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Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., is confident that far-left Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed will defeat Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the race to replace him in the Senate, despite having endorsed El-Sayed’s primary rival, Rep. Haley Stevens.
El-Sayed, known as a progressive insurgent, will go head-to-head with Michigan’s Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers in the upcoming midterm elections. El-Sayed’s victory marks yet another win for the left-wing Democrats in this year’s primaries that have been battling to defeat the current Democratic establishment.
“I think if you look at the issues broadly, the differences between Abdul El-Sayed and Rogers when it comes to fighting for families in Michigan, it’s pretty broad,” Peters said to Fox News Digital when asked if his far-left positions could give Republicans a boost in Michigan.
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Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, films a social media video at a pool party for content creators supporting his campaign, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
He continued, “And in the end, that’s why he will prevail.”
Peters’ endorsement of Stevens over El-Sayed was part of a broader effort by mainstream Democrats to beat out another progressive candidate, as Republicans largely viewed El-Sayed winning as a boost for their party’s chances to flip Michigan’s Senate seat. Rogers told Fox News Digital in an interview prior to the primary results that he would “beat either one of those candidates,” but that El-Sayed has “his own special sauce of crazy.”
The race between Stevens and El-Sayed was strenuous as it became a determining factor of whether Democrats could win the majority back in the Senate. More than $80 million was poured into this primary, qualifying it as the most expensive Democratic Senate nomination race in history.
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Rep. Haley Stevens and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed are vying for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
Republicans have speculated that the turn to nominating Democratic socialist candidates indicates that the current Democratic establishment is losing its grip in these congressional races.
Peters pushed back on this claim, arguing that the results aren’t reflective of the entire party as this is “nothing new” for the state.
“Michigan is a very diverse state, and if you recall, Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton many years ago in a primary in Michigan, so this is nothing new,” Peters said.
Peters argued the result was consistent with Michigan’s political history, pointing to Bernie Sanders’ upset over Hillary Clinton in the state’s 2016 Democratic presidential primary. Sanders endorsed El-Sayed in his Senate primary to defeat Stevens.
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U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate primary candidate Abdul El-Sayed and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, greet the crowd after El-Sayed spoke at The People V. The Powerful rally at the Detroit Opera House on July 18, 2026 in Detroit, Mich. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
El-Sayed, a former Wayne County Health Department Director, would be the first Muslim senator. He has has previously called for defunding the police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He is also a strong critic of Israel, labeling the country’s actions as genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Peters declined to weigh in on where he falls on El-Sayed’s policy positions — like defunding the police — despite expressing confidence the Democratic nominee will defeat Rogers.
“I’m not on the ballot, so I don’t have to make those kinds of statements,” Peters said.
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El-Sayed and Rogers, who ran uncontested in his primary, will compete for the swing state’s Senate seat on Nov. 3 in midterm elections.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.