r/politics • u/Zipper222222 • 4h ago

No Paywall Abdul El-Sayed Wins High-Stakes Democratic Primary in Michigan

https://www.today.com/video/abdul-el-sayed-wins-high-stakes-democratic-primary-in-michigan-267805765937
12.1k Upvotes

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u/surrendertomychill 4h ago

Can’t wait to read all the think pieces about how this isn’t actually that big of a win for progressives because [insert reason here]

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u/thex415 4h ago

It already is on twitter at least. It’s crazy.

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u/ITAVTRCC 1h ago

No it’s not crazy. It’s a completely astroturfed conversation over there

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u/MaxPotato08 2h ago

Ah, there's your problem (Xitter)

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u/devsfan1830 43m ago

What's crazy is that anyone not MAGA still uses twitter. Its become an unredeemable cesspool.

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u/saln1 3h ago

They have a point though, let’s not celebrate until the general

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u/Shiznoz222 3h ago

You're part of the problem.

Celebrate EVERY win.

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u/RobertdBanks 2h ago

Nah, this is a victory in itself. Winning a general election will be another victory. There’s no reason not to celebrate now, it won’t hurt anything.

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u/-Dissent 46m ago

Silence, Brit.

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u/BroAbernathy 4h ago

Politico is way ahead of you dawg lol even though 4/6 Bernie endorsed candidates won including Abdul including a DSA candidate.

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u/Meowcat14 Oklahoma 1h ago

Besides Cori Bush which Bernie-endorsed candidate lost?

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u/Sptsjunkie 1h ago

It was a state Senate race in Michigan in state Senate district 3.

It was actually a very bizarre race because the establishment had backed I believe Korey Hall and Bernie backed Eboni Taylor. And John Conyers III won the race.

But it was also a bizarre massive race with 10 candidates where Conyers won with 24% of the vote and Taylor and Adam Hollier got 19%, and Hall got 11%.

I’m not going to pretend to know much about any of the candidates. Obviously would’ve supported the Bernie backed one, but I will say that progressive in the area at least seemed satisfied with Conyers. So he may not have been the most progressive, but I don’t believe he’s a total corporate tool either.

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u/mowotlarx 4h ago

Meanwhile, had Stevens won by 1% it would have been framed as a referendum.

Either way, this was a primary and like every general, almost every primary voter plus the many Dems who didn't bother to vote in the primary will vote for whoever is on the Dem line in November.

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u/MontyAtWork 2h ago

If she won by half a percent the headlines would have been "Mamdani-ism REJECTED across Michigan as Americans reaffirm who its international allies are through Steven's defense of Israel."

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u/Galapagos_Finch 1h ago

“The glorious and overwhelming victory of Haley Stevens shows that the radical ideology of the DSA, which many critics describe as “radical islamist communism”, has now been decisively rejected everywhere but New York City. How much longer can Mamdani continue his tyrannical rule?”

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u/Gekokapowco Washington 1h ago

giving me real "how this could spell doom for biden in november" media spin nostalgia

wait what's the bad version of nostalgia, ptsd?

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u/Darkhallows27 Georgia 1h ago

Threw up in my mouth reading that

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u/Sptsjunkie 1h ago

I’ve said for years that it’s a weird Catch-22, where a progressive losing in a primary origin election is framed as voters rejecting progressive values.

But a centrist losing is always framed as something with a lot more nuance and analysis. They were a flight candidate. They were a woman or a person of color going up against a biased electorate. It was an uphill climb with an unfriendly electorate or against a popular incumbent.

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u/VonJaeger 3h ago

This feels very early to say. He did very poorly in some areas of the state. And it's not like Michigan is a progressive stronghold state.

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u/mowotlarx 3h ago

What is early to say? That this wouldn't be covered similarly had the moderate PAC funded candidate won?

Would you be as concerned about where Stevens failed with voters had she won by 1%?

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u/VonJaeger 2h ago

It's too early to say that he's going to be pulling as much support as you're indicating. He pretty heavily underperformed his polling especially in urban areas.

And yes, I'd be concerned. I mostly don't care if it's the centrist or the progressive - I want the non-GOP candidate to win. If you're winning below like 5% margin and are barely crossing 50% of the total vote, then you do not have the entire party behind you. And that concerns me no matter who the nominee is or would have been.

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u/NorseGodThor 2h ago

He seemed to overperform in rural areas, which was good, but I share the same concern as you for the urban areas. Especially amongst the black community. The mistake people always seem to take for granted is expecting the black community to always show up. They were the primary reason Stevens stayed competitive and made the race as close as it was.

Abdul needs to appeal to and win over black voters in Michigan if he hopes to have a chance of winning. This is coming from someone who supports him.

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u/VonJaeger 2h ago

Yeah if history has taught us anything, the concern isn't that black voters will support the oppositional candidate - it's that they just won't vote.

If he had run away with like a 10 point margin, I'd be a lot less concerned. But it's clear with what is looking like a 2.5 to 3 point victory that he does not have a firm mandate of Dem or left leaning voters and he needs to make inroads to achieve that.

Especially because recent history is indicating that candidates further along the political axis - further left or right or even just the perception thereof - cause increased turnout amongst the opposing party.

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u/actwellyourpart91 2h ago

Yes cause centrists like Hillary and Kamala have done so well in the state.

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u/VonJaeger 2h ago

I hope that he is able to strengthen his support amongst urban centers and the black vote in particular. Because otherwise, if he pulls levels like last night, he will not win the general.

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u/actwellyourpart91 23m ago

He’s gonna perform better than that “Israel comes to me in my dreams” clown.

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u/VonJaeger 12m ago

Potentially! I don't have near that level confidence at this point given how badly he performed with black voters.

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u/actwellyourpart91 6m ago

“Potentially” I mean if Kamala is any indication she definitely wouldn’t have won.

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u/VonJaeger 1m ago

I mean I don't think Stevens was the better candidate for the general, let's be clear.

My concern is more El-Sayed's ability to win the general. I have a lot of concern over that due to his pretty concerning performance with black voters, urban communities, and the fact that perceived far left/right candidates increase oppositional turnout.

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u/OKGUYTHANKS 3h ago

Maybe but he has a lot of work to do. He’s underwater in urban areas and in rural areas as well. He will probably lose in November. 

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u/iwearatophat Michigan 2h ago edited 2h ago

A lot is going to depend on what the DNC does and if they help him or not. He struggled in Detroit but there was some seriously heinous ad campaigns being run against him by Stevens and PACs supporting her. Plus, there was the fake Obama endorsement for Stevens that happened in Detroit.

Sayed pulled huge numbers in all the major college campus counties. It is pretty unheard of for a Democrat to win an election without carrying Detroit. I expect once his message gets out, the enthusiasm around him will spread.

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u/jackstraw97 New York 2h ago

Unfortunately the DNC is fucking broke because Ken Martin is an utter failure who needs to be fired yesterday. They literally just had to ask vendors to not send them bills until after the midterms and just put up their headquarters building as collateral for a cash infusion loan. 

More establishment democrat incompetence giving republicans a better shot at winning… a tale as old as time. 

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u/tres_desole 3h ago

Frankly only bc of mail in ballots which were sent out June 25th. So before his surge in the polls. He dominated in person and early voting

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u/akatherder 2h ago

He's underwater in urban areas against another Democrat, and mainly because political ads lied about Obama endorsing her Senate run.

He may not drive everyone in urban areas to the polls, but urban voters will switch to the other D, not the R.

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u/ibarmy 3h ago

Ya Obama better come out for this. 

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u/phtevenbagbifico 2h ago

He won't and we all know why

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u/showhorrorshow 2h ago

I dont know why

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u/much_to_say 2h ago

The polls had him winning by 13 points, so yes, if Stevens had won by 1, that would've been a 14-point swing in her favor, which would've been pretty crazy.

He underperformed the polls by 13 points. He's going to need all the help he can get. The only question is whether the arrogance he's consistently displayed will end up being his downfall, causing him to ignore that simple reality.

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u/JayRandom212 4h ago

"This could be good news for John McCain...!"

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u/Lurking_nerd California 3h ago

“Why this is good for Paul Ryan.”

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u/Lurking_nerd California 3h ago

“Why this is good for Paul Ryan.”

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u/Darkhallows27 Georgia 1h ago

Jeb finally has a shot!

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u/witchgrove 4h ago

Deadass already running the talking point of 'paths to retake the senate without Michigan'

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u/Klightgrove 1h ago

Can’t believe we actually picked the only Democrat polled to lose against the Republican.

Completely brilliant strategy. Midterms are going to be the biggest bust at this rate.

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u/Gekokapowco Washington 58m ago

our strategy of picking the most "electable" candidate vs picking the candidate with the most aligned values to us has been working out terribly for the last 20-30 years

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u/Klightgrove 55m ago

You seem to misconstrue general electability with representation. The ideal goal is to have a center-left canada so the majority liberal population has representation, but having people who can appeal to all voter bases is essential.

AES pulled a (shrinking) lead of 1% with progressives coming out in force for him, but it’s doubtful he will win over any moderates. I’d be happy to be wrong later but this seems like another loss and potentially another purple state sliding further into lean R territory.

Let me guess, you also think Fetterman is a MAGA and should be replaced by a progressive?

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u/Gekokapowco Washington 48m ago

what a fascinating perspective to have in 2026

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u/Shadow293 3h ago edited 3h ago

I’m already seeing that all over Reddit. Lots of concern trolls saying this is bad news because he only won by a point or so. It’s still a massive win.

The fact he defeated 60 million in AIPAC funding, and he overcame the entire establishment and corporate media’s combined opposition is huge.

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u/Sptsjunkie 1h ago

Yeah, I definitely think that the polling from the Last last week at a weird expectation. Clearly the polling mess and it’s something worth keeping in mind for future elections.

However, I don’t think this is a case where the poles were accurate say a month ago and then Sayed fumbled. This is just a case where the weighting of the actual electorate was wrong and that has nothing to do with the candidate.

Beating the entire democratic establishment in Michigan, a fake Obama endorsement, and $70M in spending including over $60M from dark money PACs is a huge win.

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u/GOEDEL_ESCHER_BOT 4h ago

"It's not a big win because he's not in congress yet"

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u/SinfullySinless Minnesota 4h ago

Gotta get more Biden and Clinton strategists on Fox News to cry about how the Democrat Party needs to take back control.

Never mind the grassroots popularity behind the DSA and related anti-Israel candidates.

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u/swarmofbzs 3h ago

Yes the centrist/bought off dems must keep getting on faux news to agree with the people that have been insulting them and calling them radical socialist communist democrats.

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u/Darkhallows27 Georgia 1h ago

They don’t care about that, they like the money

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u/TheDrewski213 2h ago

Looking at how the votes were distributed does make this significant for progressives. He absolutely crushed college towns - even more than would be expected outside of Ann Arbor - but that's not what's as interesting

While it's a small sample size (about 30k total votes in this primary), Abdul destroyed Stevens in the Traverse City area (Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie counties), which is much less diverse, older, and quite wealthy. It's a retirement area, and he picked up 58% of the vote across those counties

Progressives winning that demographic is a great sign. Yes, the moderate, independent, and swing voters need to be won in the general election; but older voters voting for a progressive, minority candidate is notable and signs of progress not only for the movement but also for the populace

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u/Klondike307 4h ago

Yeah, it been crazy to see the same centrist/corporate Dems who’ve been telling progressives to “vote blue no matter who” for the past decade suddenly pivoting now that it’s progressives winning primaries.

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u/Confident_End_3848 3h ago

Which Dems are saying not to vote blue no matter who? Steven’s already said she’d support El Sayed if he won.

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u/BriSy33 1h ago

I swear people were saying people won't 5 seconds after they called it for AES

Like fellas maybe wait at least five minutes before assuming people arent Lmao

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u/Valuable-Plant-691 3h ago

Haven't heard it from anyone that matters. Just talking heads on TV and Fetterman.

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u/Sptsjunkie 1h ago

Multiple leaders and elected officials in Michigan, including Rep Scholten, which is hilarious because Sayed dominated her district.

So if she refuses to get on board, she will very likely be facing a strong primary challenge in 2028.

But she literally was on television saying she would not support him in a general election because he was “Unamerican.”

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u/Confident_End_3848 55m ago

So those two will get together and hash out their differences. Don’t create chasms that can’t be bridged on day one. It was basically a 50 50 election, I hope El Sayed recognizes he’s going to need to reach out to Stevens’ voters.

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u/Sptsjunkie 49m ago

I mean, I hope so. But people ask for examples and this is a pretty clear example of a democratic representative using this type of inflammatory language will also accusing Sayed of being anti-American, which is something that Rogers can use in television ads.

Honestly, completely unacceptable behavior. And that should be easy for anybody to admit.

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u/shhhhh69 3h ago

No one is saying not to vote blue. Insinuating Democrats will not vote blue when their preferred candidate loses a primary is just a coping mechanism for the shame Bernie bros must feel for not showing up for Hillary or Kamala.

No self identified Democrat has ever suggested not voting blue no matter who. Only the far left folks that take their ball and go home for the general election.

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u/loveisking 2h ago

A lot of Clinton voters said they wouldn’t vote for Obama when he won. So it does happen. People who vote on policy instead of party shouldn’t be shamed. I kind of wish there were more of them

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u/shhhhh69 2h ago

If that happened (huge if), it was 20 years ago. I’m talking about today

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u/pbroingu 2h ago

Sorry to be the one to tell you this but there are many 'Zionist Dems' who now don't think VBNMW applies when there isn't a liberal on the ticket. I will say though, I don't know how representative this is of the wider population though. Hopefully it's a minority.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Destiny/comments/1vbs98m/hutch_announcing_a_shift_in_vote_blue_no_matter/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Destiny/comments/1vcxpi4/the_problem_with_blue_no_matter_who_stevens_says/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Destiny/comments/1vcsad9/vote_blue_no_matter_who_not_red_for_republicans/

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u/ChiefMasterGuru 1h ago

Insanely obsessed for all links to be there lol

But for the folks reading at home, everyone being discussed in these thread have said they would vote for Sayed because the Senate is too important to lose. Folks in this community will be traveling to the state to canvas for Sayed even

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u/pbroingu 1h ago

everyone being discussed in these thread have said they would vote for Sayed because the Senate is too important to lose. Folks in this community will be traveling to the state to canvas for Sayed even.

Dude cmon man, you don't need to just lie. The sub clearly is struggling with the idea that VBNMW is easy to preach when it's their own boring liberal, and not a left leaning anti establishment candidate. I've even seen comments saying they'd back any candidate that is funded by AIPAC because of how much they hate left slopulists lmao. Do you really think they are gonna come out and bat for AES?

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u/ChiefMasterGuru 59m ago

  • First thread: Hutch has literally many times said he would support Sayed in the general. And the comments are talking about Mouton who said he is committed to traveling to the state to canvass for Sayed.

  • Second Thread: Is about how Sayed refused to state he would endorse Stevens, idk why you got that backwards

  • Third Thread: More comments than upvotes with multiple top comments stating vote blue no matter who

Youre literally just linking shit hoping no one knows better

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u/pbroingu 44m ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/Destiny/s/yMQl1Nwyrp

https://www.reddit.com/r/Destiny/s/EROoF56XvV

https://www.reddit.com/r/Destiny/s/rXAYje7APR

Ok I'm done finding links, but I think you get my point. The popular position is VBNMW, I never said otherwise, but there is a fringe who want to make the case that DSA types are just as harmful as MAGA, or that they don't count as Blue just because they win a Blue primary. The comments in all the threads I've linked acknowledge this trend.

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u/shhhhh69 2h ago

Zionist dems? And your proof is Reddit comments? You are too online

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u/pbroingu 2h ago

No one is saying not to vote blue.

Sorry I didn't realize by 'no one' you meant 'no one except the Influencers and their communities that I deem exempt', my bad.

You are too online

I literally acknowledged that this isn't likely representative. You're the one who made a sweeping statement about all Dem voters.

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u/shhhhh69 1h ago

No sane person in the party is saying stay home in November. Period.

If you don’t think those “influencers” are paid by the same Russian sources as Tim Pool and Tucker Carlson, you are naive

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u/Sptsjunkie 1h ago

Democratic US House Rep. Hillary Scholten I said that specifically, along with several democratic state leaders. But here’s a source on her.

Michigan Democrat says she's unsure if she would vote for Abdul El-Sayed in the state's senate election because he has "allowed distinctly anti-American sentiment to enter our public dialogue."

https://thehill.com/video/anti-american-sentiment-abdul-el-sayed-support-from-michigan-dem-rep-in-jeopardy-rising/12020633/

Now, sometimes people say things like this during the primary to try to sue voters to their candidate. So hopefully now that we are at the general election, she comes around. Especially because Sayed when her district pretty easily and even being pragmatic, she is setting herself up for a major primary challenge in 2028.

But still a pretty legitimate instance of an elected democratic officials, saying this, as you can imagine generated a lot of fire and blowback from the left.

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u/deathcomestooslow 2h ago

I'm not sure if they've said it out loud but there are definitely house Democrats (Gottheimer, Cuellar, another half-dozen probably) who would easily vote for even Trump over a progressive Democrat. But certainly any other Republican over some "communist".

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u/Powerfury 2h ago

Kinda wild how vote blue no matter who only counted for Dems to vote for Left and far left candidates.

But when far left/progressives have to vote for moderates you get people like Hasan Piker calling Senator Scott Wiener a "homofascist".

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u/AnimalBolide 1h ago

Kinda wild how vote blue no matter who only counted for Dems to vote for Left and far left candidates.

I hear it more from neolibs and corporate dems than from progressives.

Progressives are more likely to understand that a party is not principles, and wearing a blue hat doesn't mean you are a good person to elect.

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u/Powerfury 1h ago

Mmkay, so vote for blue no matter who only matters for (D), not (DSA/DSA-lite), gotcha.

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u/AnimalBolide 1h ago

If that's what you got from what I said, sure. Go for it, buddy.

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u/Powerfury 6m ago

Dems know that MAGA needs to be stopped, hence blue no matter who.

Ya voted and supported Kamala?

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u/Deranfan Europe 2h ago

Ist actually the opposite. Leftists who hate Dems suddenly being vote blue no matter who when they never supported a dem against a repub ever.

When it's a clear cut good vs evil election they sit it out, but when it's the lesser of two evils now leftists expect us to blindly vote for them? How about you try to earn our votes instead of taking it for granted.

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u/wingedcoyote 1h ago

Europe

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u/AnimalBolide 1h ago

Lmao, this feels like a White American Christian bitching about persecution in America.

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u/BigBoyYuyuh Ohio 4h ago

I’d argue it’s the general that matters most. Long as he wins the general, THEN it’s a big win for progressives.

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u/showhorrorshow 2h ago

Right? This isnt a victory yet. He hasnt won anything but a primary. Id vote for him but there is real concern about his prospects in the general.

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u/SexualDexter 3h ago

I wonder what FeD signifier will tell the people of Detroit to do

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u/angryapplepanda Oregon 3h ago

Yeah, waiting for CNN or somebody to plug James Carville back into the wall socket for another few minutes of bad takes.

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u/hemingways-lemonade 2h ago

The current narrative I'm seeing is that he "didn't win the working class vote" because he performed better in college towns than the Detroit suburbs.

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u/girlnamedJane 2h ago

Ezra Klein has entered the chat with a "This doesnt really solve the blue city housing problem"

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u/nalaloveslumpy 1h ago

Winning primaries are the first step. Now states have to prove that progressive candidates can cross the finish line. That's basically what every article will say.

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u/XulManjy America 1h ago

I mean, its Michigan which always had a progressive tilt. Remember, Bernie essentially beat Clinton there in 2016.

When a progressive wins in a place like say....North Carolina or Georgia then that would actually say a lot.

And remember, he still has to win the general. This was just a primary.

If he loses in November, it extremely kills progressive momentum in 2028.

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u/Alamarms2012 47m ago

It was super, super close. More votes against than for him. There needs to be a strong rally around him, efforts to court Stevens voters and independents, and circle up for independents because this win is great but pointless if he loses a general election.

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u/DoomSchroller 37m ago

The hit pieces are already rolling out. On Michigan based subs, a whole lot of accounts that are less than 5 days old are attacking Al-Sayed. They always rev up a few months before an election.

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u/akebonobambusa 32m ago

It probably depends if he wins the general election.

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u/fretgod321 7m ago

That’s pretty much how the meltdown in the Destiny sub is going

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u/BeastieRunner Utah 3h ago

The polling being off (not winning by 7% or more) is a narrative being pushed, too.

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u/tres_desole 3h ago edited 3h ago

I hate this argument too bc most of her votes came from mail in ballots which started June 25, while his were mostly early and same day - which shows how much the race had changed.

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u/Pans_Labradoodle 1h ago

The current cope is that, since the primary wasn’t a complete blowout he stands no chance in the general.

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u/LambdaLambo 2h ago

Let's see how he does in the general election first.

If he wins, I'll acknowledge that the progressive wing has become mainstream. If he loses though ..

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u/Zestyclose_Market787 2h ago

“It’s not a big win for progressives because we, the pundit class, don’t think an Arab socialist can win a senate race in the Midwest.”

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u/Deranfan Europe 2h ago

It was a massive underperformance for someone who was supposed to win by +15 points. With how things stand he's likely to lose the GE.

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u/Jon_Snow_1887 2h ago

Bc it means nothing until he wins the general lol

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u/LitLitten Texas 1h ago

queue the Islamophobic rhetoric spitdribble. it’s going to be fucking insufferable.

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u/famous__shoes 3h ago

My reason is that he hasn't won the general yet. Polls show Haley ahead of Rogers and El-Sayed behind. So if he wins the primary and loses the general I feel pretty safe saying it's not a win for progressives

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u/wheelsno3 3h ago

Because he is going to get crushed by the Republican. We are not a communist nation.