On Wednesday at 9:54 a.m. Eastern time, the Associated Press officially called the Michigan Democratic Senate primary for Abdul El-Sayed.
The result took hours longer than expected. In the final polls, El-Sayed—a member of the party’s ascendant left wing—was leading moderate Representative Haley Stevens by double digits. Now, with 99 percent of the votes counted, he has edged her out by just 1 percentage point.
But while the race was tight, the significance of the result is difficult to overstate. Today, we bring you two pieces unpacking exactly what it means.
First, Olivia Reingold reports from the ground in Michigan, where she has spent the past several days speaking with voters, activists, and candidates about the coalition that propelled El-Sayed to victory.
“There were keffiyehs as far as the eye could see,” she writes from his watch party on Tuesday night. “Keffiyehs on heads, keffiyehs as belts, keffiyeh-printed phone cases.”
Read her dispatch from inside the movement that powered El-Sayed’s rise—and the currents fueling the Democratic Party’s populist turn.
Next, Eli Lake examines what El-Sayed’s victory reveals about the Democratic Party’s ideological shift. There was once a time, he writes, when progressive politicians had to distance themselves from anything that hinted at anti-Americanism. No longer. El-Sayed has repeatedly campaigned with progressive influencer Hasan Piker, who has praised Hamas, said America deserved 9/11, and, in Eli’s words, “represents a strain of American politics that demonizes the republic.”
Read Eli’s piece to understand the new ideological boundaries reshaping the Democratic Party.
The mere fact that you are running against a rabid anti-semitic jihadist doesn't make you a "moderate"....Look at Stevens's voting record. Granted, she was a lot better than the alternative.
Because Democrats are idiots? I didn't have time to read the article, but this seems an obvious, at least partial reason.