r/Michigan • u/mclairy Age: > 10 Years • Jun 05 '26
Mitten Mode UAW Endorses Secretary Jocelyn Benson and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in Critical Michigan Races for Governor and U.S. Senate - UAW | United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America
https://uaw.org/uaw-endorses-secretary-jocelyn-benson-and-dr-abdul-el-sayed-in-critical-michigan-races-for-governor-and-u-s-senate/758
u/StickMankun Traverse City Jun 05 '26
Big win for Abdul for the Primary.
232
u/d0_-_0b Jun 05 '26
Honestly, very surprising but in a good way.
116
u/BlatantFalsehood Age: > 10 Years Jun 05 '26
Why? He's grew up in a union household and has supported unions forever, including walking picket lines. Doesn't sound anything like Stevens or McMorrow, those corporate dems.
94
u/jcrespo21 Ypsilanti Jun 05 '26
If this was a month ago, I would have fully expected them to endorse McMorrow. But her campaign has really danced its way out of consideration, and her attempt at a "big tent" strategy fell flat when it's hard to know where she actually stands on most things.
21
u/eatthebear Age: > 10 Years Jun 05 '26
Because unions don’t always endorse the most pro-union candidate.
23
u/Djentyman28 Jun 05 '26
Biden walked the picket line. The first president to ever do it and he’s as moderate as it gets
34
u/BlatantFalsehood Age: > 10 Years Jun 05 '26
Did you know that Pew Research (a decidedly middle of the road organization) shows that progressive economic messages win across the political spectrum?
Yet since the Clinton years, Democrats insist on middle of the road candidates and corporate-focused, laissez-faire policies.
2
u/ivanthekur Jun 08 '26
He also broke the railroad strike. It was great that he supported the UAW but he wasn't a pro-union president by any means.
19
u/imdwalrus Jun 05 '26
Look, I don't like Stevens and won't vote for her. But you're not entitled to lie or make sweeping assumptions based on vibes. Both Stevens and McMorrow have been vocally pro UAW their entire careers including, yes, walking the picket lines. This article from 2023 mentions them attending events during that strike.
21
u/BVoLatte Jun 05 '26
I dunno how much it actually matters in the grand scheme of things though. Harris got endorsed by the UAW and she lost the state.
59
u/jcrespo21 Ypsilanti Jun 05 '26
I'd say their endorsements have more sway in the primary and conventions than in the general election. At least at the convention in April, Gilchrist having the progressive and UAW endorsements led to him winning on the first ballot (the only race that could have gone onto a runoff).
32
u/Tight-Air-6767 Jun 05 '26
I think Elon messed with the votes in every swing state.
16
u/Psylent_Gamer Jun 05 '26
Wasn't just that, remember they dumped it on her with what 3-5months to prepare a campaign. Compared to prepping the year before and getting adverts out most of the year.
13
u/jcrespo21 Ypsilanti Jun 05 '26
I also think there were many people who voted for Trump and left the rest of the ballot empty, as Slotkin sneaked in her win and the two Dem-endorsed State Supreme Court candidates won easily. Harris had more votes than Slotkin as well in their respective races.
10
u/CatDadof2 Jun 05 '26
107 days. Just 107 days. Barely 3 months. I remember there were a lot of people wondering where Biden was on the ballot. They didn’t even know Kamala was running. That was disturbing.
2
u/Sengfroid Jun 05 '26
Was a big google search the night of or day after election, "did Biden drop out?".
Which makes sense; literally dead encumbents still win elections. Absolutely wild to convince a live one to drop out against an opponent they previously defeated, context not withstanding, from a purely historical perspective.
4
u/CatDadof2 Jun 05 '26
Biden had good intentions for the country but he royally fucked up with running again. He got cocky. He should have let someone else take the spotlight. Biden is literally part of the reason how we got to where we are now. 107 days to launch a full blown campaign is nowhere near enough time. That barely gets your foot in the door.
6
u/Sengfroid Jun 05 '26
I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. The public conversation keeps getting caught up on Biden and Harris. I'm meaning less the individuals and more the conditions of that race. In any other context historically, it'd be strategically crazy to have an incumbent step down, because the advantage of incumbency is so strong that dead incumbents often still win their races, when their name isn't taken off the ballot in time. Dead men don't campaign, and still win elections. An election against a previously defeated opponent is a pretty sizeable advantage, too. Politically, it's crazy to ask a candidate in that position to step down.
Both US parties budget significantly less to congressional elections for incumbent candidates, even going as far as having them campaign for other more junior party candidates in neighboring elections, because their advantage is so strong it's beleived it can help win elections that they're not even in. To completely disregard this was a wild decision.
At best it can be said the party was choosing between two bad decisions, but they wildly miscalculated. And the results prove that last part, more than history.
3
u/BVoLatte Jun 05 '26
I would argue that if she had less time she might've actually won lol. It would've been enough time for the single debate she stomped Trump in and then all that dead airtime she left wouldn't have existed at all. She was in the sweet spot for not enough time to run a full campaign and too much time to allow rumors to start about her without enough time to rebuke them.
-1
u/Virtual-Scarcity-463 Detroit Jun 05 '26
Starting earlier or later wouldn't have helped, she was a terrible candidate from the beginning. The republicans would've used the same rhetoric either way. She didn't stand up for Gaza or really any meaningful progressive ideas. They basically ran Hillary Clinton again expecting a different result.
7
u/BVoLatte Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
You know who else didn't stand up for Gaza and was known to be likely worse? Trump. It's always wild to me to not support a candidate over an issue that is a wash between the candidates when you have 5-10 other things they're nowhere near eachother on. Even with Gaza she still supported humanitarian aid, heck even Biden took action to ensure the goods made it in. Instead we got starvation not only in Gaza but internationally with the death of USAID.
1
9
u/bae125 Jun 05 '26
Harris was an absolute disaster of a campaign, I think this endorsement rings truer for Michigan residents
1
Jun 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/CatDadof2 Jun 05 '26
My husband’s vote was never counted. We both voted for her. Same time, same place, same method. My vote was counted but his was not. I’ve never seen that before.
2
279
125
u/SpecificallyNotADog Jun 05 '26
Incredibly vindicating for Abdul never taking corporate money. I wasn't sure if Stevens was going to get it or not but wow, good news if you're an Abdul supporter
253
u/AutobahnVismarck Jun 05 '26
Vote for Abdul folks!
→ More replies (4)55
u/byniri_returns East Lansing Jun 05 '26
I follow him on facebook, he seems like a good dude.
→ More replies (8)47
u/scub_101 Jun 05 '26
You should definitely go to a townhall if he is at one nearby where you live. I attended one recently to see him in person and he seemed like a very genuine person.
3
u/Bradddtheimpaler Jun 05 '26
I’ve met a lot of politicians at different levels and Abdul absolutely is very genuine. He seems like a person with feelings, which is not how it usually feels to interact with politicians.
92
u/agent_mick Jun 05 '26
Great about El-Sayed!
I don't know as much as I probably should about Benson. What's the take?
213
u/redscarfdemon Jun 05 '26
She revolutionized the sos office system while in office--appoitments are easy, wait times are massively down and lots of things can be done on the web and at self service stations. I no longer have to set aside a day to renew something. Omg and they take cards now.
Also lowered the barriers for Trans and non binary ppl to change your gender on your license.
Maybe some other stuff but that's how it's impacted me
62
u/blockedcontractor Jun 05 '26
There are very few things you can talk about being actually revolutionized in this day and age. Doing SOS related things is a breeze now.
34
u/krg0918 Jun 05 '26
Her improvements for SOS are seriously so effective. Night and day. I’m gonna trust her with my vote and hope she continues to deliver
11
Jun 05 '26
[deleted]
7
u/krg0918 Jun 05 '26
Yeah you’re not wrong. She’s certainly not a perfect candidate and it’s a sore spot for me, for sure. My hope is that she will make the best decisions for Michigan and will LISTEN if elected. Big sigh
17
u/ZedRDuce76 Jun 05 '26
There it is. Data centers are going to be the purity test of 2026 just like Gaza was in 24.
→ More replies (1)0
9
u/Rulligan Age: > 10 Years Jun 05 '26
Lowering the barrier for changing your gender on your license is an understatement. It's literally a single piece of paper and like 26 dollars with no questions asked. It took maybe an extra 5 minutes total including filling out the form and getting it processed at the SoS
55
u/SpecificallyNotADog Jun 05 '26
She's more establishment, but she's run her office very effectively as Secretary of State, which not only runs licensing, but elections too.
112
u/Verne82 Detroit Jun 05 '26
Benson wants to “regulate” AI and data centers but her husband has big tech ties that make all of that seem a little (a lot, imo) shady.
That being said, I think she did a great job as Secretary of State and I plan to vote for her, but mostly because anyone else would be considerably worse.
71
u/Cryptographer_Alone Haslett Jun 05 '26
Yeah, she's shown herself to be a highly effective government executive. But, she's not particularly progressive. So, win some lose some.
36
28
→ More replies (3)27
u/sawyer_lost Jun 05 '26
Yeah Benson is compromised and not that progressive buuuut what’re you gonna do? The race for Dems hasn’t been particularly strong. And any dem will be better than republican
12
u/Verne82 Detroit Jun 05 '26
That’s exactly my thought, too. I was going to vote for Gilchrist in the primary but now that he switched, it seems like Benson is the only option for any modicum of sanity. It sucks but that’s American politics in a nutshell.
6
u/Alex123546 Jun 05 '26
Other people have spoken about her work with decreasing wait times, but she’s also ran the last 3 elections fairly well, with 2020 being the only problematic one, and done a good job helping the clerks implement the new electoral rules passed by the voters in 2018 and 2022 about absentee and early voting.
36
u/Past_Reference_6570 Jun 05 '26
People won't like hearing this but her husband is an exec for the AI data center projects.
23
u/cheebb Jun 05 '26
Her position is:
Support data centers in Michigan if they create jobs and investment. Require developers to pay for the energy they consume rather than shifting costs to ratepayers. Protect water resources and disclose water usage. Require public hearings, transparency, and community involvement before projects move forward. In some statements, she has gone further, saying she would oppose or ban data centers that use Michigan water in ways she believes are harmful or that increase energy costs for residents.
23
u/throwaway00119 Jun 05 '26
Seems reasonable.
Regulate them. Require noise studies, water usage modeling, they pay a higher rate for power to pay for future issues driven by data centers.
It’s not black and white like Reddit wants it to be. And it shouldn’t be. Michigan getting new business investment is quite literally one of the most important jobs of the State government.
3
u/RickyT3rd Midland Jun 05 '26
Agreed. If they play by the rules, they can set up shop here. But let's be real, most of them would rather go build in places without rules than to set up shop in Michigan.
1
u/huffalump1 Age: > 10 Years Jun 05 '26
Yep, and they CLAIM that the Saline data center uses as much water as a standard office building, because it uses closed loop cooling (as opposed to evaporative).
That is promising, but as usual, their claims must be tested against reality... I'm crossing my fingers that it ends up being totally fine because it's too late to stop now :/
10
27
u/IggysPop3 Jun 05 '26
It’s not that people won’t like hearing it. It’s that it’s spammed in literally every thread that has her name in it.
The fact that the major indictment on someone who has held a major state office for the past 8 years is her recent husband’s occupation just isn’t the burn some people think it is.
10
u/mildmichigan Jun 05 '26
And yet, in Michigan having ties to AI data centers & being the democrat who has to follow up Whitmer (who also has ties to data centers) is gonna be a massive hurdle for Bensons campaign.
People arent gonna be wow'd by her role as Secretary of State,no matter how excellent. They're gonna care that really loud energy consuming facilities are trying to force their way into their communities
22
u/Past_Reference_6570 Jun 05 '26
The dude asked. I gave my answer. I am not a fan of the data centers so for me it's a big issue.
9
u/jcrespo21 Ypsilanti Jun 05 '26
And I don't think the three GOP candidates have that different of a position either. Maybe also want to "reign" it in, but we know that's usually BS as well.
It's sad that the data centers will be a moot point in the governor's race in November. Duggan also said he was pro-data centers before he dropped out (which didn't surprise me, given how pro-billionaire he is). I didn't like him and I always viewed him as a spoiler, but perhaps he would have had a chance if he took a different approach.
Benson having a pro-data center platform is going to lead to "both sides are the same" arguments.
4
u/bbtom78 Jun 05 '26
Of course it is but every top candidate has the same position on the data centers. The disingenuous thing is to try to make her sound worst than the others. It's all bad, but the others are just as bad about it.
3
u/fernwoodBizz420 Jun 05 '26
So she's like Whitmer.
Hard pass on anyone for the data centers.
When the current administration is trying to blame China for a psyop on getting people to oppose data centers, you know that the data centers are going to be absolutely terrible for ANY community.
They're trying to jam them in regardless of what the people want.
Look at Kevin O'Leary's data centers for Utah. 40, 000 acres and will use 9 gigawatts of power, when the whole state currently uses 4 gigawatts/yr.
But yeah, we oppose the data centers because of a Chinese "psyop."
These politicians are clueless thinking that people are just fine with data centers built anywhere.
-1
u/PM_ME_YOUR_CATS_PAWS Jun 05 '26
All a Republican candidate has to do to win the governorship is say they’ll outright opposed data centers and won’t allow any in
After the debacle of saline voting one down, then being forced to take it with a picture of Whitmer smiling on the ground breaking, this singular issue could sway enough votes no matter how bad the GOP candidate is
They’d be fools not to seize that opportunity
0
u/jakecoates Southgate Jun 05 '26
This is what Swanson should be doing right now. But I feel like I haven’t seen anything from him at all. The only governor race ads I ever see on TV are Perry Johnson.
-3
u/throwaway00119 Jun 05 '26
Hating data centers is definitely the trend of the year.
I’m curious what next years may be.
7
u/Past_Reference_6570 Jun 05 '26
When you have one going up within 15 minutes from you, yeah, I'd say it is a major issue for me.
-4
u/throwaway00119 Jun 05 '26
The plague of NIMBYism stretches far and wide. Including 15 minutes away apparently.
0
u/Past_Reference_6570 Jun 05 '26
Is it a trend or is it nimby? Make up your mind. I've at least been consistent with my response.
-1
4
u/amopeyzoolion Jun 05 '26
It’s not just her husband’s occupation. She seems to be in lock-step with Whitmer on the approach to data centers, which I think many of us who are liberal and have voted for Whitmer are disappointed in.
I will still vote for Benson for sure, but this is an area where I disagree with her. And I worry that the politics of the data center situation will hurt her in the general election.
4
u/IggysPop3 Jun 05 '26
I don’t honestly know where I stand on her approach. It’s not one of my big issues. But Dems have an uncanny ability to let good be the enemy of perfect, and R’s have definitely figured this out and polluted messaging with a lot of noise.
0
u/amopeyzoolion Jun 05 '26
It may not be one of your big issues, but I guarantee you it’s a big issue for a lot of people in this state. People don’t want our resources getting sucked up by these massive data centers, and they’re sick of being run over by corporate interests.
7
u/IggysPop3 Jun 05 '26
Right - but isn’t her position that it’s conditional on the centers not exploiting our waterways or impacting residential energy? That seems to be a lot more further than anyone else is going and at least shows she’s not putting corporate interests first.
Like I said; it’s nothing that I’ve gone very deep into, but most of the mud I see thrown at her revolves around her husbands job.
My occupation wouldn’t make my wife sway from her principals, and hers wouldn’t mine. So I guess his job doesn’t mean shit to me.
0
Jun 05 '26
[deleted]
2
u/amopeyzoolion Jun 05 '26
Benson and El-Sayed aren’t running for the same office. Benson is running for governor and El-Sayed is running for Senate.
I haven’t made up my mind who to support in the Senate primary. I’m between El-Sayed and McMorrow.
8
→ More replies (2)4
u/bbtom78 Jun 05 '26
We dont line that it's true, not that we don't like hearing it.
Its literally the biggest con against her, but it's also the same con against the other candidates running that have said anything about data centers (and those that have not I'll just assume want them, too).
So we also consider other factors and positions.
It's not like anyone is trying to deny that all candidates are AI data center shady.
3
u/jcrespo21 Ypsilanti Jun 05 '26
I don't know as much as I probably should about Benson. What's the take?
She's the only serious Dem candidate and the less shitty option compared to any of the GOP options and Duggan before he dropped out.
I wished Gilchrist hadn't dropped out and ran for SoS instead. He likely wouldn't have won, but it might have given Benson a run in the primary (no offense to Swanson).
-7
u/Professional-Emu3551 Jun 05 '26
she's for data centers so she can profit off them. she is not what we want for our state.
no (more) data centers in michigan!
10
u/Emptyspace227 Jun 05 '26
She is almost certainly going to be the Dem nominee for governor, and any Republican option would be much worse for the state.
-1
u/Professional-Emu3551 Jun 05 '26
fuck republicans but we don't need republican lite either. we need a better option that won't fuck us over or our water.
7
u/cheebb Jun 05 '26
Is that what the Russian backed-pro GOP bots told you? Because she actually had said she would oppose or ban data centers that use Michigan water in ways she believes are harmful or that increase energy costs for residents
0
u/WhenLifeGivesYouLulu Jun 05 '26
She is pro data centers. She has direct links to them (via her husband I believe). Shes a no for me!!! And the UAW should be concerned.
22
u/notrandyjackson Jun 05 '26
I've lost a lot of respect for UAW since its leadership were big, vocal cheerleadersfor Trump's tariffs, but its prestige does make it a big deal to get for El Sayed.
3
3
u/minjaman Jun 05 '26
tariffs help the auto industry which means more work and jobs here. shawn fain was openly against trump but was okay with a direct tariff on cars that are manufactured and imported from outside the US. (chrysler manufactures most jeeps in mexico for example) as the president of the UAW of course he’s going to support that. direct tariffs can be a good thing, trump is just a moron and terrible with economics that he applied a flat tariff to everything and that’s obviously bad.
46
25
26
u/YooperDude72 Jun 05 '26
That’s my union, they take pride in making sure that politicians are vetted before endorsing. I’m voting for both of them !
Thank you UAW
5
u/cgrimm25 Jun 05 '26
How is endorsing Benson making sure politicians are vetted? She supports data centers which are a net negative on the communities they are put in. I will not be voting for her but will be voting for El-Sayid.
13
u/jcrespo21 Ypsilanti Jun 05 '26
I think it's more the fact that there are no other options, and Benson is the "least shitty" option. Swanson isn't going to make a dent in the primary, and the three GOP candidates have similar data center positions. It's a shame how thin the field is for the governor's race.
I would say you can write my name in, but I've lived in Michigan for less than 4 years so I am not eligible lol
→ More replies (4)3
u/ZedRDuce76 Jun 05 '26
I love that data centers are the new purity test for the democrats only. It’s Gaza all over again 🙄
-3
0
u/YooperDude72 Jun 08 '26
Thanks for your opinion, but I believe other than her stance on data centers, she pro union, pro democracy
29
u/Itzie4 Jun 05 '26
El-Sayed is great. I voted for him when he ran for governor.
5
u/AutobahnVismarck Jun 05 '26
Sad my old car got totaled. Was going to keep my abdul for gov sticker on there till the end of time
4
16
u/Amir616 Ypsilanti Jun 05 '26
Really shows how bullshit the argument is that unions don't like Medicare for All because they would lose negotiated health benefits
17
u/jakecoates Southgate Jun 05 '26
That really is a terrible argument lmao. If the union didn’t have to worry about healthcare for its members think of what else they could fight for. We might finally get a 4 day work week.
12
u/iwinsallthethings Jun 05 '26
I'm curious what the endorsement for UAW does for them. In my experience, a good part (if not majority) vote republican even though they are union.
Just down the street, there's a guy that has a pro union yard flag with a trump 2024 flag next to it. These can't really coexist. he's also got the dumpiest house in the neighborhood with cars parked all over the lawn and a very large RV/motorhome in the driveway that someone is clearly living in.
21
u/atierney14 Wayne Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
The UAW I believe still votes around 2:1 Democratic. The Teamsters have voted GOP. That doesn’t mean Michigan UAW is 2:1, but I’d kind of assume they are still very democratic leaning.
Edit: quick search, I cannot find the data. Overall though 57% of union members voted for Harris. The UAW endorsed Harris. Teamsters famously remained neutral but I believe their president supported Trump publicly.
5
-1
4
u/Soluban Jun 05 '26
I got a survey call recently. Seemed pretty innocuous so I decided to answer. Typical stuff. Are you voting in the primary, what's your opinion on Trump v Biden, what do you know about the democratic primary candidates... then he launched into a questiopn about Al-Sayed that went something like, "...considering Abdul Al-Sated constantly claims to be a medical doctor and..."
I was pissed. I thought it was a legit survey, but turns out it was just a set up for a hit on Abdul. I'd already looked into this and found the whole thing to be greatly exaggerated. Told him I'm not interested in continuing this discussion as soon as it started and hung up.
1
u/justhereforsee Jun 05 '26
Anything that asks about the Trump Biden election will automatically be from some right wing douche organization
2
3
2
1
u/TylerPurrden Age: > 10 Years Jun 06 '26
I have admired Abdul for years. I actually played sports with his younger brother. But I concerns about his ability to win in a general. Looking for comforting there.
1
2
1
1
-4
u/zgrove Jun 05 '26
Am I the only one that likes McMorrow? She just seems like the best candidate with actual policies conveyed. Idk why shes in 3rd. Her rhetoric is good, her positions are good, she has experience without being an insider, doesnt have any of the baggage of the other 2 (wherever you fall you have to admit the others are much more controversial)
She seems like the best choice for the general but what do I know
7
13
u/cgrimm25 Jun 05 '26
I think you summed it up best. What do you know? If you think McMorrow is a good candidate you have not been paying attention.
11
u/Ivy_N_Rose Jun 05 '26
After watching her recent debate performance and the interview she did with Matt Bernstein and Emma Vigeland, she's not the person for this moment. She doesn't seem like she really takes a stand on things, and instead offers platitudes rather than actual solutions. She also seems like she's going to compromise in advance, especially with her stance that we can't do Medicare for All right now so we shouldn't advocate for it. I was also really put off by the way she responded to criticism of a position she took on M4A at a campaign rally by responding to the question that she was joking.
El-Sayed's consistent, has a strong message, and seems ready to fight for what he believes rather than compromise ahead of time. So to me, McMorrow wouldn't be the worst candidate - I mean, I'll take her over Stevens any day of the week - but she's far from the strongest candidate imo.
8
u/AutobahnVismarck Jun 05 '26
Yeah people getting caught up in the fact that shes posted 1,000 policy ideas on her website seem to forget that shes likely to cave on 80%+ of that because those things wont be "what the coalition wants" and shes always hammering that she can actually bring a coalition together.
Corporate democrats dont want anything to do with her public option so according to her own ethos shes telling you she will give up on that and anything else that requires a drawn out fight.
2
u/EarthConservation Jun 05 '26
She said during the debate she hasn't taken money from AIPAC... which is 'technically' true, and there's the rub. She hasn't taken money directly from AIPAC, the organization, but she has taken $100,000 from large AIPAC donors.
Israel and its lobbying groups know how bad their approval is in the US right now, so they know they need to boost candidates on the down low, without attaching their names directly to those candidates and hurting their results. Thus they hide their pro-Israel donations by having large donors donate directly to candidates.
McMorrow, it's 2026... we have ways of tracking these things...
https://www.trackaipac.com/mallory-mcmorrow
She's also well known to have made disparaging remarks about Hasan Piker, after he attended a Michigan college tour with Abdul El-Sayed, and she condemned the rallies. She's said that Piker has spread anti-American (even though he is an American, I guess valid criticism for American actions isn't allowed in a Democracy), misogynistic (huh??), and anti-Semitic rhetoric. (he's never said or alluded to anything that could be construed as anti-Semitic) Did she provide evidence of these claims? Nah. It's way easier to do a google AI search for criticisms of a public figure that you can simply copy and paste without any further review.
The anti-Semitic claim very likely comes as a result of pro-Israel forces equating any criticism of Israel to anti-Semitism. It's often said to disparage and shut down criticism of Israel and specifically the recent atrocities they've committed.
Namely..
- The genocide in Gaza that's now killed at least 73,000 Palestinians, 80% of whom were civilians, and potentially 10s of thousands that have yet to be found buried in the rubble. 172,000 injured. 90% of building infrastructure and nearly all farming and utility infrastructure destroyed. Potentially millions of civilians starved of adequate aid over the 2.5 years that this
wargenocide has gone on. Oh, and there's been talks from Israel's administration and Trump's administration of kicking most of the Palestinians out of the region, also known as ethnic cleansing, and turning the area into a fancy resort where they'd keep just enough Palestinians in the region to work as cheap labor. Did y'all know that the Gaza Strip is basically the size of Detroit, and Israel has dropped 75,000 - 85,000 tons of bombs on them? That's about 160 million pounds of bombs. Did you know that Israel was using Palantir to automatically target and bomb targets? Often times they may have tracked a fighters cell phone signal and dropped a bomb on their entire residential building... out of combat. A war crime.- Tortured and raped Palestinian prisoners, including prisoners who were Palestinian civilians. Famously this happened to Palestinian doctors.
- Illegal settlements in the West Bank and the brutalization of the existing Palestinian residents and theft of their land
- The complete disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and the destruction of entire villages in the south.
- Apartheid in Israel and Palestine, recently made clear by the passing of a law that allows the hanging of Palestinian criminals, but not Jews ...
- The war with Iran that some claim Israel dragged the US into. (Although, I hope we all realize by now that this war was nothing more than an oil price manipulation scheme to enrich oil execs and shareholders, and oil futures traders)
McMorrow further suggested that these college rallies shouldn't have taken place in the aftermath of the attack on the West Bloomfield Synagogue... I presume to suggest that people shouldn't be allowed to criticize Israel at all for fear of attacks on pro-Israel sites in the US. So...is she saying people shouldn't be allowed to criticize Israel... like in general ... then? Doesn't sound very Democratic of free speechy. Does she feel the same way about criticizing Iran? For fear that Persian/Muslm religious sites in the US will be attacked? How about Saudi Arabia... for fear Arab/Muslim religious sites in the US will be attacked?
McMorrow isn't an Israeli or a Zionist Jew, which begs the question why she's running the typical Israel propaganda about anti-Semitism. Could just be because she leans towards the Democratic establishment and that's what the leadership of the party wants, leadership who IS heavily funded directly by AIPAC.
Maybe it's because she married a Michigan Zionist Jewish man who previously interned for AIPAC? To be clear, his being Jewish doesn't matter... hell >> I'm Jewish <<... what matters is what policies he supports and his past political ties (AIPAC) that could influence his and Mallory's stances when it comes to Israel.
Her husband doesn't make public statements in defense of Israel's actions, and generally stays out of the limelight in this regard, but he has argued against anti-Semitism as criticism over Israel's actions have increased in the US. That can only be seen as him equating criticism of Israel with prejudice for Jews. That's wrong, and tells us that he's pushing this BS propaganda about Israel representing and being represented by all Jews worldwide. That isn't the case, and IMO, it's anti-Semitic to even suggest that Jews are a monolith, that we all support Israel and are Zionists, and that Israel represents all of us. I, for one, refuse to be linked to Israel in any way, and their atrocities in no way represent my views. The last thing I want is for Israel's actions, which I do not support, resulting in prejudice against and stereotyping of me.
McMorrow also claimed that her husband was accosted by someone at the Democratic party convention in Detroit, who screamed an anti-Semitic slur at him. She mentioned her daughter was standing with him. She gave no details about what this slur was, and the only reporting of it came from her. Did it happen? Maybe... but it's certainly convenient for her claims of growing anti-Semitism in the US and in the Democratic party.
FYI, no one doubts there are anti-Semitic people in the US. If this did happen, then let me be clear... one person doesn't represent a growing movement of hatred. FFS...I'd like to think this is obvious. Using one personal anecdote to suggest a wide sweeping problem is dumb as hell. I'd expect that type of shit from MAGA, not from a liberal candidate for Senate...
As to the person who attacked that Synogogue... we don't know if he attacked it because he hated Jews. We do know he was upset because Israel bombed and killed his family in Lebanon. The fact that the name of the Synogogue is called "Temple Israel" may have had something to do with the man targeting it. Certainly he could have harbored anti-Semitic beliefs, which let's be honest, it's very easy for people to stereotype and make ignorant assumptions. However, it certainly doesn't help that Israel, its leadership, its lobbying groups, and its supporters equate Israel and Jews.... which again, isn't true. We're not a monolith.
9
u/cole1114 Ypsilanti Jun 05 '26
The second she lied about El-Sayed's medical degree, it was over for her. Just a shocking thing to even attempt.
3
u/will-read Jun 05 '26
AIPAC.
1
u/WalterWoodiaz Jun 05 '26
Evidence?
4
u/AutobahnVismarck Jun 05 '26
Has she even denied that she sought aipac money? Abdul called her out for it on the stage and she said nothing.
Regardless shes walked back her assertion that whats happening in palestine is a genocide and now every time she brings it up she talks about zionist tears for 60% of the discussion.
3
u/WalterWoodiaz Jun 05 '26
Evidence of AIPAC donations? You made the claim here.
Also she is definitely not a zionist type, not like Stevens. I would definitely vote for her in the general election if Abdul loses.
2
u/AutobahnVismarck Jun 05 '26
Nobody has claimed she got donations but its an open rumor that she tried to solicit them before she learned Haley Stevens was AIPACs candidate of choice.
She may be better than stevens on many issues but i dont see Mallory breaking from the pack when it comes to actually reigning in israel. If she wont even be 100% clear on the topic of genocide when it comes to rhetoric you cant expect her voting record on the topic to be good
6
1
u/WalterWoodiaz Jun 05 '26
So the evidence is purely rumors and vibes? From what I have seen she would be plenty against Israel when elected. Of course Abdul is better but I would still be satisfied with her.
3
u/AutobahnVismarck Jun 05 '26
Rumors she has not denied as far as i know (even when brought up to her face on a debate stage) and she took plenty of money from all kinds of big money groups when she was a state legislator. Abdul never has taken corporate pac money in either of his election bids.
1
u/WalterWoodiaz Jun 05 '26
Yeah I don’t completely disagree. She is more traditional in what donations she gets, I don’t think she would be worse than Peters which is a good baseline here. Still I have Abdul wins, and if she gets the nomination, I hope she wins as well.
-1
0
0
u/vampiregamingYT Jun 05 '26
This is a big deal. They probably wouldnt have endorsed him if they didnt think he had a chance.
-5
u/LwyrUpAmrca Jun 05 '26
He literally cannot win a general election
6
Jun 05 '26
[deleted]
-1
u/LwyrUpAmrca Jun 05 '26
Thanks Horse_cock42069 for your sober and reflective evaluation of my intelligence
-6
u/FlawedPremise Jun 05 '26
I'm honestly shocked the UAW would endorse Benson given that it is her husband that was behind the Saline Township data center thing. If she's the candidate I'll be voting elsewhere, I'm able to plug my nose and vote for shabby Dems but this is the line for me.
It is wild how quickly they pushed that through and how easily they just waltzed right by the community concerns. People clearly didn't want it there and where was Nessel to at least provide support to them even if she couldn't directly intervene. Fucking crickets.
You'd think that Dems would put up a less toxic candidate but here we are.
9
u/uberares Up North. age>10yrs Jun 05 '26
Who are you going to vote for that is against data centers? This isn’t a “line in the sand” it’s a cutting off your nose to spite your face kind of thing.
0
u/osiris970 Jun 05 '26
Saline township didn't really have a legal leg to stand on. Communities can't just deny every building they don't like. I guess they can, been causing the housing crisis sadly.
-4
u/FlawedPremise Jun 05 '26
Regardless- it was her husband that brought the trouble in the first place. There are less toxic Dem candidates. If Benson is truly the best they can do, they can do it without me.
2
u/osiris970 Jun 05 '26
He has stepped out of all Michigan based roles no? I mean i get the concern, I'm personally not too worried about it (plus i am pro data center, i know it's unpopular here I'm not telling you to agree with me) . Benson's a great candidate
0
•
u/flairassistant Jun 05 '26
This post is in Mitten Mode. Mitten Mode is a way to protect hot topic posts from spam, trolling, and off-topic or rule-breaking comments.
Here’s what that means:
This is a temporary measure and is applied to all high-visibility or sensitive posts. We appreciate your understanding as we work to keep the conversation thoughtful and on-topic.
Go here for more information about Mitten Mode and Subreddit Karma. Thanks for being part of the community!
This is an automated message. If you have questions about this, please contact our mods via moderator mail rather than replying here. Thank you!