Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow suspended her Democratic primary campaign for U.S. Senate on Sunday, ending a bid that polled at just 6% and leaving ordinary Michigan voters with a choice between an establishment insider and a socialist activist. The candidate who was supposed to offer a "middle path" couldn't survive the party she helped create.
McMorrow's exit reduces the race to a two-way fight between Rep. Haley Stevens, backed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and pro-Israel groups, and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The New York Times framed McMorrow as someone who "tried to cut a middle path" between the two wings. The Daily Caller, by contrast, noted what the Times buried: McMorrow vaulted to national prominence in 2022 with a viral floor speech attacking Republicans for opposing child sex changes and critical race theory in schools — the kind of cultural radicalism that energizes the base but alienates working-class voters.
"Today, I'm announcing that I am suspending my campaign for United States Senate. And I'm doing it with a deep, deep sense of gratitude," McMorrow said in a video posted to X. She declined to endorse either rival.
The writing was on the wall. A June 16 Mitchell Research & Communications poll had McMorrow at 6%. Her fundraising couldn't keep pace. She had also wiped thousands of old X posts trashing her own state — including posts tagged "#NYCtoLA" — after the New York Post reported on them in April 2025. The Daily Caller also reported she came under fire for allegedly failing to properly report over $500,000 in campaign spending.
El-Sayed, for his part, used McMorrow's exit to take a shot at the party brass. "The same party insiders she had the courage to challenge have been bullying anyone who opposes their chosen candidate," he posted Sunday. That's a telling line: the Sanders-backed leftist is casting Stevens, the Schumer-backed candidate, as the real establishment problem — and positioning himself as the insurgent who can take her down.
Stevens, naturally, played it safe. "I look forward to working with her in the future to build a stronger Michigan for everyone," she posted.
Here's the real story for voters: McMorrow helped build the coalition that devoured her. She went viral defending child sex changes and CRT, and now the voters who care most about those issues are lining up behind El-Sayed, not her. You feed the crocodile, and eventually it eats you too. The question for Michigan is whether the general electorate wants what's left on the menu.
