Michigan Voters, Don’t Let Radicals Fool You Into Thinking They’re Normal

This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars.In this piece, Manhattan Institute Vice President of External Affairs Jesse Arm warns Michigan voters not to trust a rising generation of radical lawmakers masquerading as traditional Democrats — most especially “far-left podcaster-physician Abdul El-Sayed.”***Michigan’s U.S. Senate race is viewed as one of the most consequential and contentious elections of the 2026 cycle. The three-way Democratic primary contest to replace retiring incumbent Gary Peters — between moderate Congresswoman Haley Stevens, progressive state senator Mallory McMorrow, and far-left podcaster-physician Abdul El-Sayed — has emerged as a proxy war over the soul of the Democratic Party. As Politico noted last month, the race is a “catch-all for every question and problem plaguing Democrats politically and tactically.” Democrats need to flip four Republican-held seats to win a Senate majority. Michigan is not optional.But two weeks ago, the national spotlight on the Great Lakes state got a little brighter. Ayman Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon living in Dearborn Heights, collected arms and drove an explosive-laden truck into the preschool at Temple Israel in my hometown of