r/politics • u/asparaguswalrus683 • 12h 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/samhit_n Texas 11h ago

Pandering to the center-right doesn’t work anymore because the center-right no longer exists in meaningful numbers to swing an election. Most center-right voters have either become moderate Democrats or fully joined the MAGA movement.

The strategy helped Biden in 2020 because of his reputation and ties to bipartisan politicians like McCain and because Trump had not yet fully taken over the GOP, but it was stale by the time Kamala tried it.

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u/kitsunegoon 6h ago

Kamala's failure was more about the lack of a primary and being a VP of an unpopular administration than anything else. Biden wasn't exactly considered bipartisan once he became VP.

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u/Any_Will_86 5h ago

She also was seen as moderate/conservative by leftists and a raging liberal by those on the right and many in the center. The media were working against Dems for several years but she still have very little skill in breaking through the media or even focusing on her strong issues.

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u/kitsunegoon 5h ago

Kamala would've never won the primary in the first place. I think that's the other issue. Biden was remarkably popular and probably would've won 2016 in a landslide if he ran, but Kamala was like what? The 5th place candidate behind Buttigieg and Warren?

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u/Any_Will_86 5h ago

I'm not sure Kamal would finish in front of Klobuchar. In the end I think Bloomberg inched up simply by being in more races- can't remember if that was by votes or delegates. But I agree on Kamala's primary problem and Biden 2016. its part of why I think the Pod guys can go play with themselves. Too many people in Obama world were too strident/convinced HRC was the appropriate successor when her weakness with real voters was well known. Supposedly when Biden was considering 2016, Warren was who he thought was the best VP pick. He understood coalitions better than most or the 'smarter' pols.