I voted yesterday, in the Minnesota Democratic primary; election day is August 11th, but I’ll be out of the country then.

There were primary elections in some states yesterday, most notably Michigan, where attention was focused on the Democratic Senate primary. The incumbent, Democrat Gary Peters, is retiring. There were three candidates: State Senator Mallory McMorrow, Representative Haley Stevens, and Abdul El-Sayed (not currently in office but the losing candidate in the 2018 gubernatorial primary). I had assumed that McMorrow, who gained national prominence with a speech at the 2024 DNC, was the front-runner here; and at one point I think she was. However as the campaign progressed she found herself outflanked by El-Sayed on her left and Stevens on her right, and she suspended her campaign a month ago without endorsing either opponent, but remained on the ballot.

Since then, this race became the most expensive Democratic Senate primary in history, with tens of millions of dollars of outside money (much of it from AIPAC) flowing in to support establishment figure Stevens against the charismatic progressive El-Sayed, who reportedly was outspent 10-to-1. It didn’t work, as El-Sayed eked out a narrow victory: 48.5% to 47.5%, with McMorrow still garnering 4.0% of the vote. It is certainly possible that Democratic primary voters just cost their party a winnable Senate seat by selecting an unelectable candidate, like Republicans did in Delaware in 2010, or in Alabama in 2017. At the very least, this Senate race will be an important test of how progressive ideas sit with the electorate outside of the most liberal areas.

There was an even crazier primary result from Michigan last night, on the Republican side, in the 8th District. This district near Flint is apparently, by at least one measure, the median district in the entire country; as such it is absolutely a swing seat, won in 2024 by a Democrat now running for her second term even though Trump carried the district. The Republican primary pitted 3 political neophytes: Amir Hassan, who Trump endorsed the day before the election; Al Lemmo; and Thomas Smith. Three weeks ago, Smith dropped out of the race and endorsed Lemmo but, like McMorrow, his name remained on the ballot. Despite that, yesterday Smith won handily, getting 50.4% of the vote, to 33.2% for Hassan and 16.4% for Lemmo. Not sure I’ve ever seen anything like it. Thomas Smith: the name you know.

Don’t have time to really catch up on Iran, or Blanche, or other issues. I will note that the Maine Democratic Senate Convention turned into a snoozefest, as supporters of former State Senate President Troy Jackson (who had just finished 3rd in the gubernatorial primary) so dominated the local nominating meetings to choose delegates that his victory was assured and everyone else dropped out. Jackson seems like Platner with less charisma and, one hopes, far less personal baggage.