{"id":2613535,"date":"2026-06-12T07:34:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T11:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-scrambled-senate-playing-field-in-michigan\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T07:34:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T11:34:02","slug":"a-scrambled-senate-playing-field-in-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-scrambled-senate-playing-field-in-michigan\/","title":{"rendered":"A scrambled Senate playing field in Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-scrambled-senate-playing-field-in-michigan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2613535&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>MARQUETTE, Mich. \u2014<\/strong> Defense is crucial to winning in virtually any team sport. The same is true for politics, and it\u2019s a lesson Democrats may learn the hard way in a Michigan Senate race that, until recently, seemed like an easy hold for Team Blue.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/4605434\/brad-lander-acquitted-protest-immigration-court\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Brad Lander acquitted of criminal charge over protest at immigration court<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4605185\/amodei-trump-nevada-david-flippo-democrats-race-replace-him\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Amodei says Trump-backed Nevada candidate gives Democrats a chance in race to replace him<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4604292\/graham-platner-maine-senate-vetting-naomi-lim\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Democrats failed to vet Graham Platner before Senate nomination: Naomi Lim<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Wolverine State has voted Republican in a Senate race only once over the last half-century, even as Michigan became a premier presidential battleground and the governorship has toggled between the parties for decades. All in a state characterized by a sharp demographic divide between heavily Democratic urban hubs, rapidly shifting suburban areas, and solidly Republican rural regions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) set to retire at the end of this Congress after 12 years in the Senate, Democrats seemed to have a deep bench from which to choose his replacement. The Aug. 4 Democratic Senate primary winner will face GOP nominee-in-waiting Mike Rogers, a House member who represented a Lansing-area district from 2001 to 2015.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">From left: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, and former public health official Abdul el Sayed during a debate between the Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidates in Mackinac Island, Michigan on May 28. (Photos by Danielle James\/The Flint Journal via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Winning the open Michigan seat effectively means Democrats are playing a form of political defense. Since it wouldn\u2019t be a pickup, Democrats would need to flip four more seats to claim a majority in the Senate, which Republicans now control 53-47.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Michigan is no longer a sure thing for Democrats. A messy Democratic Senate primary now gives Republicans a real chance of nabbing the seat in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michigan is among several pieces of a scrambled Senate map that isn\u2019t playing out as expected in the early part of the 2026 election cycle. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats still seem in a strong position to win an open North Carolina Senate seat, bringing the party to a potential 48 seats. But then the electoral road gets more difficult, even in a broader political environment that should favor Democrats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Operating in a traditional \u201cmidterm effect\u201d environment under a Republican presidential administration, Democrats are benefiting from historical trends that heavily favor the party out of power. Democrats hold a consistent, growing lead in generic congressional ballot polling. The <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolling.com\/polls\/state-of-the-union\/generic-congressional-vote\">RealClearPolling Average<\/a> places the Democratic lead at 6.1 percentage points, while the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.natesilver.net\/p\/generic-ballot-average-2026-nate-silver-bulletin-congress-polls\">Nate Silver Bulletin<\/a> shows the generic ballot hitting D+7.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap\" style=\"min-height:5px;\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" style=\"display:none;\">Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A lawn sign shows support for far-left Michigan Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed in Marquette, Michigan. It\u2019s one of several political signs around town touting different Senate candidates. In a neighborhood abutting Northern Michigan University, where many faculty members live. (Photo by David Mark)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moreover, Donald Trump has lost popularity nearly 17 months into his second, non-consecutive term. The administration\u2019s ongoing military conflict with Iran has faced severe backlash. National polling reveals that more than half of Americans now view the decision to enter the war as a \u201cmistake.\u201d Related disruptions from the conflict in the Middle East have also closed major oil trading corridors, such as the Strait of Hormuz, driving national average gasoline prices up from less than $3 per gallon to $4.48 per gallon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inflation is a lingering problem for Trump more broadly. The consumer price index rose 4.2% in May, the steepest increase since 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nonetheless, Democrats are taking a big risk in a different Senate race that, like Michigan, starts with an \u201cM\u201d and abuts Canada \u2014 Maine. Democrats\u2019 nomination of a far-left populist in the mold of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), oysterman and military veteran <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/graham-platner\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"22643\">Graham Platner<\/a>, threatens the party\u2019s chances of beating a longtime GOP incumbent, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Platner, who won the Maine Democratic Senate nomination on June 9 after months as darling of the activist Left. Many supporters swoon over the policy platform offered by the baritoned-voice, bearded (and particularly mustachioed) progressive populist, 41. His platform includes demands for wealth redistribution, what Platner calls universal government-provided healthcare, free college, and ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars. Platner secured widespread backing from progressive figures like Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and online groups aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether Platner can withstand the coming campaign trail heat is an open question. Even in a state that\u2019s largely backed Democratic presidential candidates since 1992 and where the party has full control of state government. Platner faces mounting national scrutiny over a series of controversies, including allegations of past abusive behavior, sexually explicit text messages, offensive online comments, and a chest tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now Platner is facing Collins, a wily competitor who has frustrated Democratic attempts to beat her over three decades. She\u2019s deftly distanced herself from the Trump agenda when necessary, without unnecessarily alienating Republican Senate colleagues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet blue shoots are emerging for Democrats in their quest for a Senate majority, less than five months before the elections. Democrats are growing more bullish on their chances in Ohio, a red-leaning state in recent years, where former Sen. Sherrod Brown is mounting a comeback attempt. Voters ousted Brown in his 2024 reelection bid after 18 years in the Senate, but he ran considerably ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Brown in November faces appointed Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), who replaced Vice President JD Vance in the Senate. The winner will hold the seat for two years before it comes up for election to a full, six-year term in 2028.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A late-May mid-morning sun beams down on Lake Superior, in Marquette, the biggest city in Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula, with about 22,000 people. The largely rural UP often leans conservative but has streaks of labor-tinged populism. It\u2019s become a frequent campaign stop for 2026 candidates seeking Michigan\u2019s open Senate seat. (Photo by David Mark)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Alaska, former Rep. Mary Peltola will likely be the main Democratic candidate to emerge from the Aug. 18 primary. The Alaska electoral system features a unique \u201cTop Four\u201d primary, followed by ranked-choice voting in November. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) seems to be gearing up for a fall fight against Peltola. He first won the Senate seat in 2014 and has been a mostly loyal, if less-prominent, backer of Trump\u2019s MAGA legislative agenda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lately, Sullivan has distanced himself from Trump at times. He recently voted with Democrats in an unsuccessful attempt to block Trump\u2019s proposed \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then there\u2019s the long-elusive Democratic target of Texas. A longtime GOP electoral monolith that, at this stage of the election cycle, at least looks like a viable pick-up opportunity. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) lost the Republican primary runoff to state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a scandal-plagued figure, to put it mildly. Democrats are hopeful about their nominee, state Rep. James Talerico. He\u2019s a one-time seminarian who is trying to straddle the yawning divide between the traditionally conservative Texas and the politically shifting areas in and around the big cities of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An arguably even stronger opening has emerged in Iowa. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariff agenda is deeply unpopular across the Midwest, which depends on farm-related exports. The retirement of Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) after the November elections is boosting Democrats\u2019 hopes of grabbing the seat for the first time in a dozen years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) will face Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek in the fall. Trump\u2019s trade policies have drawn broad bipartisan pushback from Democrats, and even some Iowa Republicans, over the heavy toll they have taken on the local agricultural economy and manufacturing sectors.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-will-a-yooper-star-emerge\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Will a Yooper star emerge?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each of these races will be decided, to a significant degree, by which party\u2019s candidates can capture more votes in outlying and rural areas where working-class residents once backed Democrats but have gone GOP in the Trump era. It\u2019s playing out in places like Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula, a predominantly conservative, right-leaning region that largely favors the Republican Party yet maintains a strong streak of independent and labor-friendly populism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Upper Peninsula doesn\u2019t usually draw a ton of candidate attention in competitive statewide races. After all, the bulk of Michigan\u2019s population is highly concentrated in the Detroit metropolitan area and the broader industrialized southern half of the Lower Peninsula. More than 50% of the state\u2019s residents live in just three counties out of 83 \u2014 Wayne (encompassing Detroit) and the generally suburban Oakland and Macomb counties to the north and northeast, respectively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not surprisingly, that\u2019s where candidates spend the bulk of their time campaigning, along with Lansing, the state capital and a college town \u2014 Michigan State University is actually in neighboring East Lansing, but the point stands. They also visit Grand Rapids and neighboring western Michigan communities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That often leaves residents of Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula largely off the campaign trail. Though it makes up roughly 29% of Michigan\u2019s total landmass, the region is highly rural and accounts for just over 3% of the state\u2019s population of more than 10 million people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not this year. Upper Peninsula communities have drawn campaign visits from the Democrats vying for their party\u2019s Senate nomination in its Aug. 4 primary: Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, and former Wayne County health director Abdul el Sayed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republican Senate candidate Rogers, too, has had a more-active-than-usual presence in Michigan\u2019s far north. Rogers lost the 2024 Senate race to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) by an agonizingly close margin of 48.64% to 48.30%. Even a bit stronger Republican turnout in the Upper Peninsula could make a difference against the eventual Democratic nominee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yoopers, as many Upper Peninsula Michiganders call themselves, in the Democratic primary will, like their downstate counterparts, choose between different flavors of Team Blue. El Sayed is a virulent critic of Israel amid its post-Oct. 7 war of self-defense. On the domestic front, he advocates for policies like Medicare for All. He holds endorsements from Bernie Sanders and the United Auto Workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stevens has been an Israel supporter during her nearly eight years in the House and is broadly considered an establishment center-left Democrat. McMorrow has pitched herself as an upstart who can draw from both sides of the Democratic coalition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the college town of Marquette, home to Northern Michigan University and the Upper Peninsula\u2019s largest city, with about 22,000 people, signs for all three Democrats were abundant on a sunny late May morning. There were also several for Rogers, soon to be the Republican nominee, in his second bid at a return to politics after a House career that included chairing the chamber\u2019s Intelligence Committee from 2011 to 2015.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">November election results in the region, hours from any major city in the U.S. \u2014 or Canada for that matter \u2014 will be a strong indication of whether or not the open Michigan Senate seat stays in the Democratic column and whether the Senate continues to have a Republican majority or flips to Democrats amid an increasingly scrambled electoral map.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>David Mark (<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DavidMarkDC\"><em>@DavidMarkDC<\/em><\/a><em>) is the managing editor of the<\/em>\u00a0Washington Examiner\u00a0<em>magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MARQUETTE, Mich. \u2014 Defense is crucial to winning in virtually any team sport. The same is true for politics, and it\u2019s a lesson Democrats may learn the hard way in a Michigan Senate race that, until recently, seemed like an easy hold for Team Blue. Recommended Stories Brad Lander acquitted of criminal charge over protest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2695,"featured_media":2613536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WB.Congress3.061726.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2613535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WB.Congress3.061726.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2695"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2613535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2613535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2613536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2613535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2613535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2613535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}