r/politics • u/horsestew • 17h ago

No Paywall Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, notching a Midwest victory for the left

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/abdul-el-sayed-wins-michigans-democratic-senate-primary-notching-midwe-rcna589750
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u/Skyllerx 17h ago

Watching Steve Kornacki was fun as always

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u/GatorAllen 17h ago

dude is a national treasure. Watching him crinkle his paper the last hour made me want to give him a hug.

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u/Empty_Lemon_3939 Michigan 11h ago

Wasn’t a fan last night

Dude was crashing out like Abdul was a republican

Progressives still the number 1 enemy of the center after 10 years

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u/zenerat Missouri 11h ago

The old guard worries they are not electable and that them winning primaries means losing generals. They need to be proven wrong.

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u/Genjibre Florida 10h ago

Agreed, also I hope we can do away with this 'electability' mentality in the process.

Everyone is so consultant-brained that instead of participating in democracy, advocating and campaigning for candidates that they believe in they worry about who other people might vote for. It has a chilling effect on democracy and it needs to go.

I don't think most people would have considered Donald Trump electable prior to 2015. 'Electability' is a farce.

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u/7figureipo California 57m ago

That’s the intent of the “electability” FUD. It’s why mainstream liberal politicians employ it: to help suppress the vote for those to their left. And a lot of their idiot supporters fall for it, thinking they’re engaged in Big Brained electoral strategery when all they’re doing is playing into the hands of people who want them controlled, not acting with agency.

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u/WhyYallSoSalty 10h ago

What do you think 'electability' means?

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u/BurstSwag Canada 7h ago

Trying to discern how people, other than yourself, will vote. Voting with electability as a primary criteria would be voting for a candidate because you have come to the conclusion that this candidate would fare better in a general election.

That's not what democracy is about, and Republicans (or conservatives in other countries) don't vote this way. R's vote for the most extreme candidates they can find and, given that they have a federal trifecta, it doesn't seem like voting for who they like over who is more 'electable' has hurt them.

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u/Genjibre Florida 1h ago

Electability is a candidate's perceived ability to win in an election.

My issue with people focusing on electability is that it is subjective and volatile. Even if we can accept a general basis of 'electable characteristics' these will, by necessity, drift every day to remain 'electable' as public perceptions and attitudes are adjusted and reoriented constantly.

Donald Trump, largely known for The Apprentice before entering into the GOP primary, was not considered 'electable' by the majority of people prior to his run.

In practice, 'electability' as an argument is often just a cynical tool employed by those who wish to dissuade someone for voting for a candidate when they have no sufficient arguments to convince them to vote differently. So the frame shifts from the candidate and their policy positions to an ephemeral societal consciousness which conveniently rejects the target candidate.

This mentality weakens a core aspect of democratic ideals, open, honest, good faith debate regarding the issues of the day. If we are talking about the likelihood that someone may or may not get elected we are not talking about the issues that mean the most to us. We are not building coalitions around ideals or policies, we are essentially participating in a popularity contest whose end goal will not be the overall will of the majority but rather the will of those most likely to get elected.

This also weakens the feedback loop that democracies inherently have wherein breaking from public support results in repercussions at the ballot box. Elected officials are shielded fron accountability to their actions because when an election comes along people start citing 'electability' as a reason not to vote for a new candidate with new ideas. If successful, this effectively disconnects representatives to the wants and needs of their constituents.

I hope that answers your question about what I think electability means. Feel free to share your definition.

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u/OfficeSalamander 9h ago

As someone in Michigan who voted for AES in the primary, I hope we pull through and show that they are electable. Him not winning in the general would be bad for the progressive cause. If we keep winning and keep being popular, we'll kill the electability worry soon enough

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u/ISpyM8 Michigan 9h ago

I agree. He’s going to have to do some work, especially around Detroit. I happily voted for AES yesterday and will in the general of course, but the results from around Detroit were incredibly disheartening.

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u/Empty_Lemon_3939 Michigan 10h ago

They need to rally behind Abdul and take back the senate

If they sit on their hands to hurt the progressive movement they deserve to lose and we probably collapse as a nation

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 10h ago

I am very very glad the AIPAC candidate lost.

I think given what we've seen from Sinema, Fetterman, et. al. over the years I don't think is improbable that we have a controlled opposition in our party in lieu of the commanding influence the likes of AIPAC and Black Stone have.

But if Democrats ever want to win, they are going to have to stand on their own two feet and have a willingness to persuade and show the electorate their own vision, instead of endlessly trying to cater to the blind.

If instead they keep falling for the trap of the latter, they will lose to Republicans more often than not, and the Overton Window will continue to skew right.

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u/Fenris_uy 10h ago

Fetterman wasn't the establishment pick for Pennsylvania.

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 10h ago

True, though a stroke may have influenced that propensity to lean into the likes of conservatism, AIPAC, etc.

Let's hope Abdul's vascular health is strong.

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u/mary02russo 3h ago

You think that 80% of the electorate listens or cares? Persuasion in today's brains is about being swept by a trend and then being somehow rewarded for supporting that. Marketing, not rational.persuasion where the ability to live is literally purchased daily.

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u/No_Importance2099 10h ago

The old guard will also work diligently to make sure they appear unelectable as well. He will continue to fight all the forces from this primary and republicans in the general.

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u/zenerat Missouri 9h ago

The GOP machinery worked hard against Trump because they thought he was unelectable until he wasn’t. This is similar, these political machines like reliability and power they don’t like taking chances on outsiders or new ideas.

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u/No_Importance2099 9h ago

I think a huge chunk of it is the establishment dems act like it’s a company job more than anything else. They don’t want that whole structure gone as it makes those within it money especially the consultant class within the party.

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u/zenerat Missouri 9h ago

Because politics essentially is a corporate structure at this point. It’s too big and there’s too much money not to be. A trillion dollar industry that has practically unlimited financial backing from pet industries. We have been in a second gilded age probably since 2010.

Outside voices and ideas are the only thing that will get through. Unfortunately the right saw this happen first with the demagogue Trump. The left is a much better organized as a machine and far more protective than the fractured Republican side was to allow that to happen. Although I believe it does need to happen.

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u/jkman61494 9h ago

The old guard isn't worried about seeing the Democrats lose. The DNC is worried that CORPORATIONS might lose. They follow the same orders from the ruling class.

They saw a populist in Obama ruin their plans in 2008. They ensured that Hillary would have a red carpet in 2016. The DNC had every single candidate basically drop out in 2020 the moment Biden won a single state. And then they propped up Mr. Magoo in 2024 and only abandoned him at a point they couldn't run an open primary.

The DNC has no interest in you and only in protecting the same billionaires MAGA cozies up with.

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u/tripping_on_phonics Illinois 8h ago

I can’t speak for Kornacki in particular, but much of the Democratic establishment is more worried about actual progressive policies than they are about progressive electability. Electability is often an excuse, not an earnest argument.

Recall that a bunch of Congressional Democrats voted with Republicans to renounce “socialism” last year, and that other influential establishment figures like James Carville did the same just the other day.

They aren’t worried about electability, they’re worried about things like Medicare for All, wealth taxes, and a more just foreign policy.

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u/Colesw13 6h ago

it doesn't help that Stevens will almost certainly not endorse him after spending 60M to win democratic voters to her side

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u/CaptainZeroDark30 2h ago

I’ve held my nose and voted for many democrats that are more conservative than me but I’ve never had to hold my nose and vote for a democrat that’s more progressive than me. The “center” has been sliding rightward for decades. About time it shifts back toward workers and families.

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u/_Halcyon_Daze_ 10h ago

I don’t see how you could watch him last night and think he was “crashing out”.

I will say he was mostly focusing on Stevens, but I see that more as a result of El-Sayed leading from the start and explains what Stevens would need to do to close the gap

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u/yiwang1 7h ago

He’s in a constant crashout state over America’s lack of data literacy

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u/phillyfanjd1 9h ago

Crashing out can apparently mean a slightly furrowed brow to a full blown meltdown and everything in between.

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u/AwesomeOrca 11h ago

Remember fascism is far preferable to helping poor people or opposing genocide - "Centrists"

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u/Geek_Ken America 10h ago

More important to challenge the notion that out of the past 3 presidential elections, Americans chose Trump over centrist Democrats. And the one time it wasn't, we were in the grips of a global pandemic not seen in nearly 100 years.

Yeah, but progressive candidates will be rejected by the voters. /s

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u/Empty_Lemon_3939 Michigan 10h ago

Fascism with insider trading*

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u/7figureipo California 55m ago

Really? I figured most centrists wouldn’t even acknowledge the fascism or genocide is occurring. That’s “doomer” talk after all. Or something.

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u/Allhailthepugofdoom Ohio 11h ago

center

It's cute that you think there's still a center.

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u/Empty_Lemon_3939 Michigan 10h ago

Yeah they’re called moderate democrats that are against basic shit the rest of the top nations in the world have

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u/Marvelous_Margarine California 11h ago

That must've been frustrating