We’re still a few weeks away from Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary, but the insurgent Senate campaign of far-left contender Abdul El-Sayed has Democratic Party officials worried, again, about an extremist who could usurp a nomination in a state they need to win.
The favorite to win the nomination was Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, seemingly the perfect candidate for Dems in a state that’s gone for Donald Trump in both of his presidential victories and which has swung to the right in recent years. But, as CNN reports, El-Sayed is tapping into the party’s radical base, following the path of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other successful Democratic Socialists of America candidates. (Not to mention, ahem, Maine’s Graham Platner.)
Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow was supposed to be a middle ground between the Democratic Socialists of America-backed El-Sayed and the very non-progressive Stevens, but McMorrow has withdrawn from the race after failing to gain traction. It’s not hard to see why when you look at some of her attempts to drum up energy — literally, here — on the campaign trail: