WASHINGTON — Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow has withdrawn from the Senate race, leaving the Democratic contest to Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Representative Haley Stevens, both vying for the pivotal seat.
McMorrow, whose poll numbers have significantly declined in recent weeks amid criticism for her past comments about rural Americans, pledged her support to the Democratic candidate who ultimately takes on Republican Mike Rogers in the upcoming November election.
Reflecting on her unexpected political journey, McMorrow shared in a video message, “Getting into politics was never part of my plan. After the 2016 election, I felt adrift. I turned to my phone and typed these five words into the search bar: ‘How to run for office.’”
She continued with passion, “I discovered that real change in this country usually comes from ordinary individuals driven by love and a willingness to fight for what they cherish. I deeply love this country. I deeply love Michigan.”
Last year, The Post highlighted how, following the 2016 election, McMorrow supported a tweet suggesting that the narrative needed flipping: “All of this talk about coastal elites needing to understand more of America has it backwards.”
“It is much of white working class America that needs to reach outside its comfort zone and meet people not like them,” then-reporter Patrick Thornton contended in the Twitter thread. “Many rural Americans have isolated themselves from the rest of the country. They live in very unrepresentative areas.”
She quote-tweeted that post, adding, “I’m from rural New Jersey, this rings 100%. Empathy should go both ways, but Trump’s base fears what they’ve never seen.”
She later admitted that it was not an “eloquent” tweet on her part.
McMorrow had been seen as a rising star within the Democratic Party among progressive circles, having garnered national attention for high-profile fights over abortion and other issues in the Michigan state legislature.
In 2022, she went viral for tearing into a GOP colleague who suggested in a fundraising blast that she was grooming, pointing to her stance on LGBTQ issues.
While the Michigan Senate race initially started off as a three-way battle between McMorrow, Stevens, and El-Sayed, the state senator saw a dramatic collapse in polling over recent weeks.
Moderates in her coalition seemingly drifted to Stevens and progressives to El-Sayed, while her lane seemingly got narrower and narrower over time.
El-Sayed is currently leading the pack with 35% support, followed by Stevens at 29.7% and McMorrow at 7.7%, per the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate.
El-Sayed’s lead has given Democratic leadership some heartburn due to the competitive nature of that contest. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has made it clear he is backing Stevens.
Democrats currently control the Michigan Senate seat and need to flip four other seats to take back control of the upper chamber. If they lose Michigan, retaking the Senate, which is already widely seen as an uphill battle for them, will become significantly harder.
Both Stevens and El-Sayed have a 0.5 percentage point edge over Rogers in the latest RCP polling aggregate.
“Mallory McMorrow has been an important voice, both in this race and in the State Senate, for policies that benefit Michigan’s children and families, and I look forward to working with her in the future to build a stronger Michigan for everyone,” Stevens said in a statement about McMorrow’s announcement.
El-Sayed gave an olive branch to McMorrow’s supporters in response.
“I welcome her supporters to our movement to stand up against money in politics, to put money back in pockets, and pass Medicare for All. We cannot allow the establishment to decide our nominee for us,” he said.