Michigan’s Impact
It was certainly a good night for Socialists in Michigan this past Tuesday, securing primary wins in key races for U.S. Senate and U.S. House. In the wake of other Socialist wins in Democrat primaries and regional elections the past few months, it’s fair for folks to pay attention and be concerned.
But let’s put a bit of context into it.
Yes, Abdul El-Sayad won the Democrat nomination for the open U.S. Senate seat. However, polling suggested he’d win by 11 points; instead, he won by a single percentage point. Further, he did not even get a majority of the vote in the three-candidate race…meaning that more people who showed up to vote in the Michigan Democrat primary voted for someone else, than voted for him.
Let’s take that even further. Only 13 percent of Michigan voters took part in the primary at all. And primary voters, regardless of the state or party, are typically to the farther end of the political spectrum.
So yes, he won. That’s far better than losing, from a candidate’s perspective. But the number of people who actually took a stand in favor of him was rather small, relative to the whole.
And this is from a state that has elected Democrats to the U.S. Senate consistently for decades. The closest a Republican came was in 2024 when Mike Rogers lost by only three tenths of a percentage point, by far the best showing by the GOP in those decades. Rogers is the GOP nominee again this cycle. Granted, Rogers benefitted from Donald Trump being on the ballot and winning Michigan two years ago. But narrowly winning a partisan primary, as El-Sayed did, is far different from winning a general election, and the Socialist Democrat has plenty of work cut out for him.
Remember, too, that this is an open seat currently held by a Democrat. If that party wants to retake majority control of the chamber, they need to hold on to seats in places like Michigan…and even if they do, it’s not a “loss” of a seat on the scorecard for Republicans.
Meanwhile, Socialists failed in Democrat primaries in Missouri and Virginia. We heard a lot about them winning in Michigan, but very little about their losses in those two states; such is the nature of the formerly mainstream media these days.
The bottom line is that it’s certainly something to watch, this remaking of the Democrat party. But it’s hardly a mandate, and certainly something that Republicans—as well as more mainstream Democrats—can take action, by voting, to avoid.
