El-Sayed faces moment of truth in Michigan

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Abdul El-Sayed celebrates nomination WIN in Michigan primary for US Senate despite AIPAC ads

Abdul El-Sayed celebrates nomination WIN in Michigan primary for US Senate despite AIPAC ads

Now comes the hard part for Abdul El-Sayed. 

After winning Michigan’s bruising Senate primary, El Sayed, the progressive outsider, must use the energy that fueled his primary win, strategists say, to sway the voters who backed his chief rival Rep. Haley Stevens (D) and Mallory McMorrow, the Democratic state senator who dropped out of the race last month also received a share of Tuesday’s vote. El Sayed will also have to win over Black voters — a major demographic in the state — as well as working class and independent voters.

It won’t be easy. He’ll be faced with an onslaught of outside money and paid media — not to mention some residual ill-will from the primary. 

“The biggest thing El-Sayed can do is make it clear Stevens supporters are welcome,” said Democratic strategist Steve Schale. “I think the ‘party’ will unify — whether El-Sayed can win the same margins with Black voters and independents. That’s another question.”

Or as Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau put it: “When you’re running an anti-establishment campaign in an establishment state, its incumbent upon the winner to reach out because you’re going to need the same people that you’ve been s—ing on for the last six months to get you over the hump.” 

On Tuesday, Democratic operatives on both ends of the spectrum sought to figure out what they could glean from Tuesday night’s primary and what it meant for a path to victory against Republican Mike Rogers in November. 

Progressives and members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) took the win — however small — to mean that they do in fact have the upper hand in the party. El-Sayed is not a member of the DSA, though there is some policy overlap. But moderates were skeptical and said the victory — by less than a percentage point — proved what they were saying all along: center-left........

© The Hill