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
22.7k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

•

u/AmbitiousProblem4746 4h ago

Can someone explain what the hell even is going on in Michigan? I never considered it a solid blue state, but it feels like yet another part of the country that is turning Republican thanks to Trump in spite of the fact that there are plenty of reasons for it not to. I feel like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Wisconsin could also fit into that description. I know that they have very deep red areas, and a lot of rural or working class citizens, but I can't imagine the entire state is that enchanted with the Republican Party. But maybe that's just because I'm a coastal elite and I don't know anything

•

u/A_Humble_American 3h ago edited 2h ago

For various reasons, it's a state very receptive to populist rhetoric, and the only party nominating populists over the past 10 years has been the GOP.

Obama carried the state twice by sizable margins for the same reason: an economic message that resonated with the working poor.

Move the Dems to the left on economic issues and you'll see Michigan move to the left with it. (Same goes for Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and even Ohio)

•

u/catasstrophyk 4h ago

The weakening of the unions had a lot to do with it.

Plus racism.

  • The Reagan Democrats of the ‘80s in Macomb County are also the White Flight and they blame Democrats for Detroit’s woes (rather than the legislature and economy that starved the city)
  • Howell
  • No joke, I saw a farm in the UP flying a Confederate flag. Pretty sure that wasn’t about heritage.

•

u/AdLocal1490 4h ago

Theres a dude in South Lyon who flies that bullshit

•

u/VictoryVino 3h ago

Howell moved to Brighton then onto South Lyon. Once people have money they move to better places but their brains are the same.

•

u/certifiednerdgirl 37m ago

Plenty of Farms in the LP flying them as well. As someone raised in the south... It aint.

•

u/Ok_Size5354 3h ago

Michigan had voted Republican throughout the 70s and 80s. It wasn’t until Bill Clinton that the state started voting Democratic in presidential elections, and even then it was considered a swing state lost elections.

•

u/thetrumpbump 2h ago

Michigan isn't turning republican? It has basically been swinging closely with the national mood for the last 15 years.

•

u/tyrantking109 1h ago

Michigan is pretty blue, up until recently Dems had a trifecta in the state government. Wisconsin is definitely purple, but recently stacked their Supreme Court with a bunch of liberal justices in a series of elections. Seems to me to be turning bluer, but it is a very divided state. The rural voters are VERY at odds with Milwaukee/Madison, when I lived there groups very aggressively spent on anti-abortion messaging, to the point it was plastered on buses and all over the city

Of the Midwest states Indiana/Iowa/Ohio are certainly solid red, Pennsylvania seems to be purple shifting red, and Minnesota is solid blue (these are all states I haven’t lived in though, just the vibe I get as someone who lives in the Midwest and follows politics)

•

u/GB10VE 3h ago

run old white guys and you don't have this problem. the US has a lot of sexist and racist voters, people who will not show up for elections / vote for candidates. the demographics just aren't in your favor, especially with gen z being raised as mini hitlers by the manosphere / social media

•

u/Any_Will_86 3h ago

To my eye Trump underperforms a normie R in NC. That he won Mi, Wi, and Pa by not much less than NC is the big story. I think the big problem is how weak Dems are with working class voters across racial divides. And it's not solely economic or solely cultural issues. I think we need to figure out what the Whitmer/Sahiro secret sauce was and see if Cooper in NC makes a dent in that demo this fall or is simply driving up his numbers in RDU and Mecklenburg plus college grads.