Washington, DC — The votes are counted, the surprises are in, and the Democratic Party’s identity crisis just got a testing ground in the reddest of purple states.
Tuesday’s primaries in the US states of Michigan, Missouri, Kansas, Virginia and Washington offered the clearest snapshot yet of where the Democratic coalition is heading and how far Republicans remain tethered to Donald Trump.
Here are our five top takeaways from these crucial primary elections.
1. El-Sayed’s win was a squeaker, not a landslide
Progressive Abdul El-Sayed defeated Representative Haley Stevens for Michigan’s Democratic Senate nomination by fewer than two points, a far tighter finish than polls had suggested heading into election night.
Stevens had the backing of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Senate Democratic leadership; El-Sayed ran on Medicare for All and an end to military aid to Israel.
He now faces former Representative Mike Rogers in November, in a state Trump carried in 2024, meaning the closeness of Tuesday’s result matters as much as the win itself.
2. AIPAC’s money didn’t buy the outcome it wanted
The pro-Israel lobbying group and its affiliated PACs poured more than $30 million into defeating El-Sayed, the largest single-candidate outlay in the organisation’s history, and lost anyway.
It wasn’t a clean sweep against the group: AIPAC-aligned spending helped Missouri Representative Wesley Bell turn back a comeback bid from former Representative Cori Bush by a wide margin.
However, the split record, when seen alongside polling showing Democratic favourability towards Israel slipping in recent years, has left even some establishment Democrats publicly distancing themselves from AIPAC contributions.
3. Progressives padded their wins down the ballot
