Stevens and El-Sayed trade personal attacks and other takeaways from the Michigan Senate primary debate

The stark choice facing Michigan’s Democratic voters in the August 4 Senate primary was on display Monday night, as the two candidates closed their final debate by pitching themselves as best positioned to win a general election that could tip the balance of power in the chamber.

Rep. Haley Stevens name-dropped a powerful ally, two-term Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, for the fifth and final time that evening. She bragged that she’d won in a Republican-leaning congressional district northwest of Detroit. And she said she “will be Michigan’s workhorse.”

Her progressive rival, former public health official Abdul El-Sayed,