The Winners and Losers From Michigan's High-Stakes Senate Primary

Making sense of what matters most in Washington. Abdul El-Sayed, a rabble-rousing populist and former public health official, just barely eked out a primary victory Tuesday in Michigan over a centrist rival who was the pick of Washington Democrats to keep a must-hold Senate seat. It was a bad night for the Democratic Establishment, who see the outcome as a major setback to their party's dreams of clawing back control of the Upper Chamber for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s presidency. But El-Sayed’s squeaker win was not what he or his allies were forecasting as recently as Tuesday morning. For weeks, most polling indicated Michiganders were strongly trending toward El-Sayed, who would be the first Muslim Senator if he prevails in November over former Rep. Mike Rogers. Even still, this outcome was not something many foresaw as recently as last year. El-Sayed managed to captured the broad, bipartisan frustration that established leaders are not hearing voters’ concerns. Strategists are still looking at the data but some top-line folks clearly came out winners—and others losers.WINNER: El-Sayed Even if he fell short of expectations, the podcasting populist still had th...