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El-Sayed wins Michigan primary. Trump enraged at Jeanine Pirro over reflecting pool. Todd Blanche wins key vote toward confirmation.
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Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed speaks to supporters at an election-night rally. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.Abdul El-Sayed Narrowly Wins Michigan Democratic Senate Nomination
On Tuesday, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed emerged as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate for Michigan after defeating Rep. Haley Stevens by just one point. The result was much closer than most recent polls of the race had predicted. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) whose support for Stevens over El-Sayed in the primary became a flashpoint in this race, suggested it may shift its support to Mike Rogers, the Republican in the general election, to keep El-Sayed out of the U.S. Senate. The Democratic establishment, which had broadly supported Stevens in the race, quickly coalesced around El-Sayed, with Stevens herself offering both a full-throated endorsement as well as a photo of the two of them hugging at a Michigan Democratic Party event. On Friday, Michigan Democrats were planning to hold a unity rally to solidify their commitment to their entire Democratic ticket in November.
The left’s track record was mixed on Tuesday. In Michigan’s 7th District, progressive William Lawrence won the Democratic nomination in Elissa Slotkin’s old district, and in MI-13, Sanders and AOC-endorsed Donavan McKinney unseated Rep. Shri Thanedar. In Tennessee, progressive Memphis State Rep. Justin Pearson won the primary for the U.S. House in Tennessee’s newly drawn 9th District. But in the St. Louis-anchored First District of Missouri, Rep. Wesley Bell handily defeated DSA-backed Cori Bush, who was challenging Bell for her old seat that he won in 2024. On the Republican side, Trump-endorsed Rep. Andy Ogles was defeated in the primary for his TN-05 seat by a candidate supported by Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee. Meanwhile in Michigan’s 8th District, Trump-endorsed Amir Hassan, a Navy veteran and former law enforcement officer from Flint, Michigan, was easily defeated by Tom Smith, a candidate who had dropped out of the race in July. Smith will now return to the race to face Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, who is running for her second term representing the swing district in the U.S. House.
Donald Trump Enraged at Jeanine Pirro over Reflecting Pool Case
Last week, the Department of Justice acknowledged in a court filing that the damage to the Reflecting Pool was due to a “hasty and botched” renovation and dropped the charges it had filed against former Olympian David Hearn, whom it had accused of vandalizing the pool’s floor. Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday to declare that he disagreed with the decision of Jeanine Pirro—his hand-picked U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia—to drop the charges against Hearn, once again calling the damage “vandalism.” Then on Monday, Trump reportedly “laid into Pirro” and “read her the riot act” over her dropping the charges during a White House meeting.
