Let’s imagine a scenario in which Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate who supports Medicare For All and Abolish ICE, wins the Senate race in Michigan, a battleground state in “real” America.
Will that astounding victory finally quiet the centrists and corporatists who say that such a candidate is “unelectable?” What happens if William Lawrence also wins? Ditto Adam Hamilton? What about Angie Nixon, who is running an uphill campaign in Florida but is within range?
The goalposts are already moving. It’s not enough for El-Sayed to win; he now has to win by large margins, according to people like Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress and a mouthpiece of the Democratic Establishment. She told me on Twitter they’re running a grand national experiment, and on election night we’ll see who’s proven right.
Translation? “Centrist” candidates will win and thus should be supported in 2028 and beyond. Progressives are too radical and represent a fringe.
Maybe.
Then again, what happens if people simply want bold fighters who run a campaign promising change to a corrupt system that seems to only benefit the elite and powerful? Just look at the past 10 years. Trump was elected twice, and despite all best efforts, Mamdani is the mayor of New York, and AOC is still in Congress.
However, what happens if El Sayed doesn’t win?
According to Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the loss will set back the growing demand for accountability and change. It will validate all the bad faith arguments about “electability” and increase the centrist stranglehold on politics where big money runs the show.
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