There’s the baked-in resistance from progressive Democrats backing el Sayed, a former public health official who has spent months calling Stevens an empty suit beholden to corporate interests.

Supporters of Stevens, meanwhile, may be hesitant after weeks of ads painting him as unelectable and personally flawed. The biggest attack line aired on TV has been claims that he is “disrespectful” toward women.

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It’s a dynamic that Dana Nessel, the attorney general of Michigan, says is once again putting her state in play for Republicans. Without addressing the Senate race specifically, she noted that voter apathy has been to blame for repeated losses in Michigan over the last decade, including Hillary Clinton’s presidential defeat in 2016.

Clinton lost the Wolverine State to President Donald Trump by fewer than 11,000 votes after a primary challenge from the Left mounted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

“What ends up happening is we have a lot of division in our primaries, and then I see time and time again … Democrats just sitting out if their candidate doesn’t win, and I think it’s been incredibly detrimental for us, candidly as a country,” Nessel said, speaking to the Washington Examiner at a campaign event in Bloomfield over the weekend.

Nessel, a Democrat who is finishing her second term as attorney general, is supporting Stevens in the Senate race but said the party should rally around the full slate of nominees this fall.

“I mean, we have an embarrassment of riches in terms of candidates for the Democratic Party, but we should respect whoever the voters choose at the end of the day, and then come together as a party and vote for our candidates up and down the ticket,” she said.

Her plea comes as Democrats attempt to keep Michigan’s Senate seat, held by retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), and compete in several down-ballot races that will determine control of the House next year. The primary in Michigan’s 7th District has also grown contentious with three Democrats vying to challenge Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI), including a climate activist who campaigned with el Sayed on Sunday.

El Sayed supporters are already grappling with the possibility that it could be Stevens on the ballot in November. The two are fighting an exceptionally close race that may be swinging in Stevens’s favor thanks to tens of millions in outside support for her campaign.

AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, has made an especially large investment on behalf of Stevens, spending close to $30 million so far on advertising in Michigan through its super PAC and affiliated groups. The total spending from pro-Stevens groups has been roughly $50 million.

Zak Spurlock, a progressive community activist who ran for Lansing city council last year, said he would vote for Stevens “if push came to shove” but expects that some of his friends and colleagues would leave the Senate race blank or write in another candidate if she advances to the general election.

“I would do so extremely begrudgingly because I just think that she is a very poor candidate,” Spurlock said, questioning whether party leaders will be as adamant about backing the Democratic nominee if the primary goes the other way.

“I think that the old saying of ‘vote blue no matter who’ is a very one-sided statement, because if the progressive wins, I’m curious to know how many moderate Democrats or establishment Democrats would say the same thing,” said Spurlock, who attended a Sunday rally in Lansing for el Sayed.

The question is being raised in the throes of an election in which el Sayed has told his supporters that special interests were attempting to “game and rig” the system and that the influx of money was anti-democratic.

“I don’t know what you say about $50 million, but it seems hella anti-democratic to me,” el Sayed said after his Lansing event.

There were already ideological differences between Stevens and el Sayed that could be insurmountable for some voters in a general election. One Jewish resident of Farmington Hills said U.S. aid to Israel, something that el Sayed opposes, will be “front and center” for her this election.

“I’m definitely going to go with anyone who’s supportive of Israel, of Israel’s safety,” said the voter, who asked not to be named in the story.

The other risk for Democrats is that character attacks will leave the eventual nominee damaged heading into the general election. Kimberly, a 71-year-old voter from Grand Ledge, said she was inclined to support el Sayed in the primary, but came to his rally in Lansing hoping to “dispel” what she’s heard about him on TV.

She cited a PAC-funded commercial accusing el Sayed of disrespecting women. The 30-second ad cites, in part, his past criticism of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and former first lady Michelle Obama.

El Sayed bristled at those attacks when asked if he could get behind Stevens if she wins the primary, suggesting he’s run the cleaner campaign and that voters won’t forget how negative Stevens-aligned groups went on the airwaves.

“It’s important for us to be asking who actually has the ability to bring the Democratic electorate back together, and when you go scorched earth on somebody’s character, right? It’s just an important thing to be like, all right, how do you bring their voters back?” he told the Washington Examiner at the Lansing event.

On whether he would personally back Stevens, he responded, “I’ve made it absolutely clear. I’m gonna do everything I can to beat Mike Rogers.”

Pro-el Sayed groups have released polls in recent days showing him ahead by double digits, but the latest independent survey, from the Detroit News, has Stevens leading by 7 points.

Stevens similarly told reporters that “we’re going to be able to band together no matter what happens,” adding at a Friday event in Farmington that the “job starts with listening” and that progressive voters would be “heard by me” if she wins.

The invective most often directed at Stevens is online mockery over her “awkward” delivery in campaign speeches. El Sayed drew criticism for claiming she’s unable to “string together two coherent sentences,” but has more recently urged his followers not to engage in internet bullying.

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The division flips on its head the dynamic from 2024, when Rogers had to overcome a contested primary that he says contributed to his narrow defeat against Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). This time, Republicans cleared the field for him and hope to benefit from the notoriously late date Michigan holds its primary elections.

The Democratic primary became a two-way race after state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who pitched herself as an ideological bridge between Stevens and el Sayed, dropped out earlier this month.