Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, Jonathan Allen digs into the lessons progressives can take away from Abdul El-Sayed’s victory. Plus, Megan Brand reports on the escalating GOP pressure on Rep. Max Miller to step aside.

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— Adam Wollner

What the left’s Michigan breakthrough does — and doesn’t — mean

Analysis by Jonathan Allen

The progressive left is ecstatic over Abdul El-Sayed’s win in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary this week, hailing it as a sign of a seismic shift in their direction.

“Abdul’s victory was, in my opinion, the most extraordinary victory that I can think of in modern American politics,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, the godfather of the contemporary progressive movement.

That’s quite a statement from a man who watched President Donald Trump win twice in the last three presidential election cycles, including once after he was indicted in four separate cases.

It is also hyperbole that exaggerates the significance of a single open-seat Senate primary. It makes sense for Sanders and other progressives to do that because they are trying to build momentum for their effort to reshape the Democratic Party.

But by raising such a ruckus about the “extraordinary” triumph, he is also pointing to a fundamental truth: this was a rare event. The left paid less attention on Tuesday night to Rep. Wesley Bell easily turning back a primary challenge from former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who, like El-Sayed, put her opposition to Israel front and center in her campaign.

Democratic members of Congress will embrace labels and shun them when it is politically convenient — just like Republicans will — so it’s impossible to fully sort the progressives from the centrists and the establishment types from the folks who run as outsiders. Sanders, who runs against “the establishment,” has been a member of Congress since George H.W. Bush was president and served as a key Joe Biden ally from his perch as Senate Budget Committee chairman.

But there are metrics that run counter to the narrative that El-Sayed’s victory is just one big shock in a long-running tectonic shift in Democratic politics. For starters, he hasn’t won a Senate seat yet.

El-Sayed’s main issue, aside from attacking rival Haley Stevens for benefiting from money spent by pro-Israel donors, was advocating in favor of Medicare for All. If he wins his seat, there will be one more backer for that legislation, bringing the number to 19 — or less than one-third of the number needed to get it past a filibuster. In six years, since he used it as the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, Sanders has added a net of three co-sponsors.

The “Justice Democrats” in the House — the most reliably progressive subset — number about a dozen. Their most prominent member, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., may have won a more impressive primary upset than El-Sayed because she took out an incumbent member of the Democratic leadership in then-Rep. Joe Crowley. She is on track to win a fifth term in November.

If the question is whether Democrats are moving left, the answer is yes — as they are wont to do and as they have for decades.

But as mad as Democratic voters may be with their elected leaders, they simply haven’t adopted a wide-ranging, throw-the-bums-out mentality. That could change. But it didn’t on Tuesday, as Stevens wasn’t a sitting senator.

Democrats are sure to keep close tabs on what happens in Michigan in November. Will El-Sayed prove that a super-progressive candidate can win a swing state Senate race, providing a boost for the left? Or will he lose to former Rep. Mike Rogers in a general election, handing a stronger argument to the centrists?

Either way, it’s just one Senate seat. The broader fight will continue into 2028 — and beyond.

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Ohio Rep. Max Miller faces a growing number of calls from fellow Republicans to resign

By Megan Brand

A growing number of Republicans are calling on Rep. Max Miller of Ohio to drop his congressional bid and resign from office following abuse allegations made by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno.

Miller has denied the allegations, which exploded onto the national stage after he addressed them on a Sunday livestream, prompting Moreno’s father, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, to denounce him publicly.

Miller has repeatedly vowed to keep running for re-election in Ohio’s 7th District, even as the senator said in a weekend statement that Miller “is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter.”

A spokesperson for the office of Ohio’s Secretary of State told NBC News that the deadline to replace a candidate would be Aug. 10. The replacement candidate would be selected by county party chairs in the district.The list of Republican senators who are calling on Miller to step aside include Tim Sheehy of Montana, Katie Britt of Alabama, Roger Marshall of Kansas, and Jon Husted of Ohio.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Politico, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called the allegations against Miller “serious,” but said he would let the Ethics Committee investigation play out.

“There’s all sorts of domestic events going on with 435 members of Congress all the time; it’s not my business to get engaged in it,” Johnson said.

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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Annelise Hanson.

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