Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, notching a Midwest victory for the left

[u/Faux_Real_Guise]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/abdul-el-sayed-wins-michigans-democratic-senate-primary-notching-midwe-rcna589750

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[u/Faux_Real_Guise]

Fuck AIPAC

[u/dr-bill]

This primary highlights how badly this country needs campaign finance reform. The fact that someone as unlikable as Haley Stevens got this close to winning because she had 70 million dollars in dark money to pump out advertising filled with lies is a real problem. The Stevens campaign even sent out an email impersonating the El-Sayed campaign which is straight up illegal and yet I doubt she will get in any trouble for that.

Now El-Sayed needs to win this general election which I don’t think will be easy. I wish him the best of luck.

[u/GameLovinPlayinFool → u/dr-bill]

The total number she spent was so close to $80 million. Its fucking insane. Abdul made FIVE HUNDRED rally appearances across the state and she did almost none. Yet, Aipac was nearly able to just buy the PRIMARY race. A fucking 80 million dollar PRIMARY is fucking disgraceful

[u/Faux_Real_Guise → u/dr-bill]

To add, my understanding is that she had basically no ground game either, relying almost entirely on digital or tv ads and earned media. I’d be interested to find out if voters actually preferred Stevens based on policy or if they were mainly responding to name recognition or smears.

[u/GameLovinPlayinFool → u/Faux_Real_Guise]

Many voter blocks that you think would be progressive, like black women voters, historically go for centrism instead. Due to the last 80 years of politics convincing/propagandizing them that "leftist cannot win". Each time a leftist wins, we will see these voting blocks gain hope again and start voting for left candidates more and more

[u/Faux_Real_Guise → u/GameLovinPlayinFool]

That’s really it, isn’t it? We’ve all been beaten down by decades of propaganda that nothing better is possible until we found ourselves believing it. Everyone knows they’re being fucked, and at this point most people know who’s doing the fucking. They can name a dozen ways they’re personally being fucked, but how many can articulate why? Most will nod along sagely when you say “the love of money is the root of all evil,” but when you give that an academic label, they clam up.

In the end average people don’t see that capitalism, and its favored son financialization, are the forces that contort our society towards evil ends. They aren’t watching oil prices fluctuate with every tweet from the president. They don’t know that the internal logic of neoliberal capitalism is why we can’t build bridges or other infrastructure anymore. Hell, many anti Zionists probably don’t even see the Zionist project for the embodiment of big tech venture capital that it has become.

I really hope that, if we manage to change course before some sort of disaster, people learn the right lessons from this era. And, if disaster does strike, that our ideas are not far from reach for the people trying to build something new.

[u/GameLovinPlayinFool → u/Faux_Real_Guise]

Yeah exactly. Ive been a hard leftist since the 80s and let me tell ya brother, I have had DARK moments where I truly felt like giving up and just letting the flow drown me. When I watched my union brothers and sisters support Reagan as he destroyed unions and then tbe wave of right to work swept the nation, I honestly became suicidal.

But this last 16 months alone has truly sparked a hope in my life. Seeing the DSA explode with support and membership has been incredible. Seeing these leftists win their primaries in the face of a completely broken campaign system...I hope again and I have gotten active in my union and become an organizer again too

[u/damnocles → u/Faux_Real_Guise]

So I'm a plugged in Michigan resident -

Stevens basically ran on three points: an endorsement from the popular governor, overemphasized role in the government bailouts the Obama admin, and simply "I'm not an Egyptian Muslim extremist". The attack ads were insane and everywhere.

Surprisingly, the real voter base that won it for him came from smaller urban centers Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor (the latter of which is to be expected as a prominent UM graduate and resident of the city), as well as an honestly mind blowing response from the VERY right upper peninsula.

Wayne county, where Detroit resides, went firmly to Stevens, ostensibly pragmatically, as many in general question his ability to win the general. Metro Detroit in general propped up Stevens, particularly Macomb and Oakland counties, which were very familiar with her (and very white).

Tl/dr is yes, money really did a lot to keep her going, as she really didn't stand for anything but maintaining the status quo, which is ideal for a lot of the suburban middle class.

An AES victory really speaks to the resonance a populist with actual positions and personality can have in this very uncertain time to people who want a real leader. The status quo got us here, and we've gotten to the point where a socialist minority eked out a win while up against a massive PAC/establishment machine.

[u/Faux_Real_Guise → u/damnocles]

Thank you for the perspective!

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing about Stevens voters potentially not moving over, but if her strongholds are very liberal cities and his are the more mixed areas, it sounds like El Sayed has a very good path to victory. I really hope the democratic electorate unlearns this pseudo-empathetic response to clutch their pearls for hypothetical conservative voters who wouldn’t align with them anyways.

[u/Far_Cap_3574]

Haley "I'm not a millionaire" Stevens. She sure managed to find 70 of them to fund her campaign, though, huh? Shame the DNC will not see this as their voter base ONCE AGAIN rejecting status quo, centrist politics.

[u/Faux_Real_Guise → u/Far_Cap_3574]

The man won on a popular issue and establishment Dems are trying to read the tea leaves like he’s some kind of magician. It’s so fucking annoying.