Mackinac Island — The three Democratic candidates for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat ― Haley Stevens, Abdul El-Sayed and Mallory McMorrow ― are poised to face off in a 2:30 p.m. debate Thursday in the closing hours of the Mackinac Policy Conference.
Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary is one of the most competitive contests in the country this year after U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, opted not to seek reelection to another six-year term.
The winner of the Aug. 4 primary will likely face former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake Township in the November general election, with national Republicans targeting the seat as a top pick-up opportunity.
Stevens held a narrow edge over former El-Sayed in a statewide poll of likely Michigan voters last month that showed the pair in a statistical toss-up. McMorrow trailed in third place, and 36% of voters indicated they were undecided.
Stevens, a four-term congresswoman from Birmingham, garnered 25% of support from survey respondents, while physician El-Sayed of Ann Arbor came in at 23% and McMorrow of Royal Oak finished 6 percentage points back at 16% among 500 likely voters in the August Democratic primary election.
The Lansing-based polling firm Glengariff Group conducted the survey April 17-19 for the Detroit Regional Chamber, which sponsors the Mackinac conference. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
Among self-described “definite” primary voters, Stevens maintained a 2-point lead over El-Sayed and McMorrow moved up 2 percentage points to nearly 18%, so that the three candidates all finished within 7.4 points of one another, according to the poll results.
mburke@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: U.S. Senate Democratic hopefuls set for debate at Mackinac conference
Reporting by Melissa Nann Burke and Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
