MS NOW Host Chris Jansing told viewers that as she was boarding her plane on Wednesday morning, “a guy who was a big fan of MS NOW” said he had voted for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Haley Stevens. He added that “if Abdul El-Sayed wins, I will be voting for Mike Rogers.”
This Michigan voter was hardly alone. Similar accounts of Stevens supporters defecting to the Republican candidate flooded social media after the antisemitic, radical El-Sayed was declared the winner of the primary.
Given his double-digit lead over Stevens in the polls, El-Sayed was widely expected to win. The only surprise was the margin: he defeated Stevens by just 1 percentage point, 48.5% to 47.5%. Even the folks at Slate Magazine had to acknowledge that El-Sayed’s victory was more of a “whimper” than a resounding defeat.
Fox News opinion writer David Marcus questioned whether Stevens might have prevailed had it not been for the wave of wildly inaccurate polls. As he put it, “The gullible acceptance of a slew of the worst polls ever taken absolutely put the thumb on the scale for El-Sayed in the final week. It’s all we talked about. And it wasn’t real.”
Although El-Sayed is not the first socialist to win a consequential race this election cycle, his victory in a critical battleground state sent political shockwaves throughout the country, particularly within the Democratic Party.
Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed deliberately and consistently rejected the democratic socialist label while embracing virtually the entire Democratic Socialists of America agenda and surrounding himself with DSA leaders and prominent activists like the radical Hasan Piker.
Apparently, he wasn’t fooling everyone.
At any rate, knowing he needs to win over Stevens voters in order to defeat his Republican opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, in November, El-Sayed said he will work to bring about unity within the party. This will be a heavy lift. His support came primarily from affluent, highly educated voters, while Stevens drew backing from working-class voters, union households, and black voters — groups that, while generally liberal, are not receptive to candidates identified with socialism. [El-Sayed’s deficit among black voters was allegedly 48%.]
Incendiary words like those from his frequent companion on the campaign trail, socialist Hasan Piker, certainly won’t help. Shortly after the race had been called, Piker said:
Like, everyone being like Abdul has a f***ton of work to do mending bridges, here’s the f***ing take nuke for you, okay? You are all unbelievably Islamophobic pieces of sh**, okay?You literally called the dude a f***ing terrorist for months on end, and like, called him a sexist, misogynist terrorist, bad candidate, fake doctor, when he has like two f***ing degrees, and now you’re gonna sit there and be like, ‘Well, you know, you really gotta come to me now’—like what are you talking about? Do you want to f***ing win or not? Lock the f**k in.
On Wednesday, El-Sayed turned his attention to bridging the party’s divides. He delivered a more conciliatory message to the voters he needs to win over. Seeking to mitigate the accusations of antisemitism that have dogged his campaign, he said, “To my Jewish American sisters and brothers … My commitment to your safety, to Jewish safety, is the same commitment that I have to my own daughters.”
This statement comes from a man who, among his many antisemitic, pro-Hamas statements, was once recorded saying he “struggles with the question of whether Israel should exist as a Jewish state.”
Will voters find his assurances credible in light of his history of vile remarks against Jews and Israel?
Like El-Sayed, the Democratic establishment, despite openly advocating for socialist policies, has long recognized that the word “socialism” carries strongly negative connotations, particularly in a country that was founded on the ideals of freedom and individual rights. They are acutely aware that having a wing of their party actually championing socialist — and even communist — policies is a distinct electoral liability.
That’s why establishment Democrats and their allied political action committees spent tens of millions trying to defeat El-Sayed.
Now, following his primary win, they find themselves in the awkward position of having to rally behind his candidacy — or risk losing a seat that is central to their hopes of reclaiming control of the Senate in November.
El-Sayed’s victory in a swing state has thrust the issue of socialism into the spotlight. It looms large over the 2026 midterms and is gaining momentum every day. Just as the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade galvanized Democratic voters and blunted the impact of what was expected to be a bruising election cycle for the party, the specter of socialism inside the Democratic Party may take the edge off what’s been predicted to be a dismal midterm performance for the GOP.
Let the games begin.
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