The Closest U.S. Senate Democratic Primary Elections In Michigan History

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 11/26/2025) Michigan Democrats are gearing up for their first, competitive multi-candidate U.S. Senate primary in more than 30 years next summer, assuming U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham), Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) and candidate Abdul El-Sayed all get their valid 15,000 signatures and stay in the race.

And while these types of primaries aren't the modern norm for Democrats, they aren't a historical rarity either.

Michigan voters have participated in 39 U.S. Senate primaries since the state started holding partisan primary elections for the office in 1910. Previously, Michigan elected its U.S. senators through the state Legislature, as did all states.

Of those 39, 14 consisted of a Democratic primary. In the majority of cases (25), Democrats offered voters a single candidate. Republicans had 25 contested primaries of the 39.

Democrats offered up 70 candidates for the U.S. Senate since 1910. Only once have the Democrats had a primary challenger to a sitting senator. In 1952, Blair Moody was appointed by Gov. Gerhard Mennen Williams to succeed U.S. Sen. Arthur Vandenberg, who had died in office.

Moody faced a token primary challenge and then lost re-election during the first Dwight D. Eisenhower landslide.

The Stevens-McMorrow-El Sayed race could be a barn-burner, but it's not a shoo-in for the most competitive Democratic U.S. Senate primary in state history. It'll need to contend with the following races. To see results of all 39 primaries, click here to view the MIRS spreadsheet.

1. 1994. With then-U.S. Sen. Don Riegle not seeking re-election, six big-named Democrats sought the nomination, including one name from modern times – former Macomb County Judge Carl Marlinga, who later lost congressional runs in 2022 and 2024. Marlinga finished sixth in 1994 with 7.67% of the vote, despite being the Macomb County prosecutor at the time.

In the end, then-U.S. Rep. Bob Carr (D-East Lansing) won the nomination by less than a percentage point (24.02% to 23.06%) over state Sen. Lana Pollack (D-Ann Arbor). The race also featured prominent Democratic National Committee member Joel Ferguson (19.83%), former U.S. Rep. William Brodhead (14.42%), and state Sen. John F. Kelly (10.97%) (D-Grosse Pointe Woods).

So while the 2026 primary has firepower, it needs a few more top-tier candidates to match the 1994 race.

2. 1936. After getting smoked for decades in Michigan, Democrats found success during the Great Depression as voters looked for political alternatives. Lifted by the popularity of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), Democrats turned to U.S. Rep. Prentiss Brown (D-St. Ignace) as their nominee by about 2 percentage points (36.32% to 34.16%) over Louis B. Ward. At the time, Ward was a representative for Rev. Charles Coughlin, an influential Catholic priest at the time, who split with FDR for not being tough enough on the banks.

Prior to the vote, national pundits figured Brown had the race in the bag, but Coughlin's popularity with the union/social justice movement made him a formidable candidate. The other candidates in the race were Detroit Judge Ralph Liddy (20.85%) and University of Michigan sociology teacher John Muyskens (8.67%).

Liddy became best known the year after for being the one-man grand jury investigating the alleged beating up of an union organizer by the security of auto industry executive Henry Ford.

In November, Brown beat the Republican nominee, Gov. Wilber Brucker, in a significant upset.

3. 1976. The retirement of U.S. Sen. Phil Hart opened the door for U.S. Rep. Don Riegle (D-Flint), a former Republican who changed his stripes after Watergate. His main opponent was Secretary of State Richard Austin, a prominent leader among African-Americans at the time, who was beating Riegle in one pre-election poll.

However, Austin took on water when it became known that the Secretary of State had adopted a system in which he hand-picked managers to run branch offices who kicked back part of the fees collected as political contributions and personal gifts.

Riegle won 44.05% of the Democratic primary vote to Austin's 28.17%. U.S. Rep. James O'Hara (D-Utica) had 23.06% and Birmingham attorney James Elsman had 4.15%.

Riegle went on to beat Republican Marvin Esch and served three terms.

4. 1934. This is how bad the Democrats were doing prior to the Great Depression. Their U.S. Senate primary in 1928 generated less than 40,000 votes among two candidates. Combined. Incumbent U.S. Sen. Arthur Vandenberg (R-Grand Rapids) ran unopposed and still got 463,656 votes.

So, to see four candidates eclipse a combined 200,000 votes was significant and a harbinger of things to come. Frank Picard (42.92%) won the primary but lost in the general. Later in his career, he was a Michigan liquor control commissioner and a FDR judicial appointment to the U.S. Eastern District.

The race featured Wayne County auditor Ray Schneider (25.50%), labor and industry Commissioner Claude Carney (18.75%) and former public utilities Commissioner Alva Cummins (12.82%).

5. 1978. The rise of former Detroit City Council President Carl Levin (38.90%) started in this primary when he defeated 40-year-old newspaper publisher Phil Power (19.77%), U.S. Rep. Richard VanderVeen (15.33%), state Sen. Anthony Derezinski (9.22%), state Sen. John Otterbacher (8.73%) and state Rep. Paul Rosenbaum (8.05%).

VanderVeen was favored, given his distinction of turning Gerald R. Ford's former House seat blue, but the low-key official didn't have a commanding enough presence to leave an impression that was deeper than him being “a nice guy.” Power brought tons of cash to the race, while Otterbacher didn't have any.

But the key ended up being the hard-driving Levin, who had a genuineness that made his jokes funny and his hugs sincere.

Levin was never challenged in a democratic primary again and ended up becoming the longest-serving U.S. senator in Michigan history.