First Draft: Abdul El-Sayed Surges After Hasan Piker Endorsement
Can the Bernie-backed progressive win the Michigan Democratic Senate primary? Plus: Trump’s huge verbal gaffe may be the final nail in the coffin of the GOP’s midterms chances.
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Today, I’m thinking about the very talented Hannah Einbinder. Yep, she’s funny, and sure, she’s got an Emmy. But she is also leading by example in Hollywood. Recently, she joined activist Mahmoud Khalil, novelist Isabella Hammad, and our very own Simone Zimmerman for an illuminating conversation at the beautiful Riverside Church in New York City. I definitely recommend you check it out. Here’s a taste of the chat.
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed is surging in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, while prices on everything are surging because of Donald Trump’s war on Iran… and yet the U.S. president outright says he doesn’t care about Americans’ financial situations. Let’s dig in!
El-Sayed and Done?
Weeks after the Democratic establishment joined Abdul El-Sayed’s opponents in attacking him for appearing alongside the progressive streamer Hasan Piker at a campaign rally, El-Sayed is surging in the U.S. Senate primary. Polling by Mitchell Research & Communications shows El-Sayed in first place, at 28%, with Haley Stevens trailing at 18%, and Mallory McMorrow one point further back.
Last November, the same firm showed Stevens leading with 27%, McMorrow at 24%, and El-Sayed at 16%. El-Sayed has since surged while the other two have fallen.
Much has happened between the two polls, but among the most high-profile episodes was when Piker rallied with El-Sayed. In the lead-up to the event, right-wing, centrist, and pro-Israel groups assailed the link-up. Stevens attacked El-Sayed too, while Senator Elissa Slotkin accused him of campaigning with someone “who has a history of antisemitic rhetoric.” McMorrow also got into the fray, comparing Piker to antisemitic far-right white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Speaking to Zeteo last month, Piker, who rightly rejects accusations of antisemitism while maintaining a critical stance on Israel, called the Fuentes comparison “totally indecent,” objecting to “being compared to an avowed neo-Nazi white supremacist, whose worldview I find to be morally repugnant, whose opinions I have spent my entire life combating – opinions just like that.”
It is safe to say that most Michigan Democratic voters are rejecting such smears – and El-Sayed is surging. The new poll shows him winning voters between the ages of 18 and 44 with genuinely astonishing numbers:
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