Left-wing Democrats are on a winning run in the US - but can they defeat Republicans?
Left-wing Democrats are gaining momentum in US primaries, but face challenges in winning over working-class voters in key states like Michigan. The party remains divided between its centrist establishment and its progressive wing.
Why it matters
The internal ideological struggle within the Democratic Party is a critical factor in determining the outcome of upcoming US midterm elections.
Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders cast El-Sayed as the future of the Democratic Party at a rally in Detroit last Saturday
On a Saturday evening in Michigan, the skies still hazy from drifting Canadian wildfire smoke, hundreds of voters packed into Detroit's opulent 104-year-old Opera House, rising from their seats to cheer loudly as Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took the stage.
As two of the leading figures on the American left, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders were there to champion Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed - a doctor running on a platform of universal healthcare.
His supporters carried signs with El-Sayed's slogan "Medicare for All", and wore shirts urging the end of immigration enforcement and US aid to Israel.
But they were not the only ones tuning in.
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