El-Sayed win kicks Democrats’ Midwest ideological battle into high gear — and some Dems fear November fallout

The battle between the left-wing and the center-left establishment for the ideological future of the Democratic Party is staying put in the Midwest.

After far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly edged out more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens this week in battleground Michigan’s high-stakes Democratic Senate primary, the spotlight now shifts to nomination showdowns next week in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

At stake: a top-tier Senate showdown in Minnesota that’s among a dozen races nationwide that will determine if the Democrats can win back control of the chamber from the GOP, and a gubernatorial face-off in crucial swing-state Wisconsin where Republicans are aiming to flip the governor’s mansion.

“Michigan proved that working people are ready for something different, and Wisconsin is next,” Democratic candidate for governor Francesca Hong wrote following El-Sayed’s victory.

And in Michigan’s heavily Democratic 13th Congressional District, Rep. Shri Thanedar, who was supported by top House Democratic leaders, was narrowly defeated by state Rep. Donovan McKinney. McKinney was backed by Sanders, El-Sayed and “Squad” members Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Summer Lee of Pennsylvania.

There was a setback for the far-left: DSA member and former Squad member former Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri was crushed by Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell in their rematch, as she unsuccessfully tried to win back her old seat in Congress representing St. Louis.

But El-Sayed’s victory and the potential wins by the left next week are further fueling the ongoing Republican push to characterize all Democrats on the ballot in the midterms as far left radicals, or as President Donald Trump calls them, “communists.”

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Vice President JD Vance, in an interview Wednesday on Fox News “The Ingraham Angle,” argued that “the base of the Democratic Party just wants radicals. It wants these DSA types, it wants people who hate even the idea of private property ownership.”

Whether the GOP messaging is effective will be answered on Election Night, in November’s midterms.