognition and getting your message out through things like mailers and television ads.”

The Michigan primary is on Aug. 4, 2026. 

Later in the episode, Sen. Jonathan Lindsey stopped by to champion his bipartisan legislation that addresses medical debt in Michigan. The bill would make violations of these changes eligible for action by the attorney general under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. Lindsey said he believes the bill is close to being passed.

“I think we showed in the Senate that the most productive way to get it done was running together a couple of these health care-related bills that would bring enough votes from both sides to have a strong consensus on them.”

The bill is currently sitting in the Senate.  

• More from WDET
  Detroit Evening Report: Wayne County eliminates $27M in medical debt for 46,000 residents

  MichMash: Michigan campaign finance reform shows no progress

  How expensive are Michigan’s political campaigns?