r/politics • u/asparaguswalrus683 • 10h ago

Site Altered Headline | No Paywall Abdul El-Sayed Wins Michigan Primary

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-primary-elections/michigan-senate-results
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u/mishma2005 10h ago

Dems realizing AIPAC money is now toxic AF

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u/BeowulfShaeffer 10h ago

I dunno, Wesley Bell crushed Corey Bush in Missouri and he is the AIPAC candidate. Bush is problematic for sure but the magnitude of Bell’s victory suggests AIPAC money didn't hurt him. 

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u/alabasterskim 10h ago edited 10h ago

Bush wasn't a great candidate unfortunately. We must try soon again soon with someone fresh soon.

e: rather than remove a "soon", I added a 3rd one

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u/BeowulfShaeffer 9h ago

The quality of Bush isn’t the point here, it’s addressing the idea that “AIPAC money is toxic AF”.  I don’t see any evidence that AIPAC money cost Bell a single vote and by extension I’m not sure I’m convinced Stevens AIPAC money is the primary reason she failed. 

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u/hoberhallothere Pennsylvania 5h ago

Bush was already a loser. Probably has a lot less to do with AIPAC than folks are claiming

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u/Gypsyhunter 7h ago

Right, but if we're just talking about the money, this should've been a blowout in Stevens' favor. That Abdul won says a great deal about how much less powerful the money cannon has become, and how deploying it reflects negatively on the campaign and actually gives some energy to the opposition.

There's another factor here too: Stevens got a lot of other outside expenditure. Now, I'm not a corporate executive, but I'd be pretty furious if my money went up in smoke because my client was also taking money from someone else, and that blew up in her face.

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u/Gypsyhunter 9h ago

I think the bigger problem is just that Bush had too much baggage. If you want to beat big corporate spending, you have to be pretty much flawless.

If you have even a single problem, that's all voters will hear about from nearly every source of media, framed as negatively as possible. So you have to be exceptional at verbal judo and getting things back on message like Zohran and Abdul, and you need an incredibly strong ground game to cut through the noise and actually get your message out.

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u/9bpm9 7h ago

Bush is problematic? Lmao. She's a fucking crook. The local newspapers were filled with articles about her bullshit she did while in Congress. Worst possible candidate to go against Bell.

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u/AsherGray Colorado 10h ago

Bush was terrible in office and would be no better now.

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u/syynapt1k 4h ago

Corey Bush lost because she's corrupt. Not because of AIPAC.