Haley Stevens has an X post out where she says “everyone in America” knows that Abdul El-Sayed “blames Jewish Americans for all his problems”. Because she’s “America” and he is not. Gross. Also- note the complete conflation of “Jewish Americans” ( a group of people with diverse opinions on… everything, just like everyone else) with the far Right government of Israel. This is further than even Lindsey Graham ever went. I love that these two candidates both grew up in leafy suburbs in the eastern part of the state but one of them has decided to pretend she’s a Trump voter in rural western Michigan., complete with a brand new accent. I think she gets terrible advice.
Team Abdul feel tentatively positive about the race - there’s some good polling and a very large ground game where they are convinced they have all the enthusiasm (but people on the ground are always convinced of that, campaigns are a genuine echo chamber).
It ain’t over yet and a 60 million dollar pounding in negative ads paid for by PACs take a toll - it will be close. One of our doorknockers was at the door of a 78 year old Democrat and one of the PAC ads smearing El-Sayed was playing loudly on the tv as she knocked. She described it as “surreal”.
Win or lose on Tuesday, I’m proud of the candidate and the campaign and make no apologies for our positions on foreign policy, the obscene amounts of billionaire money in politics and genuinely guaranteed health care. I’ll happily defend any of it.
I’ve been super active in Michigan since I returned from Denmark, mostly because I was immediately welcomed by local Democrats, which I appreciate. I’m (obviously) backing Abdul but I’m also backing the gal at the top of the page, Rebecca Amidon (state senate) and Jocelyn Benson (governor) - more on Benson later. Now to Rebecca.
I was invited to a “round table” this past week after I heard Rebecca speak at a county Dem event back in January.. I though she was great at the January event and told her so. The roundtable event was terrific. About a dozen potential donors and Rebecca. They asked her hard questions and I listened. I don’t know Michigan but I am learning.
She has an interesting back story. She grew up in a law enforcement family in rural Indiana. She said, very plainly, “I now know they are Christian Nationalists”. Her dad invited her to go with him to a Trump rally in 2015. She went and had this kind of epiphany that she describes as “oh, whatever this is it is not for me at all”. One of the round table participants called out “that was Jesus getting you out of there” (joke, just a joke!)
Now liberal-curious, she then met her current Michigander husband on a dating app in 2016. He’s a liberal, so she went all the way from Trump rally to…end up in the backyard of a very nice home telling us how she wants to pass a statewide child care plan in Michigan. We got her!
She’s much further Right than I am - belongs to a pistol club and talks about “2A” (lol) but as I have written here before I think America treats parents and children like shit so she’s one of my picks this cycle. She has an uphill battle. Her opponent is a wackjob “constitutional sheriff” and her district hasn’t elected a Democrat to the statehouse in 40 years but I think she’s great and will go all the way.
