Fact-checking Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens' claims ahead of the Michigan Democratic Senate primary

Key Points:

• Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive Democrat backed by liberal lawmakers like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is running as an outsider in Michigan's closely watched 2026 Senate primary against center-left Democrat Elissa Slotkin Stevens, who has establishment support including from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
• The race is critical for Democrats aiming to retain Michigan’s Senate seat to help flip the chamber, with over 1 million voters casting ballots before the August 4 primary, mostly by mail.
• Fact-checks of campaign claims found El-Sayed’s accusation that a poll favoring Stevens was funded by AIPAC to be unsubstantiated; AIPAC has spent nearly $30 million supporting Stevens and opposing El-Sayed, marking its largest investment in a single race.
• Stevens falsely denied taking donations from major Michigan utility companies for her Senate campaign, as she transferred contributions from her House campaign linked to DTE Energy and Consumers Energy.
• Other false or misleading claims include El-Sayed’s incorrect statement that Mike Rogers received a $14 million pharma lobbyist payout, and Stevens’ partly true claim about El-Sayed’s super PAC being run by his father-in-law, who is a major donor but not the operator.