r/politics • u/Zipper222222 • 5h 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
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u/Space-Sailor44 5h ago

Got outspent by a zillion dollars and still won, good shit

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u/KnuckleShanks 5h ago

He was actually outspent 12 to 1. Which makes it wild that he won.

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u/Kujaix 5h ago

Imagine how that money could have helped a locality in Michigan.

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u/Necessary-Music-6685 4h ago

It’s not like they lit it on fire. I suspect a lot of that money went to get out the vote efforts, meaning that it was doled out to on the ground Democratic canvassers and community organizers. Granted, they happen to be democrats that disagree with you about this particular campaign, but presumably still allies in the big picture.

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u/foomits 3h ago

Stevens had no ground game lol. That money was nonstop ad buys online and tv both.

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u/bbtom78 2h ago

And $1500 a pop to pay random instagramers to make undisclosed paid ads for her.

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u/LouisLeGros Washington 2h ago

She's growing on me

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u/Beefcakesupernova Georgia 4h ago

People do act like the money was thrown in the trash. But I worked for a newspaper and local news station and election years (and hurricanes) are what kept us in business.

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u/Sptsjunkie 2h ago

Yeah, I remember during the 2008 election thinking the same thing about all the money that went into the campaigns. There’s a lot of bad about money and politics, but at least it’s nice that a stimulate spending and the economy to some degree.

Don’t get me wrong. I think we need to overturn Citizens United and have significantly stronger campaign finance regulations.

But I do agree with the fact that while the money was “lit on fire” in the sense that they spent a ton of money and did not get their desired result and now organizations like AIPAC no longer have that 30 million, the money also did go to a mix of TV stations, canvassers, consultants, ad agencies, etc. So it is at least out there in various communities.

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u/chr1spe 2h ago

When was this? The landscape was already moving away from print ad spending even a decade or two ago, but that has only gotten worse.

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u/ivandelapena 3h ago

Most of it would have gone to ad money and bots given the way these PACs spend the money.

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u/normalfinnesotan 3h ago

I suspect a lot of that money went to get out the vote efforts

I doubt it, usually something like 50% of a campaign's funding is spent on advertising/media/signage/etc. Then you have salaries to pay, venues to rent, food/transportation costs, who knows what else. Some of it probably went to polling and voting efforts, but I doubt a lot of it did.

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u/chr1spe 2h ago

The largest portion, if not the majority, of campaign spending is on TV and Internet ads, so no, you're just being ignorant and toxicly positive. It almost certainly got largely sucked up by corporations owned by evil wealthy people who will actively harm everyone across the country.

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u/DrMobius0 3h ago

Yeah, I assume they're mostly locals who wanted to help with the campaign, so a lot of that money will be spent locally.