Leftists have an amusing tendency to forget that the rest of America isn’t as radical as they are. They shove their party further and further to the left, demand ideological purity, and then act stunned when voters outside the bubble recoil. This year, that habit may cost them the Senate majority they were hoping for.
Democrats in states like Minnesota and Michigan nominated Senate candidates who are not mainstream at all, and in doing so made those races ripe for the GOP to flip. Michigan is the best example. Abdul El-Sayed beat Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the August primary, and that made the seat far more competitive. Yes, the prediction markets still favor him over Republican Mike Rogers, but watch what El-Sayed is doing and you'll see several signs that he knows his campaign is in trouble.
I previously reported that El-Sayed flip-flopped on Medicare for All, his signature issue, mere weeks before Election Day. Candidates who are comfortably ahead don't torch their own brand in October. A campaign does that when its own numbers say it's behind.
And it really was his brand. El-Sayed spent years pushing a plan that would outlaw private insurance and herd every American onto a single government plan. He even floated repealing the Second Amendment and swapping in a constitutional right to health care. That's who Michigan Democrats picked to win over a swing state.
Related: El-Sayed’s Sister-in-Law Was on the Terror Watchlist in 2016
Now he says the opposite. "If you would like to have a private insurer, above that, you're welcome to do that," El-Sayed said. Sound familiar? It should, because former President Barack Obama sold Obamacare by promising Americans they could keep their plans, and we all remember how that turned out.
Speaking of Obama, here’s the other sign El-Sayed knows his campaign is in trouble: He is bringing him in to campaign late in the race, which suggests his internal polling isn't looking good.
More from the Associated Press:
Obama will appear with El-Sayed at an Oct. 24 rally that will also feature other top Democratic candidates in Michigan, including Jocelyn Benson, the party’s nominee for governor. Obama is getting significantly more involved in the midterm elections, with additional campaign stops and advertisements expected to come in the closing weeks, according to plans shared first with The Associated Press.
The Detroit event is a notable show of support for El-Sayed, who defeated moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in an August primary and has since worked to consolidate Democratic support in his race against Republican Mike Rogers. The open seat is expected to be among a handful that will decide which party controls the majority next year.
So El-Sayed has "worked to consolidate Democratic support" since August, and less than two weeks before Election Day, he still needs a former president to fly into Detroit and finish the job for him? That’s rough. In Detroit, of all places. A Democrat who has to shore up his own party's base in its biggest stronghold that late in the race has a serious problem, no matter what the prediction markets say.
El-Sayed clearly realizes he needs help. Whether Obama can deliver it is another matter entirely. Let’s not forget that Obama campaigned for Kamala Harris in 2024 in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia, and even Michigan, and she lost all of those states.
So, good luck with that, Abdulrahman.
