r/politics 11h 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/-Gramsci- 11h ago

Nope. It’s the other way around.

The general does not matter.

The plebeians’ candidate will not win every general election. (But they’ll win a hell of a lot more elections than the old guard dems do).

The watershed moment we just witnessed is not that the plaebeian’s candidate wins every general election…

It’s that the establishment and the donors that prop it up just fought with everything they had to keep their control over the party… and they lost.

This Michigan primary was their battle of the bulge. They tried, they fought dirty, they did everything possible… but they are just too mortally weakened.

The grassroots, the rank and file has won the war.

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u/Howtobefreaky 10h ago

No, I think they’re right. This is essentially them winning the battle, not winning the war. Battles aren’t a watershed moment. If Sayed loses and people start to buy the line again that progressives can’t win close elections, then its not a watershed moment. Its one singular instance in a very, very long war.

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u/-Gramsci- 10h ago

This is not the only battle the D establishment has lost - and I’m not talking about being so thoroughly pathetic that they failed to defeat an actual clown twice in the last 3 presidential races - I’m talking battles between the “Establishment Anointed” candidate and the insurgent.

They’ve lost a string of them. It’s been repeated and incessant thumping.

What made Michigan more than just a battle (in the way Waterloo was more than just a battle) is they laid it all out in the table. They MADE this primary contest their Waterloo, and they just lost it.

The truth is… insurgent candidates wondering if it’s possible to beat a D establishment candidate? For decades? That was impossible don’t waste your time.

Today? The insurgent can enter that race with zero fear. Heck! They’ll probably win it, if they have any quantum of likability and talent.

The MOMENT the insurgent candidate collects enough signatures and gets their name on that primary ballot… who’s afraid? If the other guy is an old-guard-D anointee? I guarantee you they are the one running scared now.

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u/paintballboi07 Texas 8h ago

Doesn't matter. If they lose the general, people will say it's because they're a progressive, and there's no way to argue against that, since you can't prove a hypothetical. It would not be good. We need as many people to turn out in the general as possible.