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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

What Abdul El-Sayed’s victory says about progressives, outsiders and the Democratic Party

The significance of El-Sayed’s rise lies not only in progressive politics or Muslim representation, but in what it says about a society’s willingness to trust someone outside its traditional majority.

After Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York, the political rise of Abdul El-Sayed can be read in many ways. But perhaps the most interesting interpretation could be that something is changing within the Democratic Party itself.

El-Sayed is hardly a traditional establishment candidate. He is a Muslim, an epidemiologist, the son of immigrants, and considerably more progressive than many mainstream Democrats. After Mamdani’s victory, some centrist Democrats argued that such politics can work in New York because, well, New York is New York – deeply Democratic, liberal, and hardly representative of the rest of America.

But Michigan challenges that argument. Unlike New York City, it is a swing state where elections can go either way.

And money was certainly not on El-Sayed’s side. His primary opponent, Representative Haley Stevens, benefited from more than $60 million in campaign and outside spending. A significant part of the outside spending came from a Super Political Action Committee (PAC) backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)

Yet El-Sayed won despite being heavily outspent, raising questions about whether voters are growing wary of the influence wealthy interests have over politics. 

Is this about progressive politics or distrust of the establishment?

It is not only about suspicion of wealthy interests. Across the world, there seems to be growing distrust, or perhaps simply exhaustion, with traditional political establishments. In such an environment, being an outsider can actually become an advantage. Outsiders can be seen as fresh........

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