Detroit — A month after dropping out of Michigan's Democratic U.S. Senate race, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow has endorsed one of her former rivals — before the results of Tuesday's hard-fought primary were finalized.
Just after 2 a.m. Wednesday, McMorrow announced she is endorsing Abdul El-Sayed, citing NBC News, which declared him the winner of a bruising primary against U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens.
"Huge congratulations to Abdul El-Sayed for winning the Democratic primary to become our nominee to be Michigan's next US Senator. I'm proud to give Abdul my full endorsement and support as we head to November together as a unified party," McMorrow said in a statement.
"Take it from me — this was a brutal primary. But whatever differences there were between the candidates in this race, those differences are nothing compared to the contrast in November. Donald Trump and Mike Rogers are banking on all of us being too bruised, too proud, and too hurt to come back together to beat them. Let's prove them wrong."
More: Michigan primary election results for US House, Senate for Aug. 4, 2026
Stevens, however, has not yet conceded the race, and the Associated Press had not declared a winner as of 3 a.m. Wednesday.
El-Sayed held a narrow lead over Stevens after both candidates addressed their supporters early Wednesday morning and signaled the final outcome may not be known for several hours.
McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, dropped out of the race on July 5, just as El-Sayed was gaining momentum in polling and Stevens was benefiting from tens of millions of dollars in TV advertising. Her name remained on the ballot because ballots had already been printed and in distribution to absentee voters when she quit the race.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: McMorrow endorses ex-Senate rival after NBC News declares a winner