No matter who wins in Michigan and Wisconsin, Democrats should back, support, and campaign for the winners. Keep our eyes on the prize--defeating MAGA and all its works. Do not believe in the imaginary "Communist" candidates conjured up by the Republicans and Democratic has-beens and never-wases.
I’m going to preface this by saying I agree with you. This country is on the precipice and while I’m far from convinced Dems will do what needs to be done to right the ship I know that the GOP will happily push us over the edge. Any Dem is better than a Republican and everyone should vote like it.
In practice, there a way too many Dems who will not back El-Sayed if he wins and many donors who will either sit it out or put their money into getting the R elected. It’s not great.
I'm rooting hard for Abdul. Primaries are where parties are defined, and he represents the kind of agenda I want my party to take on. But jeez, 11 to 1 on spending. We'll never be free from the corporate (and foreign) influence on our politics if we can't elect enough people unwilling to take it at that scale.
Dan is so correct that this race symbolizes so much for the future of the party—he references the old rules and the old guard. Although we all want to win the Senate race, who can honestly say they want the old guard and old rules to prevail over the enthusiastic social and economic justice movement represented by El-Sayed?
I was a McMorrow supporter and considered myself moderate. But with every ham-handed attempt to tip the scales I find myself leaning more often than not to left leaning candidates NOT backed by the DNC.
I'm with you - I'm not in MI but I was really pissed that McMorrow was forced out. I've always liked Abdul, but maybe for too long I fell for the "unelectability" line that the establishment is always pushing. He's an intelligent and charismatic campaigner.
It is really hard to understand why the party would undermine McMorrow in favor of Stevens who is really a bad campaigner. If it is because she would not support Schumer who needs to go, that would be enough for me to vote for Abdul.
She also publicly called Mamdani a "global jihadist". That display was so racist that she may as well have declared herself a Klan wannabe.
She's my congresswoman, and I spent years desperately calling and begging for help as health insurance denied lifesaving care for the woman I loved. Never got a single callback. At the same time she was giving infinite money for bombs to murder children halfway across the world. She made it clear she considers her own murderous racism a higher priority than saving her own constituents' lives.
The amount of money AIPAC spent on this race through shadow PACs in hopes that no one knows it’s them is both disgusting and shows how toxic they are.
The way the Dem establishment handled this race (like others) is disgraceful. Lying about a candidate being/ having been a DSA is the kind of shit Trump and Republicans do to scare people.
I’m not from Michigan but based on their preferred policies El-Sayed would absolutely get my vote.
While it was already abundantly clear that the electoral success credited to Trump and MAGA is more a result of Democratic Party dysfunction à la Schumer, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Biden/Harris etc than of the popularity of GOP policies and positions.. look no further for evidence of this than the unenviable position in which Michigan Dems find themselves—choosing between the progressive anti-corruption underdog and AIPAC’s pro-Israel (is pro-genocide too harsh?) stooge who is nonetheless considered more electable than El-Sayed because the DSA is not so popular in Michigan—but mostly because the Democratic Party is so unpopular, which is mostly because they have been such incompetent messengers and electorally unsuccessful in recent years.
And to everyone else. It's painfully, painfully obvious at this point. I'm almost 40 and the Dem establishment has been widely hated my entire life. The Obama campaign was a war against a widely hated establishment that'd grown insular, geriatric, and completely out of touch. But that same establishment wouldn't get the memo and largely stayed in power even after we tried to reject them. And now they're even more corrupt, even more incompetent, and even more out of touch.
Clyburn has been my worthless Representative for decades. He's 85 years old but a certain segment of the people in my district just keep electing him over and over and over. He helped Biden win the presidency, he voted for Ken Martin and he loves to send billions to Israel. Meanwhile, his district is one of the poorest in the poor state of SC. I would lover to see El-Sayed win tonight but I've been disappointed in his angry & aggressive speeches. That doesn't sell to the older people who vote.
Outspending one’s opponent 11:1? If Steven’s loses, it will be more than embarrassing. It will be a mandate to get rid of Schumer as Senator Minority leader. I can understand Gretchen Whitmer’s endorsement. But the strategic missteps by senate dems against McMorrow are catastrophically stupid. I supported her because she seemed the most likely to beat Mike Rogers. I don’t know if either Steven’s or El Sayed can.
It would be a true tragedy for democracy if the dems lost that senate seat because Schumer is acting like a GOP senator—metaphorically knifing an electable candidate to save his own skin.
The rejection of McMorrow by the insiders may someday be seen as the dumbest own goal in the whole election cycle. She is smart and very appealing. So is El-Sayed but I fear that bigotry is likely to undermine his chances. The other one is a bought and paid for munchkin.
She was smart and appealing--not anymore, though. She went full racist with her campaign and then started saying truly bizarre things. Like when she suggested we build an Iron Dome for both Israel and Palestine instead of addressing the root issue. She may have torched her own political future by going full mask off, and I wouldn't mind if she never worked in politics again.
I’m going to go vote for El-Sayed today, but I would have been a lot happier if the choice had come down to El-Sayed and McMorrow, not Stevens. I think McMorrow made some errors in her campaign, trying to stay in a middle lane but she did at least have a campaign message. Stevens seems totally uninterested in letting voters know what she would do for us in the senate and the sense of entitlement to the seat, as if she can just coast in on big negative ad buys and a good year for democrats is really infuriating. A win for her in the primary would send the message to the party that they don’t really have to try to do anything to improve our lives, that random platitudes and money from wealthy donors is enough.
No matter who wins in Michigan and Wisconsin, Democrats should back, support, and campaign for the winners. Keep our eyes on the prize--defeating MAGA and all its works. Do not believe in the imaginary "Communist" candidates conjured up by the Republicans and Democratic has-beens and never-wases.
I’m going to preface this by saying I agree with you. This country is on the precipice and while I’m far from convinced Dems will do what needs to be done to right the ship I know that the GOP will happily push us over the edge. Any Dem is better than a Republican and everyone should vote like it.
In practice, there a way too many Dems who will not back El-Sayed if he wins and many donors who will either sit it out or put their money into getting the R elected. It’s not great.
I'm rooting hard for Abdul. Primaries are where parties are defined, and he represents the kind of agenda I want my party to take on. But jeez, 11 to 1 on spending. We'll never be free from the corporate (and foreign) influence on our politics if we can't elect enough people unwilling to take it at that scale.
Dan is so correct that this race symbolizes so much for the future of the party—he references the old rules and the old guard. Although we all want to win the Senate race, who can honestly say they want the old guard and old rules to prevail over the enthusiastic social and economic justice movement represented by El-Sayed?
News flash! Schumer is out of touch with voters.
Yep!
Win or lose this is true.
I was a McMorrow supporter and considered myself moderate. But with every ham-handed attempt to tip the scales I find myself leaning more often than not to left leaning candidates NOT backed by the DNC.
I'm with you - I'm not in MI but I was really pissed that McMorrow was forced out. I've always liked Abdul, but maybe for too long I fell for the "unelectability" line that the establishment is always pushing. He's an intelligent and charismatic campaigner.
It is really hard to understand why the party would undermine McMorrow in favor of Stevens who is really a bad campaigner. If it is because she would not support Schumer who needs to go, that would be enough for me to vote for Abdul.
“First, a Stevens loss would raise questions about whether Schumer has lost touch with the voters.”
Dan, the train left the station on this one a while back. The question is to what degree a Stevens loss would force Schumer to look in the mirror.
Gillibrand is just so toxic. She took out Al Franken for her own presidential ambitions, and as a candidate she stunk.
She also publicly called Mamdani a "global jihadist". That display was so racist that she may as well have declared herself a Klan wannabe.
She's my congresswoman, and I spent years desperately calling and begging for help as health insurance denied lifesaving care for the woman I loved. Never got a single callback. At the same time she was giving infinite money for bombs to murder children halfway across the world. She made it clear she considers her own murderous racism a higher priority than saving her own constituents' lives.
The amount of money AIPAC spent on this race through shadow PACs in hopes that no one knows it’s them is both disgusting and shows how toxic they are.
The way the Dem establishment handled this race (like others) is disgraceful. Lying about a candidate being/ having been a DSA is the kind of shit Trump and Republicans do to scare people.
I’m not from Michigan but based on their preferred policies El-Sayed would absolutely get my vote.
While it was already abundantly clear that the electoral success credited to Trump and MAGA is more a result of Democratic Party dysfunction à la Schumer, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Biden/Harris etc than of the popularity of GOP policies and positions.. look no further for evidence of this than the unenviable position in which Michigan Dems find themselves—choosing between the progressive anti-corruption underdog and AIPAC’s pro-Israel (is pro-genocide too harsh?) stooge who is nonetheless considered more electable than El-Sayed because the DSA is not so popular in Michigan—but mostly because the Democratic Party is so unpopular, which is mostly because they have been such incompetent messengers and electorally unsuccessful in recent years.
El-Sayed isn't DSA - but the establishment and MAGA want to sell him as one
Well said.
That’s abundantly clear to you.
And to everyone else. It's painfully, painfully obvious at this point. I'm almost 40 and the Dem establishment has been widely hated my entire life. The Obama campaign was a war against a widely hated establishment that'd grown insular, geriatric, and completely out of touch. But that same establishment wouldn't get the memo and largely stayed in power even after we tried to reject them. And now they're even more corrupt, even more incompetent, and even more out of touch.
At this point I trust the political instincts of Chuck E. Cheese over Chuck Schumer.
We want candidates who take a stand on controversial iasues, not candidates who try to be vage so they can please everybody.
Clyburn has been my worthless Representative for decades. He's 85 years old but a certain segment of the people in my district just keep electing him over and over and over. He helped Biden win the presidency, he voted for Ken Martin and he loves to send billions to Israel. Meanwhile, his district is one of the poorest in the poor state of SC. I would lover to see El-Sayed win tonight but I've been disappointed in his angry & aggressive speeches. That doesn't sell to the older people who vote.
Outspending one’s opponent 11:1? If Steven’s loses, it will be more than embarrassing. It will be a mandate to get rid of Schumer as Senator Minority leader. I can understand Gretchen Whitmer’s endorsement. But the strategic missteps by senate dems against McMorrow are catastrophically stupid. I supported her because she seemed the most likely to beat Mike Rogers. I don’t know if either Steven’s or El Sayed can.
It would be a true tragedy for democracy if the dems lost that senate seat because Schumer is acting like a GOP senator—metaphorically knifing an electable candidate to save his own skin.
It's time for Schumer to move over, PASS THE BATON!
The rejection of McMorrow by the insiders may someday be seen as the dumbest own goal in the whole election cycle. She is smart and very appealing. So is El-Sayed but I fear that bigotry is likely to undermine his chances. The other one is a bought and paid for munchkin.
She was smart and appealing--not anymore, though. She went full racist with her campaign and then started saying truly bizarre things. Like when she suggested we build an Iron Dome for both Israel and Palestine instead of addressing the root issue. She may have torched her own political future by going full mask off, and I wouldn't mind if she never worked in politics again.
I’m going to go vote for El-Sayed today, but I would have been a lot happier if the choice had come down to El-Sayed and McMorrow, not Stevens. I think McMorrow made some errors in her campaign, trying to stay in a middle lane but she did at least have a campaign message. Stevens seems totally uninterested in letting voters know what she would do for us in the senate and the sense of entitlement to the seat, as if she can just coast in on big negative ad buys and a good year for democrats is really infuriating. A win for her in the primary would send the message to the party that they don’t really have to try to do anything to improve our lives, that random platitudes and money from wealthy donors is enough.
If Abdul-El Sayed wins the Democratic primary, he will loose to the Republican.