I’m going to write someting here that we all know is true but few are willing to just say out loud: There is a non-zero chance that the national Democratic Party, its donors and its media will decide to abandon/sabotage populist anti-establishment Democratic nominees in the upcoming general election.
Many in this corporate faction would rather such nominees lose – even if that means Democrats losing the Senate and governorships – than see these candidates win.
Why? Because if these candidates win, they threaten to change the Democratic Party and make the corporate faction irrelevant.
The Michagan race is at the heart of what’s being described as a “civil war” within the Democratic Party. Here’s how Astead Herndon of Vox outlines this longstanding intra-party conflict and explains why Abdul El-Sayed is very much the current central figure in it.
I’m supporting Abdul, as he’s the type of “threatening” politician we need. He threatens the corporate capture of our politics, and of the Democratic Party in particular.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson once said we need to “disrupt the corrupt” in order to return the U.S. to the democratic and humanitarian ideals of its founding. I agree; which is why I supported Williamson’s 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, and why I’m currently supporting non-establishment Democrats Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and Francesca Hong in Wisconsin, independent socialist Kshama Sawant in Washington state, and a number of Green Party candidates around the country, including Justin Flip in Oregon, Tony Dastra in Pennsylvania, Anthony Aguiler in North Carolina, Griselda Romero in Illinois, Greg Stoker in Texas, and Steve Young, Jane Kirby, Seth Kuhl-Stennes, and Ngone Niang right here in Minnesota.
In introducing the following interview with Abdul El-Sayed on its YouTube page, The Lever notes the following.
Why have Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sens. Chuck Schumer and Gary Peters endorsed Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary?
At a rally in Grand Rapids, The Lever’s David Sirota put that question to progressive Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. El-Sayed argues that party leaders aren’t worried he’s unelectable – they’re worried he’ll win and challenge a political system fueled by corporate money.
El-Sayed says AIPAC, Big Tech, Big Pharma, DTE, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and other powerful interests have helped drive nearly $70 million in spending against him.
“I’m not going there to make friends,” El-Sayed told Sirota. “I’m going there to get stuff done.”
Related Off-site Links:
Democratic Establishment Intensifies Attacks on El-Sayed as New Poll Shows Him Leading by Double Digits – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, July 30, 2026)
Why Is AIPAC Spending $30 million on the Michigan Senate Primary? – Michael Arria (Mondoweiss, July 30, 2026).
Sen. Ed Markey Backs “Bold Progressive Leader” El-Sayed as Pivotal Michigan Primary Nears – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, July 29, 2026).
Can Abdul El-Sayed Reshape the Democratic Party? – The Real News Network (July 28, 2026).
El-Sayed and Stevens Clash over AIPAC Funding in Final Debate Before Michigan Senate Primary – Democracy Now! (July 28, 2026).
$60 Million “Crutch” From Super PACs Is Proof That Stevens Isn’t Actually “Electable,” Says El-Sayed – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, July 28, 2026).
We’re the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For – Jill Stein (Green Party Videos, July 27, 2026).
Establishment Democrats Threaten to Abandon Abdul El-Sayed in General Election – Status Coup News (July 24, 2026).
“Underhanded” Stevens Sends Out Fake El-Sayed Press Release Claiming He’s Endorsed by Their GOP Opponent – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, July 23, 2026)
“The Fighter Michigan Needs”: Sen. Elizabeth Warren Endorses El-Sayed as AIPAC Spends $30 Million Against Him – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, July 20, 2026)
Rallying in Michigan, Sen. Bernie Sanders Says Primary Race Is Between Abdul El-Sayed “and the Billionaire Class” – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, July 19, 2026)
Progressive Abdul El-Sayed Faces Centrist Haley Stevens as Challenger Exits Michigan Senate Race – Democracy Now! (July 7, 2026).
Political Fault Line Over Israel Comes Into Full View During Michigan Democrats’ Convention – Andrew Roth (Michigan Advance, April 20, 2026)>
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
THE STATE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
• “Our Country Right Now Is At a Crossroads”
• Jeff Waldorf: Quote of the Day – July 3, 2026
• Mike Figueredo on the “Political Malpractice” of the Democratic Party
• The Time for Illusions Is Over: Henry Giroux on the Democratic Party
• David Norton: “The Democratic Party Serves Capital, Not You”
• Mike Figueredo: “Elected Democrats Have No Real Interest in Doing What the Base Wants”
• Ted Rall: Democrats Are Not “the Left”
• Exposing the Dark Money Network Secretly Funding Establishment Democratic Influencers
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• Howie Hawkins: “The Democrats Are Not the Answer to the Trump/Fascism Problem”
• The Longstanding Fault Lines Within the Democratic Party Have Surfaced Again in Minnesota
• Jeff Cohen on How Obama’s “Corporate Liberalism” Led to the Rise of Trump
• Progressive Perspectives on Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour
• Eric Fernández: Quote of the Day – May 14, 2025
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – July 26, 2025
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• “We Must Challenge the Entire System”
• Marianne Williamson: “‘Vote Blue No Matter Who’ Is Not Enough to Win”
• Nick Cruse: “‘Vote Blue No Matter Who’ Is the Privileged Position”
• Oliver Kornetzke’s Epic Takedown of the Liberal Tactic of Blaming and Shaming Leftists
• Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t
THE GREEN PARTY
• Campaigning With the Green Party
• With the Green Party at Twin Cities Pride
• Butch Ware on Why Third Parties Are Crucial
• Meet Some of the “People-Powered” Green Party Candidates for 2026
• “Green Wave 2026 is Global”
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• Something to Think About – December 8, 2024
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• The “Green Smoothie” Option
• Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate Butch Ware in Minneapolis
• Butch Ware: “I’m Not Here as a Spoiler”
• Jill Stein: “Americans Deserve Choices”
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Third Parties and the Historical Record
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Howie Hawkins: “The Democrats Are Not the Answer to the Trump/Fascism Problem”
• Demolishing the False Narrative About Jill Stein and the 2016 Election
• Cornel West: “The Next Step Is a Green Step, a Progressive Step”
• Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein: Is a “Historic Collaboration” in the Making? (2016)
• Voting Green: Hope Over Fear
Opening image: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and Sen. Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally on July 18, 2026, in Detroit. (Photo: AP Photo/Jose Juarez)
No comments:
Post a Comment