In Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing, religious leaders from many faiths gathered Tuesday to speak against what they described as efforts to intimidate and disenfranchise Michigan voters.

Speaking on the steps of the state Capitol building, Rev. Michael Young criticized the Trump administration’s actions leading up to this year’s midterm elections.

“We’re alarmed at the federal government’s attempts to interfere with election administration, efforts that suppress the vote, intimidate voters, limit access to the ballot box and shut eligible voters out of the process,” Young said.

The pastors are especially concerned about the U.S. Justice Department’s plans to send election observers to three Michigan cities to monitor the August primary.

Published reports indicate the monitors would be sent to Detroit, Lansing and East Lansing, communities with traditionally large Democratic voter turnout.

“Sending federal election observers to Michigan; they are not coming to protect the vote,” said Rev. Rudra Dundzila of Brighton. “They are coming to intimidate the voters and disrupt the vote.”

The religious leaders are also concerned about a proposed constitutional amendment that may appear on the November ballot in Michigan. The proposed amendment would require citizenship verification to vote in Michigan elections.

Abdul El-Sayed is leading in the polls ahead of Michigan’s Aug. 4 Senate primary. If he wins the nomination, Democrats will learn fast whether his politics can win a battleground state.

In 2025, Elissa Slotkin, a Democratic U.S. senator from Michigan, observed the following about her political party: “We’re like a solar system with no sun. We don’t act as a team, and when we don’t work as a team, we turn our guns on each other, and it’s so, so, so, fruitless.”

Fast-forward to now, and the Democratic Party seems to be moving in a distinct direction: far left. Like, socialist left.

From New York to Colorado, newcomer democratic socialists have unseated sitting members of Congress.

But these victories, so far, have come in solidly leftist strongholds. What I’m watching closely is whether a far-left progressive can win in my state of Michigan, a battleground state that helped elect President Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2024.

The Democratic Senate primary here is Aug. 4, and it’s caught the attention of the country because control of the Senate could be decided in the Great Lakes State. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters isn’t running for reelection, giving Republicans a chance to win the seat back.

Democrats must flip four seats to take control of the chamber, and holding Michigan is essential to that math.

To the chagrin of more “moderate” Democrats, candidate Abdul El-Sayed – a former public health official who’s the darling of democratic socialists like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders – has done remarkably well in the polls, and he’s maintained a lead over more traditional opponents U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.

McMorrow suspended her campaign on July 5, first reported by The Detroit News, after weak polling numbers and likely pressure from Democratic Party insiders.

If El-Sayed pulls off a primary win, it could signal which sun the Democratic Party is heading toward.

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What works in the primary may not play as well in the general 

But El-Sayed may face bigger challenges if he makes it to the November election.

He’ll face off against Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman who narrowly lost his 2024 Senate bid to Slotkin.

Michigan hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate in more than 30 years. Yet while Slotkin is a Democrat through and through, she’s adept at appealing to independents and moderates.

That’s not true of El-Sayed, who has palled around with self-identified Marxist streamer Hasan Piker on the campaign trail, in addition to Sanders.

“El-Sayed joins the list of radical leftists running nationally that will also cause consternation amongst mainstream Democrats,” former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis told me. “Slotkin has already raised the alarm bells and that probably indicates she’s hearing from her constituency, and El-Sayed will need them as well.” 

Michigan could determine whether Republicans hold their Senate majority – and it’s the GOP’s best shot at flipping a seat outright.

El-Sayed may be able to rally more radical progressives and the anti-Israel base in the primary, but that message will be a tougher sell to Michigan voters as a whole. As Anuzis put it, El-Sayed’s strength in the primary is his weakness in the general.

“If he wins, then more mainstream Democrats, Reagan/Trump Democrats and culturally conservative, working-class independents will have to make a choice,” he said. “I think that greatly helps Rogers.”

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Democratic leadership is shying away from El-Sayed. Will it matter?

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has openly backed Stevens, the sitting congresswoman, in the race. He and other Democrats clearly think she’s best suited to take on Rogers in November. Along those lines, ahead of McMorrow dropping out of the race, retiring Sen. Peters told associates that Democrats need to back one of the more mainstream candidates to oppose El-Sayed, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Weeks of waiting have paid off for Michigan State, to the tune of $2.5 million.

The reversal of President Kevin Guskiewicz’s decision to leave for Clemson means Kentucky will owe the full $5 million contract buyout for poaching athletic director J Batt last month. A clause in Batt’s contract had cut that buyout in half if Guskiewicz left before him, but Guskiewicz’s decision to stay after all leaves Kentucky with the full buyout.

Guskiewicz, 60, had accepted the presidency of Clemson University in South Carolina after two years on the job at Michigan State. Three weeks later, athletic director J Batt also took a new job at Kentucky, which will pay him nearly $3 million per year on a six-year term sheet signed June 17.

As of Monday, Michigan State’s athletic director position is still occupied by Batt, 44, whose departure date for Kentucky is still to be determined. It is still expected that Batt will depart for Kentucky, and with that Michigan State will still need to hire a new athletic director. 

Monday afternoon, Kentucky President Eli Capilouto confirmed Batt will still leave Michigan State for Kentucky, posting a statement on X that, “J Batt and I spoke this afternoon and he has reinforced his commitment to UK and his excitement about joining the Big Blue Nation as soon as possible. We are working quickly to finalize his start date and his family is eager to join our community as well.”

However, Michigan State will embark on its athletic director search with a $5 million sum from Kentucky aiding its search.