El-Sayed’s Rise Turns MI Primary Into a ‘Proxy War’ for Direction of the Democratic Party
“After scandal-plagued Graham Platner’s likely primary win Tuesday in Maine, El-Sayed is the next anti-establishment progressive who has a serious chance of winning a Senate nomination.”
The Fighting for Michigan PAC, a newly formed progressive super PAC, told Axios it plans to spend “millions” to boost Dr. Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary. While the group declined to disclose the total amount it expects to spend, it said the effort will include direct mail, digital advertising, and voter-organizing operations.
Progressive strategist Connor Farrell and operative Hannah Fertig, who are helping lead the Fighting for Michigan PAC, said the group expects significant opposition spending in the race.
“We know big-money groups representing the Israel lobby, corporate interests and AI billionaires are going to spend heavily against Abdul in the coming days,” they said.
Determined not to be outspent, the new PAC is preparing to invest heavily in support of the far-left El-Sayed. As the increasingly contentious struggle between the Democratic Party’s progressive wing and its establishment faction plays out in Michigan, the group’s goal is clear: they want El-Sayed to win the Democratic Senate nomination.
The Bernie Sanders-backed El-Sayed is running for the open seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is retiring. His chief rival in the primary is Rep. Haley Stevens, whom he currently leads by 3.7% in the RealClearPolitics polling average. Stevens, a more moderate Democrat, has secured the backing of both the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the United Democracy Project, the primary super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
A third candidate, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, remains in the race but currently trails both El-Sayed and Stevens in the polls.
In an article titled “Michigan drenched in super PAC spending for Abdul El-Sayed,” Axios’ Holly Otterbein made the case that the battle for the Senate nomination “has become a proxy war over the future direction of the Democratic Party.” She framed the primary as a critical test for the progressive movement and noted that “after scandal-plagued Graham Platner’s likely primary win Tuesday in Maine, El-Sayed is the next anti-establishment progressive who has a serious chance of winning a Senate nomination.”
The Michigan primary will be held on August 4.
On Tuesday, the Fighting for Michigan PAC released an internal poll showing El-Sayed leading Republican nominee Mike Rogers by five points in a hypothetical general election matchup, 51% to 46%.
That finding contrasts with the RealClearPolitics polling average, which currently gives Rogers a narrow 1.7-point edge. However, the most recent survey included in the average was conducted from May 20 to May 23 and therefore does not capture El-Sayed’s recent momentum in the Democratic primary. Underscoring the uncertainty surrounding the race, RealClearPolitics currently rates the contest as a toss-up.
Axios: A new super PAC is planning to spend millions of dollars in the contentious Michigan Senate primary to help Sen. Bernie Sanders-backed candidate Abdul El-Sayed. https://t.co/3nVVEbyPJl
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) June 9, 2026
The UAW is proud to endorse @AbdulElSayed for U.S. Senate.
UAW members in Michigan want a fighter in Washington, D.C. who isn’t afraid to push forward a strong working-class agenda with moral clarity. Having never taken a dime from corporate PACs, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is someone… pic.twitter.com/qKyNAPxlPh
— UAW (@UAW) June 5, 2026
There was a time when El-Sayed trailed both Stevens and McMorrow in the polls. But, in late March, he made national headlines when leaked audio of his reaction to the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei surfaced. In the clip below, he tells supporters, “I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. So like, I just don’t want to comment on Khamenei at all.”
Whether it was the national attention generated by the controversy or genuine enthusiasm for his message, he began gaining ground in the polls almost immediately after the story broke.
🚨LEAKED AUDIO FROM ABDUL EL-SAYED ON THE DEATH OF IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER:
"I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. So like, I just don't want to comment on Khamenei at all." pic.twitter.com/Ai6JwOw6Fm
— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) March 30, 2026
About two weeks ago, he made another controversial statement at a campaign event. He said he “struggle[s] with the question of whether Israel should exist as a Jewish state.”
SCOOP @jewishinsider via @marcrod97: "El-Sayed said he struggles with question of whether Israel should exist as a Jewish state"https://t.co/dskGtvSoCB
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) May 26, 2026
There was a time, not so long ago, when a statement this vile would have been enough to end a political candidacy. Today, however, as antisemitic rhetoric has become increasingly normalized among wide swaths of the Democratic Party — particularly in states like Michigan and Minnesota that are home to the nation’s largest Muslim populations — such remarks no longer provoke the universal condemnation they once would have.
It’s starting to seem like the more incendiary El-Sayed’s rhetoric becomes, the more he rises in the polls. Whatever the reason, it can’t be denied that the candidate who once trailed his primary opponents, has gained momentum in the race over the last few months. It’s hard to say whether that is despite his antisemitic remarks or because of them.
For progressives, El-Sayed represents an opportunity to prove that their wing of the party can defeat the Democratic establishment in a high-profile Senate race. For establishment Democrats, his ascent is a warning sign that the party’s activist base may be moving in a direction they can no longer control. On August 4, Michigan voters will decide which side wins that fight.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn.
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Glass Dearborn
I find it necessary to remind everyone that Bernie Sanders is *not* a Democrat. He’s a self-described socialist.
It’s telling that the party has gone so far left so quickly that Sanders is no longer considered the Grandpa Simpson of the group.
I also hasten to point out that election fraud is no small contributor to this sudden influx of hard left antisemitic zealots achieving elected office.
He is a member of the Democrat caucus in the senate. That makes him a Democrat.
It makes Comrade Sanders a greasy opportunist; that’s all. Ideologically, Comrade Sanders is a communist. “Democratic Socialist” is a slick marketing veneer that is intended to re-brand communist ideology to make it more attractive and palatable, to American audiences.
you are more than correct
in fact he has been the reality, the real face of what the dems ( for so long feared) the obvious connection to the stalinists would be exposed and a msm that sought to protect his image and moreso the dem party by calling him an “independent”
the welfare state is communist and the dems have always been the racist welfare statist thugggs
His Senate biography has him as “Independent”.
Maybe you should point out the error.
https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/S000033
Every member supplies his own bio. He can write whatever he likes there.
The question is what is a Democrat? What makes someone a Democrat? And the only reasonable answer, in the case of elected legislators, is that a Democrat means a member of the Democrat caucus. Which Sanders is.
Sanders runs for election as an “independent”, with the Dems’ backing; they don’t run a candidate against him. In all but his most recent election he competed in and won the Dem primary, but then declined the nomination, so there was no Dem candidate against him. In his most recent election the Dems didn’t even bother holding a primary.
We got dudes claiming they are women. Criminals often proclaim themselves to innocent. Seems like every other person claims some sort of victim status these days. All sorts of folks make all kinds of untrue/misleading statements everyday to further their personal agenda/interest. IMO we shouldn’t accept self-serving statements as true unless we’ve previously determined that person to be trustworthy though repeated interactions.
‘He’s a self-described socialist’. .Makes him a truthful Democrat. The Islam/Marxist is the future of the Dems.
This is a dustup between two groups who agree on almost every issue. The only difference is that the Soviet Central Committee faction (Pelosi, Biden*, Schumer, etc.) want to conceal their true objectives a bit longer, while the Khmer Rouge faction (Omar, Whitehouse, Platner, AOC, etc.) want actual blood flowing in the streets NOW.
The latter faction is rising in power and will soon completely dominate.
Yes! Out with the old palace guard, in with the anarchist adjacent, neo-Bolsheviks.
who are these Bolsheviks.?
Two high profile opportunities to surge resources, volunteers, outside campaign funds from PACs this primary season to stop the campaign of truly nutty antisemitic jerks in primaries didn’t pan out with both Platner in Maine and Hamaway in NJ cruising to victory. Maybe those examples of vile candidates advancing will motivate folks to stop El-Sayed bid to become a Senator in the primary v hoping they will have an opportunity to do it if they wait till the general election. Personally I’d prefer expending resources to defeat Cray Cray candidates at every opportunity including their primary v waiting, standing aside as they win the nomination and their goofy political party circle the wagons and go all in on ‘their guy’ in the general.
It’s more than a “proxy” war. Muslims popping up in local, state and federal government elected positions is an alarm bell going off. It comes down to what the future of the country will be. Look around, at home and abroad, at what is happening.
Also the future of Jews in America.
Ironically the rise of muslims and Jew hating in a major US party justifies the existence of Israel as a refuge for Jews. They won’t allow us to live peacefully while contributing to society anywhere else. Instead we get blamed for all the ills of the world. We need a refuge from everyone else and Israel is it. It also justifies anything and I mean anything Israel does to maintain its existence.
Well ….anything reasonable, sure. Which Israel mostly adheres to anyway, minus a few high profile spying episodes in the USA. Biting the hand of the biggest supporter of Israel seems like bad policy but apart from those…. not that much to complain about unless one is a brainwashed ideologue steeped in anti Israeli propaganda.
The US spies on everyone including allies, probably mostly electronically.
If I was Isreal I’d spy on the US too. It would be important to know about the players and which way the US will jump.
Would I use human intelligence gathering of technical information? Difficult to say, Then again I’m not a spy chief and I don’t know what the particular info is or who is going to provide it. Maybe.
‘Everybody does it’ and/or ‘the US does it too’ whataboutisms are, IMO, unconvincing and won’t minimize the damage. Consider the relative position of the USA and Israel if, hypothetically, there was a complete diplomatic break and a totally severed relationship; the USA would be minimally impacted relative to the issues Israel would encounter absent the friendship of the USA. Without access to a friendly USA that offers not just military, Intel and ‘foreign aid’ assistance but also access to our capital markets, exports, allows private financial transfers, tourism/student/work visa and so on Israel would be in a very difficult position given the hostility of most of the rest of the developed world and its geographic location. Might may not make right, but the more powerful partner in the relationship is less impacted by its dissolution or to reverse it the weaker partner has far more to lose.
The secondary problem though is the reaction by the general public in USA to the revelations of the spying. Most won’t be as forgiving as you seem to be. Especially when that spy is a US Citizen like Mr Pollard who upon release from prison was flown on the private aircraft of the Adelson Family to Israel where he was greeted on the tarmac by Mr Netanyahu, gifted an apartment and provided a pension by the Israeli govt. That episode and the continued defense of such episodes damages the relationship between Israel and the USA in the broader public.
‘You pays your money and you takes your chance’ at the fair and in life. Best not to take some risks but if you must then don’t get caught and when/if caught be humble, apologetic, contrite displaying genuine remorse and hopefully sincere repentance to not do it again.
well nyc was the center piece and that was lost on 9 11 by a back bending kowtowing populace that saw that once again,,,they could buy some time if they just appeased the newer adolphs
never works out and the american public that believes in the judeo -christian agenda should have taken over but instead we got…mamdummi
Unfortunately all these different factions cannot occupy the same space.
The more aggressive people will eventually win out and everyone else below will just go along whether they agree with the violent rhetoric or not.
We have seen this throughout history.
should patriots be fearful?
of course
when they lose they still win as “conservative” towns all across america still live in fear of losing federal money and being sued and of course the street blmplo armies that even proclaim their soldiers innocence even when the soldiers boasts they did the crime
the irish were actually eager to get those protesters who went after foreigners ( which they should be but for non political reasons)
so that they cant show their future leaders that they are on their side when the takeovers/replacements,, be it the eu or america,, occur
the tables have turned and bad is good ,,as the “prophets” of the 1960/70s would tell us over and over that bad meant good…but they made it sound cool,, so whty would be more accepting of the takeover
correct:
so that they can show their future leaders….
We all knew the Dems would join Islam sooner or later. This is a modern example of the fox helping the gingerbread man across the stream. The fox being Islam. The Dems are so desperate for power that they would literally join with Satan if he showed up! Look at the human scum they are electing or running for office! That worst of all are Muslims, not for who they are but what they threaten to do with our beloved country! The Dems are so greedy for power they don’t see the peril.
all good except they “dont see the peril”
they do but they hope/know/guess that they and their families will be spared as their friendship to the barbarians gets rewarded
Is there any doubt that Satan is a Democrat?
The old saw: “ Not all Democrats are horse thieves, but all horse thieves are Democrats”.
The vile, stupid, evil and subversive Dhimmi-crat Party is beyond redemption, moral probity and sanity, having sold its soul to Satan by gleefully embracing communism and Jew-hating and Christian-hating Islamofascism/Muslim supremacism.
The road that this wretched party and its wicked apparatchiks marches upon leads straight to hell.
If you didn’t despise unions enough you should now, I write this as a former member of the UAW, Disgusting. Parasites.
and any negatives towards the unions are always met with …they are the backbone,,the patriots of the country…unions destroy(ed) america morally
That is only the leadership, not the members. They have already come out and said they do not agree with their leaders.
Union leaders are voted in.
Fighting for Michigan PAC says “We know big-money groups representing the Israel lobby, corporate interests and AI billionaires are going to spend heavily against Abdul in the coming days,” they said.
I want to know their big money groups – will they dare tell?