The Left Wins, The Media Spins
"Well, you didn't win by that much."
The left had a pretty good showing during Tuesday’s elections. Abdul El-Sayed overcame a ten-to-one spending disadvantage and defeated AIPAC darling Haley Stevens. Donavan McKinney defeated a pile of crypto cash to oust billionaire Shri Thanedar and win Michigan’s 13th District. Now, Detroit’s two congressional seats are held by members of the Democratic Socialists of America, the other being Rashida Tlaib. DSA-endorsed Yousef Rabhi unseated the incumbent mayor in Anne Arbor, Michigan, positioning himself as the next Midwest Mamdani. Sunrise Movement founder Will Lawrence won his race for Michigan’s 7th seat, and Uncommitted movement co-founder Abbas Alawieh was effectively elected to the Michigan State Senate. At the time of writing, DSA’s national- and local-endorsed candidates went 10-9, with two races outstanding. The Working Families Party announced a “clean sweep” in Michigan, and overall, the leftist vibes are high. Anti-choice measures were defeated in both Kansas and Missouri, showing that, despite what some liberal pundits claim, so-called “left” cultural values are not an obstacle to winning in red states.
But the night was not without disappointment. Cori Bush, Kyle Blomquist, Dr. Nila Devanath, and Hartzell Gray came up short. The toughest loss was Bush’s race, where she fell to Wesley Bell by over twenty points. For all Bell’s faults, he is popular with his constituents, which I underrated. A sizeable money advantage helped him remind his constituents why they liked him, and the election-season progressive veneer was enough to coast to a comfortable victory.
My disappointments aside, it was a fantastic night for the progressive left. But you wouldn’t know it if you listened to the media. The New York Times admitted the left beat the establishment, but said the election “showed our limits.” I can only speak for myself, but I feel victorious, not limited. They also claimed DSA had a “mixed night,” pointing to victories for El-Sayed, Rabhi, Lawrence, and McKinney, and the loss for Bush. Putting aside that El-Sayed and Lawrence aren’t DSA (it’s a group, not a vibe), four victories and a sole loss is not “mixed.” It’s a strong showing with an unfortunate defeat. Politico jumped into the fray, announcing early on Wednesday morning that “Progressives didn’t get the big election night they wanted.”
This is pure cope. The polling did have El-Sayed winning by double digits, and the race was much tighter than expected. But if you take away those polls, and the pre-election over-confidence they instilled in leftists such as myself, the Michigan race shows the undeniable conclusion strongly that Democratic voters prefer progressive candidates over establishment ones. The final result was close. But the resource expenditure was not. Combining outside spending (lobbyist groups, PACs, etc.) and money raised by the campaign, Abdul El-Sayed spent a total of $15.5 million. He won 741,000 votes, meaning he spent about $21 per vote. Comparatively, Haley Stevens’s war chest exceeded $72 million. Having won 726,000 votes, Stevens spent a jaw-dropping $99 per vote. Stevens also had the full-throated support of the Democratic establishment and its media allies. She was hand-picked to run by Schumer and was endorsed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, making her the second establishment-chosen Senatorial candidate rejected by Democratic voters this cycle.
The media threw everything it had at El-Sayed, calling him a sexist terrorist, because calling a Muslim a #notallmen terrorist just doesn’t do it anymore. Politico, a self-described Zionist publication, tried to whip up an eleventh-hour scandal after audio leaked of El-Sayed calling John Fetterman an ogre. Which is pretty accurate and mild given Fetterman’s unprecedented assholery. It wasn’t enough. The Democratic primary voters chose El-Sayed. As more data comes in, it looks like Republican votes were a source of Stevens’ late-night comeback. Michigan has open primaries, so getting Republican votes is all fair and good. But those claiming this election shows Abdul El-Sayed’s general election chances are slim, or that the progressive message doesn’t work outside deep blue districts, are lying to themselves. Take away Haley Stevens’ $30 million AIPAC donation (the largest AIPAC spend this cycle), and El-Sayed beats her by thirty points. I also don’t see how a close primary is a sign of El-Sayed’s doom. Stevens’ largest base of support was Black Detroiters, who are sure to come out big for the Democratic nominee. Is El-Sayed a shoo-in? Absolutely not. A Michigan Senate seat is never a given, especially when AIPAC has already announced it will be backing Republican Mike Rodgers in the general. The work is far from done. But Michiganders were clear: they’d rather fight with the progressive candidate they believe in than roll the dice with another establishment fence rider.
Don’t listen to the media and our sectarian opponents who try to dampen the left’s excitement. They can cope and seethe all they want. Already they’re crunching the numbers in a million different ways to find some stat that shows that their losses are actually victories. What they can’t deny is that something big is happening in the United States of America. Ever since Bernie Sanders stepped on stage to announce his 2016 presidential run, Americans have grown more favorable to socialism and progressivism and less favorable to the political status quo. AOC won in 2018, DSA’s growth has skyrocketed, Zohran Mamdani is the most popular elected politician in the country, public opinion of Israel is in the toilet, and huge majorities of Americans are looking for systemic change. Not just in the way politicians talk about Hope and Change, but in the actual sense. They express it in different forms, and they don’t always gravitate to the causes or candidates I champion. But what cannot be denied is that Americans have been radicalized over the last decade. “Radical” does not mean bomb thrower. It means to change at the core, to uproot and regrow. That is what Americans want, and the left is the only coherent political force offering it to them.
So, the media tries to delegitimize the progressive and socialist movements with excuses: “It was just one race.” “Okay, you can only win in deep blue districts.” “You won outside a deep blue district, but only because you’re good at Instagram.” “Those wins don’t count because you’re white gentrifiers.” “Sure, you won a swing state primary against all odds, but you didn’t win by enough, so that means you lost.” Excuses, excuses, excuses, as we grow bigger, better, and stronger. As the left wins, the contradictions within the Democratic Party and the larger political system expose themselves. These contradictions are what people hate about politicians. Simply by forcing them into the arena, we force them to show themselves. And people don’t like what they see.
This isn’t to encourage the left to get overconfident. We do not have a mandate for socialism, or even for the Working Families Party platform as a whole. What we have is the answers to Americans’ problems, which the bipartisan establishment told them aren’t real. Keep addressing working class issues, and the working class will keep rewarding us.
Onwards. We have a world to win.
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In Solidarity — Joe
If sports and politics have taught me anything. It's whether you win by fifty points or one. A win is a win and only losers argue the margins of their defeat. Winners look ahead to the next challenge.
Stevens had $99 but an election ain't won.