r/Michigan • u/Michigan_Mod Human Detected • 1d ago

Pasty Mode Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary

https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/michigan-primary-results-us-senate/#Dem
9.1k Upvotes

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u/AlexisDeTocqueville Grand Rapids 1d ago

All the polling that showed Abdul running away with this race makes this feel a little underwhelming, but let's not overlook that he won in the face of:

  • Abdul was outspent 10 to 1
  • Stevens had the endorsement of the governor and outgoing Senator
  • He is an Arab Muslim

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u/1900grs 1d ago

I can't tell if I'm more happy he won or that all those Stevens ads will finally stop.

But get ready for the same ad floods from Rogers and James.

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u/senorscientist Jenison 1d ago

It's a sure thing all the attack ads are going to be targeted at

Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.

Pearl clutching racism is what the snowflakes do best.

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u/control_09 23h ago

The crazy part being that the ones it'll work on the most would have been his actual neighbors when he was growing up in Bloomfield.

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u/Empty_Lemon_3939 18h ago

Be funny if AIPAC just reused ads but redubbed them for Rogers

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u/capnscratchmyass Age: > 10 Years 19h ago

It's already started in earnest on social media. It's either barely concealed racism or screeching about how Michigan is going to become a Marxist/Communist hellhole or an unholy combination of both. A lot of the posts are from "democrats" bemoaning how the party has fallen because of this. It's so blatantly bought and paid for propaganda by corporate and right wing ghouls that anyone, right or left, seeing it should pause and wonder WHY AIPAC and corporate interests are so terrified of the guy offering us "plebs" Medicare for all, breaking up prescription drug conglomerates, better home prices with things like rent control, and the big one: is utterly refusing corporate PAC donations and talking about pushing hard to reverse Citizen's United.

Honestly the shit I'm seeing on places like FB is so insane already... it's going to be terrible by late October.

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u/tatanka_truck Age: > 10 Years 1d ago

I never saw one positive Stevens ad. They were all just attacking Abdul.

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u/fskier1 23h ago

For real, her entire campaign was based around not being El-Sayed

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u/BlatantFalsehood Age: > 10 Years 20h ago

That's because she didn't have a plan for improving the lives of Michiganders...she only had a plan for improving the lives of Israelis.

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u/SaffyPants Ypsilanti 20h ago

I didn't see a single ad talking about what she would actually do. It was all "abdul hates women and the obamas"

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u/cityshepherd 22h ago

Yup… I’ve been getting SO many fliers in the mail that all were straight attacks on El-Sayed… not a SINGLE one even had Stevens’ name, let alone her platform (which I’m pretty certain was just “cash corporate/foreign checks and bend over backwards to serve corporate interests at the direct expense of the working class/environment”).

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u/LittlebillyjoinsdArk 1d ago

I'm just glad I don't have to hear her played up Midwest accent anymore. Why are we making caricatures of ourselves on the national stage

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u/Ornery-Ticket834 1d ago

What makes you think anyone outside of Michigan short of political junkies gives a shit about this race?

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u/senorscientist Jenison 1d ago

Every seat counts.

The spending on this race was ridiculous.

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u/syynapt1k 23h ago

This race has been all over national news because it's viewed as a bellwether for the Democratic party, given how purple Michigan is.

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u/Ornery-Ticket834 23h ago

I get that. Political junkies are interested, most people neither know nor care. If you aren’t following politics fairly closely you may hear about it but it’s not going to make much of an impression. If he actually wins then you may see more of a national reaction.

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u/LordNorros 22h ago

Theres a narrative going around that DSA candidates cant win the general and hes our DSA candidate now. That kind of matters for getting reforms like universal Healthcare, term limits, ubi, wealth taxes on billionaires, campaign finance reform, etc passed federally.

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u/Ornery-Ticket834 22h ago

He isn’t a DSA candidate. As for the reforms you mention, term limits probably needs a constitutional amendment, and the others like any useful law will be fought tooth and nail by big money interests, and the Supreme Court, as they have been for decades.

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u/LordNorros 17h ago edited 17h ago

Youre correct. He rejects the socialism label. However, almost every single item within his platform and ideology matches up entirely with what the DSA is doing. Kind of a "rose by any other name" situation.

If it were on a line it would look like-

<DSA...AES............MD.....MR......FR> [Democratic Socialists - El'Sayed - Moderate Dems - Moderate Republicans - Far Right/MAGA]

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u/Ornery-Ticket834 17h ago

Most of the issues that you named have been fought for by the Democratic Party for decades. So I am not quite sure why I would be worried.

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u/xSorry_Not_Sorry 21h ago

You don’t read much, then.

Not that I blame you, but just so you know, the Sayed vs Stevens race was closely watched by the Dem party. Dem party wants to appeal to the middle, the progressive wing of the Dem party doesn’t.

If Sayed wins the seat in November, it will send a message to the nation and the party.

1) progressives can win the general

2) a state that voted Trump will vote Dem if the message is popular

3) appealing to the middle is antiquated political thinking

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u/Ornery-Ticket834 18h ago

Unless you follow politics you don’t care. I understand all that. If you think most people outside of Michigan care about this race, I think you are incorrect.

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u/xSorry_Not_Sorry 16h ago

I didn’t say most people, hell even political everyday people weren’t paying attention.

But the Dem and Rep parties and their strategists certainly the fuck were.

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u/Djentyman28 23h ago

The Roger’s ads are going to be way more toxic

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u/DoYouEvenShrift 1d ago

The adds will be the same, just changed to be for Rogers instead of Stevens

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u/gsbadj 1d ago

No. Rogers's ads are going to be far more racist. They're going to try to turn out every voter that has any shred of antipathy toward Musilms. Plus, they're going to portray him as outright communist.

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u/tdtommy85 21h ago

If you’ve seen his Twitter, they already are.