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Despite record amounts<\/span> of outside spending and attacks from the Democratic establishment, Abdul El-Sayed prevailed in a bitter primary race for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Voters in the key swing state chose El-Sayed over the establishment\u2019s choice of Rep. Haley Stevens, whose campaign received about $60 million<\/a> in support from pro-corporate<\/a> and pro-Israel super PACs, making the race the most expensive Democratic primary ever. El-Sayed won by a margin of around 1 percentage point, according to The Associated Press<\/a>, which called the race in his favor Wednesday morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n The victory of El-Sayed, a former public health official endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is the latest sign of the growing influence of the Democratic left. And it\u2019s the most staggering illustration yet of the party establishment\u2019s waning grip on power and the unpopularity of the pro-Israel lobby giant, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, amid shifting American sentiment on Israel and Palestine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Through its super PAC, the United Democracy Project, AIPAC broke its own single-race spending record by funding $30 million in attack ads against El-Sayed. Ads that dominated airwaves<\/a>, flooded streaming services, and stuffed mailboxes in the final month of the race misrepresented El-Sayed\u2019s previous comments about Michelle Obama and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to allege misogyny, and attempted to paint El-Sayed as a terrorist sympathizer.\u00a0<\/p>\n El-Sayed\u2019s platform, boosted by an army of 12,000 door-knocking volunteers, centered on policies such as Medicare for All policy, addressing cost of living issues in the state, and removing corporate spending from politics. But it was the two candidates\u2019 stances on Israel and Palestine that came to define the race. El-Sayed condemned Israel\u2019s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and committed to ending U.S. military aid to Israel. His criticism of Israel also extended to its joint U.S. war on Iran, which he decried as military glut that could be spent instead on healthcare and education in his state.<\/p>\n Stevens opposed any conditioning of military aid to Israel. She has consistently voted in favor of weapons transfers since first assuming office in 2019, including last month when she sided with Republicans against an amendment in a Pentagon budget bill that would have cut military spending for Israel. When AIPAC began pouring money into the Stevens campaign, El-Sayed effectively turned those millions of dollars into a key campaign issue, pointing to Stevens as an illustration of the danger of lobby spending and corporate money in politics.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first race in Michigan shaped by AIPAC money. Former Rep. Andy Levin \u2014 who was considered the most progressive Jewish member of the House because of his support for Palestinian statehood \u2014 lost his seat after redistricting forced a showdown with Stevens in 2022. In that race, Levin was also dramatically outspent by outside money, with AIPAC buying $4 million in ads<\/a> to attack him and boost Stevens.\u00a0<\/p>\n El-Sayed\u2019s success, however, shows a major shift in politics since the start of Israel\u2019s most recent war on Gaza. Cutting off military support to Israel has become a mainstream position<\/a> among Democrats. And AIPAC has since<\/a> become a politically<\/a> toxic entity<\/a> \u2014 \u201ca four letter word in Democratic politics,\u201d Levin told The Intercept.<\/p>\n \u201cThe kind of truth-telling about Israel and Palestine is tied into the truth-telling about the economy, and people wanting real solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cMost people still don\u2019t vote on Israel and Palestine, they vote on their pocketbooks,\u201d said Levin, who endorsed El-Sayed. \u201cBut if you\u2019re not willing to say that Israel perpetrated a genocide in Gaza, Democratic primary voters are like, \u2018OK, you\u2019re bought and paid.\u2019 The kind of truth-telling about Israel and Palestine is tied into the truth-telling about the economy, and people wanting real solutions.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Leftists have claimed victories against establishment picks<\/a> throughout this year\u2019s midterm primaries, running on similar platforms addressing affordability and support for Palestine. But those wins have so far been in House races, mostly in metropolitan areas where leftist progressive politics have gained a foothold<\/a> in recent years, such as New York, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Jersey, and California. In a House race in Michigan, Will Lawrence, a progressive climate activist, also beat a pair of moderate Democratic opponents who had establishment backing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lawrence, a co-founder of the youth-led Sunrise Movement<\/a>, had an endorsement from Sanders and a mutual endorsement from El-Sayed. He ran on a similar platform of lowering the cost of living and opposing war<\/a> \u2014 including Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza. Lawrence now faces a Republican incumbent, Rep. Tom Barrett, in a purple district that had previously been held by Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n El-Sayed\u2019s win is the first leftist victory in a Senate race this election cycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unlike other leftist wins so far in the midterms outside of Michigan, El-Sayed faces a difficult challenge in the general election from a formidable Trump-endorsed opponent. Polls have shown El-Sayed neck-and-neck with Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman and FBI agent who ran unopposed in Tuesday\u2019s primary. In 2024, Rogers ran for Senate and lost to Slotkin by less than 20,000 votes. In Michigan, where voters swung for Trump by about 1 percentage point over Kamala Harris in 2024, the November election is expected to be the most significant midterm test for the left.\u00a0<\/p>\n Electability has been among the largest criticisms from Stevens and her supporters against El-Sayed. Conventional establishment thinking<\/a> maintains that progressive policy is not popular among most Americans. To beat Republicans, the centrists say, Democrats need to run a more moderate candidate who can appeal to more conservative voters. Late last month, the Stevens campaign circulated a quote from Rogers, who called El-Sayed \u201cradical\u201d and claimed \u201cI don\u2019t think he likes America.\u201d Stevens suggested Rogers would prefer to face El-Sayed because of his leftist platform.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Last week, Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., a Stevens surrogate<\/a>, said El-Sayed was so polarizing that she could not back him against Rogers in the general election. \u201cI will not stand beside someone who has allowed distinctly anti-American sentiment to enter our public dialogue,\u201d she said, a reference to his campaign events in April where political streamer<\/a> and commentator Hasan Piker stumped with El-Sayed<\/a> at university campuses. Despite efforts by the Stevens campaign, AIPAC, and corporate media outlets to play up<\/a> Piker\u2019s comments faulting U.S. foreign policy for 9\/11, there\u2019s little evidence that criticism has resonated with voters.<\/p>\n The progressive left has long argued that its platform will perform better in front of a broader electorate hungry for political and economic change. Michiganders have paved the way for El-Sayed to try and prove just that. His fate in the general election might reverberate into the 2028 campaign cycle, as the Democratic Party looks to decide what type of candidate<\/a> to nominate for president.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n