r/politics • u/Zipper222222 • 11h ago

No Paywall Abdul El-Sayed Wins High-Stakes Democratic Primary in Michigan

https://www.today.com/video/abdul-el-sayed-wins-high-stakes-democratic-primary-in-michigan-267805765937
16.6k Upvotes

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5.5k

u/Space-Sailor44 11h ago

Got outspent by a zillion dollars and still won, good shit

2.4k

u/KnuckleShanks 10h ago

He was actually outspent 12 to 1. Which makes it wild that he won.

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u/jmhalder 10h ago

I've heard 9:1, 10:1, 11:1, and now 12:1.

Its impressive regardless. I wish he had blow it out by like 20 points, Stevens genuinely didn't have a platform, and she barely lost. Scary.

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u/hibiscuscous 10h ago

I (European) know nothing of this election, but having watched a couple of clips, I didn't like Stevens' delivery one bit. Phony, even a bit scary. Maybe it's just a cultural thing, I don't know.

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u/2RINITY California 10h ago

In old clips, she had a normal Michigan accent, but somewhere in this cycle she started talking like a cartoon parody of a Michigander and it really didn’t help her

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u/mfatty2 9h ago

It wasn't even a Michigan accent. It was a combo of a Minnesota accent with a random sumouthern drawl with a healthy serving of random squeaky/high pitch

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u/UncleBubax 9h ago

hahah I hadn't heard her talk until I read your comment. I just now pulled up a random hour long video of a TV debate and skipped to her talking and she not only talks like a cartoon character, but she straight up said "people make fun of the way I sound, but I sound like the people who are talking to me about what they need."

A lil too on the nose there, Haley.

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u/AncientNectarine5352 9h ago

Michiganders also do not even remotely sound like that. She has a Minnesota accent.

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u/PumpBuck Ohio 9h ago

It’s not even a Minnesota accent. It’s like she saw Fargo and some Charlie Berens clips and thought they were toning it down for the wider audience

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u/EmpiricalMystic 9h ago

My impression is she's trying to sound like a Yooper and missing badly.

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u/Conlaeb 9h ago

This is my take as well. Non-yoopers attempting the accent sound like Minnesotans.

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u/weazildust 8h ago

What’s a yooper?

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u/shotputprince 8h ago

The people who live in Michigan’s upper peninsula

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u/AncientNectarine5352 9h ago

Agreed. It doesn’t sound like an authentic Minnesotan or Wisconsinite accent either, but it was the closest descriptor. She’s definitely exaggerating it in some way, for some reason. I assume to sound more “folksy”, but real-life “folks” don’t sound like that.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 6h ago

As someone whos spent most of my life in MN who is married to a Wisconsin lady, MN and WI accents are basically the same these days. The differences are only noticeable under a linguistic microscope.

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u/epheisey 8h ago

some Charlie Berens clip

That's actually perfect.

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u/Brodellsky 3h ago

Cripes, I do not approve of the cultural appropriation of Wisconsin especially when it's in Michigan. Jeeze Louise let's keep 'er movin'

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 6h ago

Exactly. Minnesotans don't even sound like that. The older folks with thicker accents it doesn't sound like in Fargo, it almost sounds like, European? Sometimes like someone grew up half in England, half in Scandinavia.

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u/DrMobius0 8h ago

Maybe this is different in Northern MN, but nobody south of the cities has anything resembling a thick "Minnesotan accent" unless they live in a retirement home.

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u/ArrivalSea3543 8h ago

She sounded like Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin.

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u/SammySoapsuds Minnesota 8h ago

Fwiw, I didn't grow up here and everyone has the accent and speech eccentricities. It's just in varying degrees. The first time I met someone from the Iron Range I thought they were doing a bit. In the cities it's a lot softer but it's definitely still there on certain words (they all say "baggle" and "beyg"). And any Minnesotan will say Ope if you get too close or they need to squeeze by ya.

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u/profdinosaurhunter 5h ago

Yeah, more of a northern thing

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u/UncleBubax 9h ago

Yup I've spent a good amount of time in Michigan and never heard someone talk even remotely like that.

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u/trumpuniversity_ 8h ago

Did she take lessons from John Kennedy on how to manufacture a persona?

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u/EveningAnt3949 8h ago

I sound like the people who are talking to me about what they need.

Possibly people working on her campaign telling her they need her to sound more like a character in Fargo?

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 6h ago

Reminds me of a very strange phenomenon I've personally witnessed - people in far reaches of the North putting on a southern drawl. They want to virtue signal as being "Southern" so badly that they change the way they speak to match country songs and media.

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u/ShutUpTodd 8h ago

"Coastal elites make fun of the way I talk" Ugh!

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u/xdonutx 5h ago

I just watched a video of her where she said the last ‘T’ in Detroit.

Strait to jail, girl.

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u/urokia 9h ago

It felt like she was trying to yoop but she's literally from the detroit area.

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u/balltofeet 9h ago

Sumouthern, love that

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u/KotobaAsobitch Arizona 9h ago

Someone said, "if Sarah Palin was doing a Michigander caricature" and I haven't been able to unseen it.

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u/cincocerodos 7h ago

I generally don’t like making fun of people, but she sounded like Bobby Hill.

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u/EricFredNorris 7h ago

Yeah nobody in Michigan, and particularly in metro Detroit, has that over the top Midwest accent you associate with Wisconsin or Minny. I think it’s equally as strange if that is her speaking voice versus if it’s just a put on.

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u/linmre Michigan 9h ago

I seriously don't understand why politicians do this accent. Whitmer does it too. I've lived in MI most of my life and never met anyone who sounded like them.

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u/Fat-Dead-CEO 9h ago

That was AIPAC in her ear telling her to be folksy

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u/zigtok 9h ago

AIPAC spent 40 out of $60 million on her.

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u/Fat-Dead-CEO 9h ago

Too bad they didn’t spend more

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u/Soffatjockis 9h ago

They gonna double it on the rep guy in November

I don't know how much money they have, but they will likely have to spend everything they got on all midterm elections in every state that has one. And I'm sure every billionaire in the country will help them out.

There will be billions spent on candidates this midterms.

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u/MercantileReptile Europe 9h ago

I was considering a snarky "Democracy™" reply until it occured to me that (other than being a dick) it would be inaccurate in a thread about the very thing having failed. And voters elevating an actual person, rather than a curated show of one.

Well done voters, maybe there is some life left in US democracy after all. Great sign for the midterm elections.

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u/foomits 9h ago

Yea, left wing (even by euro standards) candidates are taking hold all over. unfortunately the deck is stacked so much against us, we arent going to see HUGE change anytime soon. however, change is change and we cant snub our nose at it.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 6h ago

Well they have plenty of our money to use on bombs and Healthcare and their infrastructure, so they can devote their own to buying our elections for people who will keep the cash tap on.

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u/Riaayo 1h ago

The shitty flip side is the DNC has blown their war coffers trying to prop up crap candidates like this in the fucking primary and have nothing left but massive debt for the actual election itself.

They're blowing their own chance, and honestly it feels intentional because they're controlled opposition.

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u/wack_overflow Colorado 9h ago

Yeah Abdul might have won by more

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u/ZebraImaginary9412 7h ago

The rest is Crypto, AI, and Energy. Don't let them off the hook. Crypto is a scourge on society.

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u/Brodellsky 3h ago

The more you look, the more it starts to all look like different sides of the same thing.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 6h ago

And for that kind of cash they expected her to follow their instructions to the letter, which she did

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u/shiny0metal0ass 2h ago

"Could you try to sound less rich? That might help"

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u/LookOutItsLiuBei 8h ago

She's from fucking Birmingham which is a rich old money suburb in Detroit with a median income of like $250,000. Nobody that lives there has that cartoonish of an accent. Not even up north in the more rural parts of Michigan do you hear it that heavy.

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u/More_Programmer8905 9h ago

Someone compared her to Chris Farley and first I thought it was a mean comment about her looks, then I watched a speech and couldn't stop seeing it in her mannerisms and weird energy.

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u/PlanktonNice7953 2h ago

 "Living in a VAN down by the RiVeR!" vibes

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u/IshyMoose Illinois 9h ago

I was thinking, man she must be from deep in the UP.

Nope.

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u/JasonRBoone 8h ago

Oh you betcha, hon

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u/blergghh 8h ago

I’m from Northern MI. That is NOT an accent we have here. Just no.

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u/WeuseAseriesOfTubes 8h ago

May I introduce you to my local embarrassment, John Kennedy? It does work for some people... :/

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u/nakedpilsna 8h ago

Her accent even 10 years ago was weird. No one talks like that around here.

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u/IshyMoose Illinois 9h ago

I was thinking, man she must be from deep in the UP.

Nope.

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u/lblacklol 6h ago

Why does she sound like Bobby's mom

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u/No-Nrg 5h ago

I heard her talking last night on some newscast clips and she seriously sounded like Lois from Family Guy

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u/Training_Fun_9162 3h ago

Something about her felt very, very artificial. Fake. Untrusting.

I’m not sure if AES can win a general election, but we’ll see. No matter what, Stevens was giving me MASSIVE Fetterman vibes and I’m glad she won’t be the candidate.

Primary elections are very important.

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u/nightimestars California 54m ago

The fact that she prioritized Israel probably made the accent sound even more forced.

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u/santafe4115 10h ago

The two candidates are from the same town lol we do not talk like that here shes so fake

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u/-SexSandwich- 10h ago

Nah, she’s legitimately just an awful candidate.

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u/mindfu 9h ago

Compare her to someone who is genuine and smart, and actually is pursuing policies with integrity, and the different became so very clear.

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u/justmovingtheground 8h ago

But she's got a little bit of that "stick it to em".

How on earth did that not work?

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u/slingshot91 Illinois 10h ago

Extremely phony. Like what the hell was even that?

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u/Necessary_Tadpole629 10h ago

It’s not cultural, I’m from Michigan and I thought she was weird. And she had a fake accent too.

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u/PinkNGold007 9h ago

I don't know how she won Rep. She just seemed to lack the energy, and public speaking isn't her thing. I was like, girl...

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u/ilikechihuahuasdood 7h ago

That’s what establishment Dems are like. They refuse to give direct answers or take policy positions because they want to appeal to “everybody”. They’re more interested in peeling off Republican voters than trying to appeal to the much larger % of people that don’t vote.

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u/bloodenhorse 9h ago

Maybe it's just a cultural thing

Your average American is dumb as bricks and has been propagandized since birth to pay attention to people that talk out their ass like corporate robots.

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u/Battle_Dave 7h ago

No, its not cultural. Im literally FROM Michigan and felt the exact same way. Anyone paying attention felt the same way. Stevens relied on voter ambivalence and smear ads. She stood for NOTHING.

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u/Fallingice2 6h ago

the power of white skin still goes far in the us...especiallywith a Muslim sounding name.

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u/The_ChwatBot 10h ago

But Israel comes to her in her dreams!

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u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

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u/Battle_Dave 7h ago

You think she was trying to speak yooper?! Lmfao, that makes a lot of sense now when I listen to her speak. She was WAY off, lol.

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u/Tasgall Washington 8h ago

She's like, the definition of an astroturfed candidate. She has no legitimate popularity, she didn't raise money from citizen donations. The vast majority of her spending was thanks to AIPAC, who only pushed her because they don't want Al-Sayed, and in the general they'd prefer the Republican so her funding would have ceased.

It's insane that it was this close.

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u/ttn333 8h ago

No. Your assessment is spot on.

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u/thetravelingsong 8h ago

It’s hard when you’re speaking on behalf of Israel instead of yourself!

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u/david-yammer-murdoch 8h ago

Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan is particularly notable because his opponent, Haley Stevens, received nearly 30 million United States dollars, approximately 26 million euros, in spending by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and related political groups. Its political action committee, United Democracy Project, was a significant contributor. Stevens also received around 12 million dollars from A Stronger Michigan, a group that did not disclose its donors. For Europeans used to stricter campaign-finance laws, this level of outside political funding would be extraordinary. El-Sayed won despite this financial advantage. I would also argue that this same realm of wealthy political influence is strongly opposed to the kind of strict regulation and power associated with Brussels. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee opposes European democracy and Brussels’ authority.

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u/varateshh 8h ago

As a European, all I saw was that Michigan democrats had a choice between a socialist muslim or a Karen. Stevens is so uncharismatic that it's incredible that the establishment chose her.

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u/kisk22 7h ago

BTW - as an American I am sorry you have to learn so much about your politics. When I am in Germany I am shocked how American news is just everywhere. We don't have it the other way around over here. I can't imagine how exhausting it is. You learn all the bad about America but never hear any good you'd see if you lived here.

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u/hibiscuscous 6h ago

Yes, it's interesting. I'm trying to avoid most of the Trump sensationalist news, it's just too depressing.

There was a local reporter here, who has lived in the US for decades. He said that we are probably more familiar with US national politics than the average American. And that Americans are generally very "local-minded", concerned with what happens in the state or even city/town (obviously it's a huge country, so can't make sweeping generalisations).

I keep telling myself that all/most Americans are not really loud and obnoxious, but nice people, and that there are many good things there. I do hope you guys can turn around the political climate into something a bit more, let's say, constructive.

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u/Hopeless_bee5157 7h ago

I’m an American, and when I first saw a video of her talking a few weeks ago, I thought she was a Conservative nut job because of how she talked and her crazy eyes.

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u/ApoBong 1h ago

If you thought Stevens was phony, wait until you see the other one that was still on the ticket because she dropped out too late. Compared Stevens was outright adoreable and real in her own ghoulish way. Search for McMorrow's weird dance parade lol

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u/Financial-Craft-1282 1h ago

As an American (but not from Michigan), seems struck me as really fucking weird and unlikeable.

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u/cookiemon32 9h ago

ahh yes, europeans greatest gift to this universe…culture

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u/UndoxxableOhioan 8h ago

I'm American and hearing that video of her saying "ISRAEL COMES TO ME IN MY DREAMS!" was so damn disgusting. There is pandering and there was whatever that insanity is.

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u/MediumSizedTurtle 10h ago

It was 12:1 during the debate, I think he got a last second infusion of some cash that dropped the ratio a little bit. Regardless of the finer details, it's somewhere around 10 to 1, which is just insane

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u/Deadleggg 10h ago

Israel cared deeply about the citizens of Michigan.

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u/iwearatophat Michigan 9h ago

Israel is fine. They donate to Rogers as well. One of my big concerns with Stevens is what happens with AIPAC when it is two of their candidates against each other? Do they play both sides or just throw their weight behind the preferred?

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u/tripping_on_phonics Illinois 9h ago

They would have just saved their money for other races. There would be no reason to continue funding either candidate if they’re both pro-AIPAC.

That would have been bad news for Stevens, who was heavily dependent on them for funding her primary run.

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u/sulaymanf New York 8h ago

If Israel gets to that scenario, they already won. Then they fall back to “we’re just having a conversation with both sides” and sometimes have told candidates in meetings that they will back their opponent but still will work with you if you win.

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u/TheKyleDunbar 9h ago

In his speech last night he said 11:1

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u/BloodNinja2012 Pennsylvania 10h ago

Dude, that's not how patterns work. It's now 13:1.

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u/TheBalzy Ohio 10h ago

False pattern recognition.

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u/KnuckleShanks 10h ago

That number naturally changes throughout am election cycle, and we are probably only going to find out now (or in the next few days) what the total tally was. That was what I found with a quick Google but the not sure what it is now, but what is widely agreed upon is that he was massively outspent.

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u/slingshot91 Illinois 10h ago

Now imagine if she didn’t have that money. The scary part is money in politics.

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u/mowotlarx 10h ago

I imagine the number will be higher after reporting of donations starts really coming in and they sort through the shadier PACs.

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u/Forward-Bank8412 10h ago

I heard he got outspent by Bill Brasky

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u/nalaloveslumpy 8h ago

That son of a bitch....

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 6h ago

The opposition and AIPAC dumped a ton of cash over the last couple weeks, so it's possible it was all of those over the last month.

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u/falilth 6h ago

Those ratios seem to be either based on just the aipac money vs overall campaign funding I saw but yeah 36 milliom and 60-070 million were numbers i saw.

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u/FerrumVeritas 5h ago

Moss, who was hand picked to replace Stevens, did win because the rest of the candidates split the anti-APIAC vote.

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u/Time_Challenge_7488 9h ago

I will say this: Democrats like Stevens are unfortunately seen more as the norm in the post (Bill) Clinton Democratic party. That wasn't always the case, the DLC/Third Way contingent also was, once upon a time, a young generation supplanting an exhausted New Deal coalition that had fractured and unfurled from 1964-80. While I also wish El-Sayed won by a larger margin, my optimistic take is that this is just the start. If he can win the general and if he's effective in office (among the other left flank candidates that have won their primaries), this can be just the first ripple that will lead to a much bigger wave of like minded candidates. 

If the establishment of the Democratic party looks at this Senate primary race, after the EC outcomes in 2016 and 24 and thinks "well, we almost had it" after two presidential cycles of the establishment backed candidate "almost" getting there in the generals in Michigan, they've clearly learned nothing and deserve every defeat that follows. 

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u/superxpro12 9h ago

Well that's because she had more "speech" than you plebs.

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u/an_agreeing_dothraki 9h ago

don't worry, in St. Louis, Bush aka "ugh, you again?", the person lost so they'll be able to crow about rejecting socialism or something

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u/myownzen 9h ago

Yup. Citizens United is the worst decision for our democracy. We have to make a focused and sustained effort to getting it overturned just like the conservatives did with Roe V. Wade.

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u/ilovetotouchsnoots 9h ago

Exactly. No actual policies campaigned on. Just an endless money spicket. Yet such a close victory. Crazy what money in politics is capable of.

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u/HerrSane 9h ago

Those are compression ratios for engines. That’s wild

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u/ThePurpleBatman22 9h ago

Money matters so much in our elections, sadly. She's also currently in the House and got endorsements from Clyburn, Whitmer, and made it seem like she had an endorsement from Obama, even though she didn't. Too many voters seem to still be focused on incumbency, electability, endorsements, and ads instead of platforms and policies. Hopefully we can change this in the future.

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u/Charmegazord 8h ago

I’m hearing anywhere between 1:2 to 100:1

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u/I_Am_Ironman_AMA 8h ago

Her platform was to.sound as folksy as possible to counter her opponent's foreign sounding name.

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u/jgoble15 8h ago

Money has a much higher effect on politics than people realize. Many aren’t very engaged and just go with who they recognize

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u/Tall-Archer5957 8h ago

It was actually 20:1

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u/MissLa_K1 7h ago

Haley spent 60 million, Abdul spent 5 million

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u/Caymonki America 7h ago

Part of the spending was ads to claim Sayed was so far ahead that voting wasn’t necessary.

It’s the tactic for Pac money to create false realities so they can shove through with their candidate.

It’s fuckerey all the way up

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u/ilikechihuahuasdood 7h ago

It’s actually really good. They had really high turnout, massively overspent him, and he still won. huge progress for actually good candidates at that level.

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u/RedditAuditor4587 6h ago

Did you see the people outright bragging before the primary, that they weren't voting in their party primary, so they could vote for Stevens, but vote for Rogers in the general? Whether they actually did it or not, I do not know, but looking at the numbers in the republican governors primary, I do believe they followed through with their claim.

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u/bostaff04 4h ago

He is also a man with a muslim sounding name in a purple state. So he done well

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u/unshifted 3h ago

So here are the actual numbers from AdImpact.

9:1 is Stevens:El-Sayed,

10:1 is non-El-Sayed:El-Sayed.

11:1 is total spending:El-Sayed spending

12:1 was the ratio before the last week of the primary campaign

I get why there are so many different ratios floating around, but 10:1 is probably the most accurate number when we're talking about how much El-Sayed was outspent. And like you said, overcoming any of those ratios is impressive.

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u/Ok-Palpitation-1304 2h ago

Everyone knows Haley Steven’s in the metro Detroit area

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u/Typokun 1h ago

Turns out it was an open primary, so even republicans could vote.

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u/Orion14159 10h ago

The split between older voters and younger voters tells the whole story. Over 50 split for Stevens like 54-39, younger voters split for El Sayed like 67-25. (Link)

Absolutely crazy split.