U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a potential presidential or U.S. Senate candidate in 2028 and a popular, recognized leader in progressive politics nationwide, has endorsed former Wayne County and Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary for the nomination to Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat this year.

Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, announced the endorsement in an interview with the New York Times. On July 2, El-Sayed’s campaign put out a statement from her, saying, “After watching this campaign unfold for well over a year, it has become clear that Abdul El-Sayed is the strongest candidate to keep this seat in November.”

“He is building a winning coalition by putting forward an agenda that speaks directly to working people,” she said. “He is not afraid to take on the greed making life unaffordable across Michigan because he’s never taken a dime in corporate donations. When he gets to Washington, he will work to get big money out of politics and to guarantee healthcare as a human right to all Americans. I am proud to endorse Abdul El-Sayed to be Michigan’s next senator.”

It adds to an already impressive list of endorsements that includes the UAW and Detroit’s Black Slate.

El-Sayed, who was born in Michigan, trained as a medical doctor and worked in public health, is a strong supporter of government-provided healthcare, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and an arms embargo on Israel; polling averages show him narrowly leading the Aug. 4 primary over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak and the frontrunner to face Republican former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake for the seat in the fall.

More: Freep’s pick for Michigan Dems in U.S. Senate primary | Endorsement

Stevens, who is seen as a more moderate, mainstream Democrat, has also racked up endorsements, such as those from former U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm; McMorrow, making her first run for federal office, has positioned herself as a more progressive Democrat who is less tied to the party’s establishment than Stevens but more politically experienced than El-Sayed, and has gotten endorsements from U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Chris Murphy of Connecticut and others.

The Free Press typically doesn’t cover individual political endorsements unless they are newsworthy. And in this case, Ocasio-Cortez’ endorsement doesn’t come as a surprise: Like El-Sayed, she is an unapologetic advocate for progressivism in the Democratic Party and she also endorsed him in 2018 as she was running for Congress for the first time and he had mounted an ultimately unsuccessful effort to win the party’s nomination for governor, losing to Gretchen Whitmer, who became governor.

More: El-Sayed claim to have already erased $700M in medical debt untrue

Other progressive stalwarts, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, have also already endorsed El-Sayed.

(FOX 9) – Not much will change for Minnesota weather-wise the next couple of days as we’ll have heat, steam and some occasional thunderstorms around. 

Thursday’s forecast in Minnesota 

The forecast:

There will be plenty of heat across central Minnesota Thursday with highs on either side of 90 in most cases.

Temperatures will be a little cooler to the south and south-east with isolated storm chances that will take us through Thursday afternoon and Thursday night, and a better opportunity for some widespread thunderstorms rolling out of the Dakotas into western and central Minnesota overnight.

Storm chances overnight Thursday

What we know:

Severe weather outlook for Minnesota on Thursday, July 2, 2026. 

Clusters of storms will be found across parts of the Upper Midwest on Thursday. The main severe threat for the Twin Cities metro will be late Thursday evening and overnight.

There are several zones of storms across the region on Thursday.

One of those will be in northern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota with isolated to widely scattered storms possible throughout the day as a frontal boundary remains rooted in the area.

The overall strength of these storms will be conditional on how much of a break can occur between rounds of storms, allowing the atmosphere to “recharge”. The best chances for some isolated severe storms will still be late afternoon and the early evening.

The second batch to watch will be late Thursday evening and overnight. Storms are likely to develop in the Dakotas Thursday afternoon and roll into western Minnesota Thursday evening. These are the storms that could affect a lot of the area, including the metro. If these storms can form into a strong enough line, widespread straight-line winds will be possible.

If it’s more clustered, then isolated gusty winds and large hail will be the main threats. 

Extended Minnesota forecast

What’s next:

Thunderstorm chances will linger overnight into the first part of Friday. They will kick out on Friday afternoon and then may do it all over again late Friday night into the first part of Saturday. 

On Friday, there will be highs in the middle 80s, give or take, across the state, going for a high of 86 in the Twin Cities metro. Now there is an overnight thunderstorm chance from Friday night into early Saturday.

The rest of your Fourth of July will be quiet with maybe an isolated stray storm possible Saturday night, and then a little less humid after that. Next week, expect highs to remain in the mid to upper 80s.  

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday with the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council at Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Energy Center near Steedman. The agreement is designed to better coordinate state and federal reviews, reduce permitting delays and increase transparency for major projects.

Kehoe said the partnership supports Missouri’s efforts to move quickly on future energy development, particularly nuclear energy.

“Missouri is proud to join four other states in signing the MOU, and we appreciate the Trump administration for helping us out to get to this goal, which, if you’ve been around me at all, you understand we don’t work at bureaucratic speed. We like business speed,” Kehoe said.

Under the agreement, Missouri will work with the Permitting Council to identify priority infrastructure projects and align state and federal review timelines. Federal officials say the partnership will help streamline project approvals while avoiding duplication between agencies.

The agreement comes as Missouri leaders continue exploring the future of nuclear energy. In May, Kehoe created a nuclear energy task force to examine how nuclear power can support the state’s long-term energy reliability and economic growth.

Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Kurt Schaefer said the state is well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunity.

“We’re right at this culmination of having the right people in the state of Missouri and having the right people in Washington, D.C. to really try and bring not only Missouri, but the country really up to speed on everything from energy development, particularly nuclear, to critical mineral development that really have been kind of languishing for a lot of years,” Schaefer said.

Schaefer said the agreement could help remove delays that have slowed major projects in the past.

“With the Department of Natural Resources, the speed of business gets T-boned by the speed of the federal government. So, this couldn’t have come at a better time to get these reports out of how we can advance both nuclear energy and critical minerals and then work with the federal government to make sure that we don’t have any bureaucratic slowdowns on that end,” he said.

The Trump administration is using the agreement process to work directly with states on critical infrastructure projects. Missouri is the fifth state to sign an agreement with the Permitting Council, joining Alaska, Idaho, Tennessee and Utah.

Copyright © 2026 · Missourinet