The setting, a Victorian resort town frozen in time, seemed an unlikely stage for the most online primary in the country. But the race to succeed retiring Senator Debbie Stabenow has become a laboratory for how the Democratic Party might rebuild after two consecutive losses to President Donald Trump, and the candidates are waging their war as much on Instagram and TikTok as they are in living rooms.
The primary pits former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, state Senator Mallory McMorrow, and Representative Haley Stevens against one another in a contest that has drawn national attention for its generational and stylistic divides. All three are millennials, and all have built significant followings online. But their approaches reflect a deeper argument within the party about whether to lean into the digital outrage economy or to run a more traditional, retail-focused campaign. The winner will face former Representative Mike Rogers, the likely Republican nominee, in a general election that could determine control of the Senate.
Republicans are already treating the race as a must-win. The Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Majority Leader John Thune, has reserved $45 million in advertising for Rogers this fall. In hypothetical general election matchups, polling shows margins thinner than the lilac cotton candy sold at the island’s Sanders Candy and Fudge Shop. For Democrats, losing Michigan would make reclaiming the Senate all but impossible, raising the stakes for a primary that is as much about party identity as it is about electability.
Two of the candidates, El-Sayed and McMorrow, have explicitly called for a change in Democratic strategy, arguing that the party’s reliance on institutional endorsements and moderate messaging has failed to energize a base furious over Trump’s return to power. El-Sayed, who ran for governor in 2018 and built a national profile as a progressive standard-bearer, has emphasized grassroots organizing and a sharp critique of corporate influence. McMorrow, who gained fame for a viral floor speech defending LGBTQ rights, has positioned herself as a fighter willing to take on Republican attacks directly, often in real time on social media.
Stevens, a two-term congresswoman from the Detroit suburbs, has taken a more measured approach, emphasizing her legislative record and her ability to win in a swing district. She has not matched her rivals’ digital followings, but her campaign argues that online popularity does not always translate into votes. The debate on Mackinac Island underscored the tension: El-Sayed and McMorrow traded sharp lines on party reform while Stevens focused on policy specifics, a contrast that will likely define the race in its final weeks.
A Test of Digital vs. Traditional Politics
The Michigan primary has become a case study in whether winning the internet can win an election. All three candidates have invested heavily in digital content, from McMorrow’s rapid-response videos to El-Sayed’s live-streamed town halls. But the race also reveals the limits of online influence. The island debate, carried by local television stations, reached voters who may never scroll through a campaign feed. The question for Democrats is whether the energy generated online can be channeled into turnout, or whether it risks alienating the older, more moderate voters who often decide general elections.
Beyond control of the Senate, the outcome will signal what kind of Democratic Party emerges from the midterms. Voters are furious and hungry for change, and the candidates on Mackinac Island each offer a different vision of how to channel that anger. The primary is not just about who will face Mike Rogers. It is about whether the party’s future belongs to the extremely online or to the old guard, and whether those two factions can ever be reconciled.
