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Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination for the state's open U.S. Senate seat, ceding the field to former Wayne County and Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens with just over four weeks to go until the pivotal primary.McMorrow told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, on July 5 she was suspending her campaign. She said she had hoped that voters would support a candidate who combined El-Sayed's progressivism and Steven's policy background but that path has been largely closed off by considerable outside spending in the race.She did not endorse one of the other candidates in the race, at least not in the immediate aftermath of her decision.In a 3-minute video she posted on X, McMorrow confirmed her decision to suspend her campaign, saying she was doing so with a "deep sense of gratitude" to her supporters and campaign workers; her husband, Ray Wert, and their 5- year-old daughter Noa, who McMorrow said reminded her recently, "It’s not about if you win, it’s about trying hard and having fun. She’s right.""People are crying out for change and we need to listen," McMorrow said. "Whoever wins this primary on Aug. 4th will have my full support... Let's elect Democrats up and down the ticket and show the rest of the country what it means to fight like Michigan."McMorrow, of Royal Oak outside Detroit, leaves the race after being the first big-name Democrat to run to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Gary Peters and having raised more than $8.6 million by the end of the last campaign finance reporting period at the end of March. The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers.Her departure, however, comes after absentee ballots have already been mailed out to some voters and too late to remove her name from the primary ballot.While she challenged for or was in the lead in some polls earlier in the year, more recent surveys showed her dropping back considerably as El-Sayed, running as the progressive standard-bearer, and Stevens, a more moderate candidate with support from the Democratic establishment and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, moved to the front in recent polling averages.In late June, the Wall Street Journal cited sources saying that Peters, a close ally of Schumer's but who had not publicly endorsed a candidate in the competition to replace him, told associates that McMorrow needed to consider dropping out so Democrats could coalesce around Stevens to face El-Sayed. He has faced questions in the past for campaigning with influencer Hasan Piker, who critics allege made antisemitic remarks.But it wasn't immediately clear whether McMorrow's departure would be enough to bump El-Sayed, of Ann Arbor, out of the lead. Recent polling averages have shown McMorrow's support in single digits, and Stevens may need all of that to catch El-Sayed if the polling averages are correct.Stevens' level of support from staunchly pro-Israel groups, including the American-Israel Public Affairs Group (AIPAC), which also supports Republican candidates who have voted to maintain U.S. support for Israel, has also been controversial. Many Democrats have voiced skepticism of whether the United States should continue to give Israel the support it has given its handling of the war against Hamas in Gaza.Without question, however, McMorrow's leaving the race makes the choice a binary one for Democrats still on the fence a month before the election − which may help Stevens most since it's presumed that El-Sayed's supporters are already largely on board with a campaign that has been surging for months now. But predictions about El-Sayed's levels of support topping out have been wrong before in this campaign.El-Sayed released a statement praising McMorrow's campaign and saying she "showed what it looks like to fight back against a politics that rigs the system against too many of us." He then welcomed McMorrow's supporters "to our movement to stand up against money in politics, to put money back in pockets and pass Medicare for All. We cannot allow the establishment to decide our nominee for us.”"The same party insiders she had the courage to challenge have been bullying anyone who opposes their chosen candidate," El-Sayed said. "After spending $30 million to drown Senator McMorrow and me out, they’re now spending even more to attack me. It’s everything we are standing up against."Stevens also spoke warmly about McMorrow's effort in the campaign, though she made less of a direct pitch to McMorrow's supporters.“Anyone who raises their hand to serve the people of Michigan and puts forward thoughtful ideas for how they would lead earns my respect," said Stevens, of Birmingham, located outside Detroit. "Mallory McMorrow has been an important voice, both in this race and in the state Senate, for policies that benefit Michigan’s children and families, and I look forward to working with her in the future to build a stronger Michigan for everyone.”“As we enter the final month of the primary election, I'm excited to continue to make my case to Michiganders why I'm the strongest Democrat to defeat Mike Rogers this November, lower costs, protect manufacturing jobs, and stand up to Trump's abuses of power," she said.Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on X @tsspangler.This story has been updated with additional information.
