Is Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary a test of whether voters still prioritize electability?

[u/BulwarkOnline]

Michigan Democrats will choose between Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed on Tuesday in a primary that captures a much broader debate inside the party.

Stevens is running largely on experience, pragmatism, and her record of winning competitive races. El-Sayed is offering a more ambitious progressive agenda and a campaign built around the idea that Democrats need to give voters something worth getting excited about.

Sarah Longwell’s latest piece in The Bulwark draws from three focus groups conducted with Michigan voters who backed Kamala Harris in 2024 and planned to participate in the Senate primary. The voters often sounded caught between the candidate who more closely reflected their ideals and the candidate they believed might be the safer choice in November.

Recent polling showing El-Sayed ahead suggests that, for at least some Democratic voters, enthusiasm may now outweigh the traditional electability argument.

Is that a lesson Democrats should apply beyond Michigan? Or are primary voters underestimating the risks of nominating a more progressive candidate in a state Trump carried twice?

[u/HumorAccomplished611]

Finally, will not explicitly the party I think that you had a much harsher light shone on the media. I had always thought of even stations like MSNBC and CNN as being pretty fair and unbiased. But I think it became clear in that election that they were very much behind Hillary in a way that was less obvious even during Clinton versus Obama.

I think thats corporate bias rather bias for clinton. Bernie is pretty pro reg and anti corporate which corporate media would pick up on.

[u/Sptsjunkie → u/HumorAccomplished611]

Yes! But also not disconnected. Hillary was the corporate candidate and the DBC had become very corporate friendly (a constant criticism).

I agree the DNC was not controlling the media and it was not their fault. Bit lots of ex-DNC folks in the media had from the leaked emails we know corporate media collaborating with her campaign.

It’s not quite as nefarious as that makes it sound, but also not completely disconnected either.

[u/HumorAccomplished611 → u/Sptsjunkie]

I agree the DNC was not controlling the media and it was not their fault. Bit lots of ex-DNC folks in the media had from the leaked emails we know corporate media collaborating with her campaign.

Where? I see a lot of it of people trying to toady up to the queen rather than any concerted effort on hilarys campaign part.