Testy Three State Legislative Primaries To Watch Next Week
- Jul 31
- 6 min read
(Source: MIRS.news, Published 07/30/2026) Election day is five days away.
While Democrats' U.S. Senate primary between U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) and Abdul El-Sayed is receiving national attention for embodying a progressive-versus-establishment battle within the party, other primaries down the ballot represent different kinds of divides.
Here are today's three “testy” legislative primaries to watch.
Senate District 1: Onwenu Versus Aiyash In Detroit, Downriver
The race between Justin Onwenu, Detroit's small business affairs director, and former House Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash has become a battle that feels deeply hostile.
"A lot of people dislike Abraham Aiyash not because he's progressive, but because he was an ineffective, divisive and duplicitous lawmaker who has spent his entire career chasing power and failing to deliver," Onwenu said to MIRS. "No amount of social media videos or clout by association can take away from his record."
As for Aiyash, he told MIRS on Tuesday that Onwenu was both late on his pre-primary campaign finance reporting and accepting corporate contributions despite telling the public that he wouldn't.
"We don't expect him to win, but certainly he has made his choice on who he will answer to, and it's the corporate class that has screwed the Democratic Party and has put us in a position where we are still not trusted," Aiyash said. "Because people continue to run for office with the same style of politics, where they kiss the corporate ass and then screw the working class."
On the same day that Onwenu announced raising more than $330,000 this election cycle, ahead of the Aug. 4 primary, The Detroit News reported that a dark, super political action committee (PAC), Detroit Next, spent $20,000 on mailers supporting him.
The Detroit Next PAC has been invested in by the Michigan Energy First nonprofit, which is affiliated with DTE Energy, and Ambassador Bridge owner Matthew Moroun.
Aiyash, the son of Yemeni immigrants, is viewed as a progressive activist among folks wanting to cut American ties to Israel amid the war in Gaza. Furthermore, he's not afraid to bash fellow Democrats over policy, calling folks he served with in the 2023-24 term "chickenshit Dems" for refusing to make ID cards available to undocumented immigrants in Michigan.
But at the same time, Aiyash is personal friends with Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton), who is well-positioned to become Senate Democrats' next caucus leader.
He's seen as making notable strides in Detroit's Corktown and Southwest neighborhoods. Meanwhile, Onwenu knows how to navigate both the city's business community and high-level investors – from his time working with current Mayor Mary Sheffield and former Mayor Mike Duggan – and environmental and labor groups.
Onwenu is also attempting to pitch himself to more conservative thinkers in the district's Downriver communities like Wyandotte, Lincoln Park and River Rouge.
Some sources predict the district will be tight, with Downriver communities determining the final winner if Detroit is split.
Senate District 12: Boiling Water On Lake Saint Clair's Shoreline
"Do you think that I'm that dumb that I would run for the Michigan State Senate with two felony convictions?" asked Shelley Wright, the Harrison Township Republican running in Michigan's 12th Senate district, to MIRS.
Wright invited MIRS to her backyard patio on a canal, with her old court paperwork in a neat pile on the table. Opposition literature has accused Wright of being "all wrapped up in felonies & fraud."
In the Republican primary to take on incumbent Sen. Kevin Hertel (D-St. Clair Shores) – in one of the state's most competitive battleground districts – things have gotten testy between Wright and John Goldwater, an online minister and New Baltimore real estate agent.
Goldwater is being supported by Sen. Michael Webber (R-Rochester Hills), who's running internally to become Senate Republicans' next caucus leader.
In court proceedings lasting from June 2006 through August 2008, Wright was convicted of an occupational code misdemeanor for operating without a license. Previously, she was a general contractor overseeing a large home renovation project, which involved removing the roof and adding a second floor.
She said about three-quarters into the project, she noticed "things were starting to go sideways."
"Come to find out – which I had no idea what was going on – he had filed for bankruptcy, and it was getting very difficult for him to get the end loan," Wright said. "I'm out about $200,000, give or take. I told him, 'I have to pull off the job…' He got angry, sought an attorney and, all of a sudden, what happened was they filed charges against me for misuse of the builder's trust fund, which is a felony."
Eventually, the end result was a misdemeanor conviction. She noted that it was probably one or two months that she allowed her general contractor license to expire after she walked away from the project, unable to pay contractors due to the lack of a loan to sustain renovations.
Shane Giano, a consultant on Goldwater's campaign, this month made a Facebook post targeting Wright's sexuality, questioning "Why has Shelley been hiding her 'wife,' Susan?" and "Why does Michelle AKA 'Shelley Wright' running for State Senate District 12 go by 'Shelley' and not her legal name, Michelle?"
A video started circulating as well of Wright and her campaign manager, Ken Licari, removing a Goldwater sign while dressed in their campaign t-shirts. Wright said her campaign was told to take down the sign by the owner of the Dockside Canvas Company in Harrison Township, who she's personal friends with, because it was on the business' property.
"We didn't steal it. He got the police involved. I talked to the sheriff," Wright said. "Now, in hindsight, would we have done that again? No. Not to have the police call me. Not to go through all this crap with him putting videos out."
As Wright and Goldwater battle it out, their fundraising numbers don't come close to Hertel's war chest.
For this year alone, Hertel has raised $238,702 and sits on $307,339 in cash on hand. Meanwhile, Wright fundraised $10,365 and sits on $6,857, and Goldwater raised $18,793 and has a $2,162 ending balance.
House District 11: Detroit Versus Warren
On the morning of a July 18 forum, Macomb County Commissioner Michael Jerome Howard II said his truck was broken into. Despite an expensive electric scooter and chainsaw in the vehicle, Howard said it was a couple of hundred pieces of his literature that had been taken out of the truck. When he discovered his truck was broken into, he said literature was also scattered throughout the street.
He filed a complaint with the Warren Police Department.
The 11th House district is on Eight Mile, including both the Detroit and Macomb County communities along the historical road.
Howard has been endorsed by union groups like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the local United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 1 chapter, Iron Workers Local 25 and the Michigan Education Association.
His opponent, Kimberly Fisher, is the owner of the Lily's & Elise Tea House in Detroit, serving high tea and mocktails. She's been endorsed by Rep. Donavan McKinney (D-Detroit), who currently holds the seat as he runs for the 13th U.S. House district, attracting progressive attention nationally as he's aligned himself with El-Sayed's U.S. Senate candidacy.
Furthermore, she's been backed by seven of Detroit's nine city council members, former Detroit state Sen. Virgil Smith Jr., President Yvonne White of the NAACP MI State Conference, Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus Chair Keith Williams and, since Wednesday, the Michigan Chronicle, the Detroit-based African American-run newspaper.
She's backed by the same Detroit Next super PAC. Although Howard grew up on Detroit's east side, the race is being viewed by some as a battle between the two sides of Eight Mile: a Warren resident versus a Detroit resident.
Howard was elected to the Macomb County Commission in November 2024, winning his seat by 12,747 votes. He defeated incumbent commissioner Michelle Nard, who's now running in the 10th state Senate race, who had switched party affiliations. She entered the seat as a Democrat following the 2020 elections, was a No-Political-Affiliation (NPA) candidate in 2024 and is now running for the state Senate as a Republican.
