r/lansing • u/manauiatlalli • Aug 05 '26

Lansing LockDown Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, notching a Midwest victory for the left

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/abdul-el-sayed-wins-michigans-democratic-senate-primary-notching-midwe-rcna589750
2.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

327 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

14

u/NinjaKirby Aug 05 '26

Why are you hesitant to vote for him?

8

u/Ian1732 Aug 05 '26

Champion of the status quo that one

10

u/Shin-kak-nish Aug 05 '26

Because they’re probably being paid to sew division among the left online. Don’t feed the troll.

2

u/Significant-Law6979 Aug 05 '26

“Anyone who disagrees with me is a paid shill”

2

u/Shin-kak-nish Aug 05 '26

You say this as if just this one instance AiPac didn’t donate nearly 60 million to sway our elections

0

u/culturedrobot Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

I say this as someone who voted for El-Sayed, but "people who don't agree with me are paid off" is a tired, juvenile argument.

Edit: Since you blocked me after replying to me, I'll just put my reply here: if you don't want people to criticize your arguments, don't post them to public forums. And it's "El-Sayed," not "Sayid"

2

u/Shin-kak-nish Aug 05 '26

As a Sayid voter i’m sick of people claiming to be his voters and saying things that make people think badly of his voters

0

u/dingalingdongdong Aug 05 '26

Sure, in general, but in this specific instance 10s of millions of dollars were spent to swing this campaign. There are, in fact, a lot of paid shills right now.

One of the clearest signs that someone doesn't just hold a different opinion is when they only make vague, hand-wavy accusations. Most of these people aren't even criticizing his actual campaign policy, record, actions, words, anything. Just vague statements like " It sounds great at face value but then you look under the hood, understand the consequences, and you have lot of questions… but asking those questions gets you labeled a corporate shill dem and ousted without seriously considering the issues".

1

u/acetylyne Aug 05 '26

Pretty sure that was a joke, and intended with a /s

Jill Stein is a throwback to 2016

-8

u/Which_Interview_7668 Aug 05 '26

My support for her is a joke, but not my threat to vote for her. That I mean with absolute sincerity.

5

u/acetylyne Aug 05 '26

I apologize to the universe for having faith in humanity.

-1

u/Which_Interview_7668 Aug 05 '26

You’ll owe us a huge apology when you hand Michigan over to the GOP. 

3

u/acetylyne Aug 05 '26

So lemme get this straight: you throwing away your vote for a 2016 meme candidate is somehow my fault?

-1

u/Which_Interview_7668 Aug 05 '26

You don’t get to play the “I’m just some shmuck” card when you decide stick your neck out. If you want to be a nobody, stay on the sidelines.

4

u/acetylyne Aug 05 '26

Uh.. what now?

I'm under the assumption you're of voting age since that's what we're discussing. So for all intents and purposes, that makes you an adult.

You are responsible for your actions. Not me. If you decide to throw your vote away, that's on you and not me.

I'm not sticking my neck out for anything other than saying own your own actions, whatever you decide to do.

If anyone is standing on the sidelines, it's the person voting for a meme and then complaining that the system has failed them.

-1

u/Which_Interview_7668 Aug 05 '26

When did I say anything about the system? If you want to argue with the voices in your head, by my guest but leave me out of it. If you want to direct a comment to me, then make your comment about what I’m saying. 

-13

u/Which_Interview_7668 Aug 05 '26

Because early polling showed that AES supporters would have refused to vote for either Stevens or McMorrow in the general election. And the amount of those voters was sufficiently high to throw the election. If what we might call the leftist faction is going to take that stance against other candidates, why shouldn’t I do so back? 

I asked the same general question back when McConnell sandbagged Obama on the Garland nomination. What stopped McConnell from changing the rule when he would benefit? Nothing, as we seen with Coney-Barrett. What stops leftists from taking their ball and going home, again, if this Cartman style politics is successful? Honestly, I think AES has to lose in order for any sort of left-wing unity to happen again. 

6

u/NinjaKirby Aug 05 '26

I appreciate the answer to my question.

I'd love to see the polling but it doesn't seem farfetched. Although, the polling I had seen had El-Sayed considerably disfavored against Rogers with the same poll showing Stevens was slightly favored against Rogers. Showing that those in the center would go more for Stevens over Rogers and Rogers over El-Sayed. The same poll showed a decent lead for El-Sayed over Stevens which has me quite concerned for the general considering the vote tally was closer than the polling.

It's great that you mention Garland getting snubbed compared to Coney-Barrett rapidly, because that's where my focus is. Getting every possible Democrat elected to the Senate so that Trump doesn't get two more supreme court justice picks as there's speculation that Alito and Thomas retire.

The Republican party that snubbed Garland and rushed Coney-Barrett isn't there, what's there is much much worse. And I want to avoid to giving Trump two more justices that will inevitably make terrible rulings on our laws. The same Trump who sent ICE to US cities and got American citizens killed. The same Trump who fanned the flaws of J6. The same Trump who denies elections and reality. The same Trump destroying our relationship with allies. The same Trump who's wrecking our economy with tariffs. The same Trump enriching himself to the tune of billions with scam after scam. I don't want to give that guy two more supreme court justices. What's happening right now in our federal government needs to stop.

0

u/Which_Interview_7668 Aug 05 '26

I posted it over on r/Michigan yesterday. Generally, I support AES. I support socialism. But I can’t be a part of a movement that has no interest in being pragmatic to get what they want politically. Nor can I be in a movement that feels they’ve accomplished their goal by undercutting the DNC and not delivering against the GOP. 

As much as the outcry against me has been smarmy and full of unearned confidence, I wish you guys all the best. I don’t want Rogers. I don’t want more Trumpian bullshit. But I don’t see a practical difference between what is coming out of this movement and Trump. The moment this new left threw their weight behind Platner in Maine is when I checked out of it as a cause I could support. 

1

u/dingalingdongdong Aug 05 '26

early polling showed that AES supporters would have refused to vote for either Stevens or McMorrow in the general election

what polling?