Retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) has a warning for the three Democrats fighting to replace him in Michigan’s marquee Senate race: Keep it civil.In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Peters expressed concern that the candidates will get increasingly “chippy” with one another as the primary draws closer.Holding Michigan in the Democratic column is crucial for the party to win a Senate majority in the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Republicans currently have a 53-47 edge, and Michigan is one of the few battlegrounds where Democrats are playing defense due to Peters’ retirement.
Ahead of the Aug. 4 primary, the race has already exposed many of the dividing lines in Democratic politics. Abdul El-Sayed, a medical school graduate who was public health director in Detroit and suburban Wayne County, is trying to steer the primary left. El-Sayed is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) (Evan Vucci/AP)
He is competing against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is seen as the establishment pick, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is courting both progressive and traditional Democrats.
The winner will face Republican nominee-in-waiting Mike Rogers, who represented a Lansing-based district in the House from 2001 to 2015 and spent his last four years there as House Intelligence Committee chairman.
