by Jerry Ginsberg
Fight against AIPAC Continues for Abdul El-Sayed
Abdul El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and former director of Wayne County’s Department of Health, won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary against Representative Haley Stevens on Tuesday, August 4. Many saw this race as a test of the Democratic Party’s stance on Israel and the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The contest was important for Democrats hoping to win back the Senate in November, with El-Sayed, a progressive critic of Israel, facing off against Stevens, who was supported by AIPAC.
El-Sayed plans to keep building the multi-ethnic, working-class, anti-monopoly coalition that helped him win the primary. In the primary, he was outspent by a ratio of 11 to 1. Haley Steven’s campaign received more than $54 million from AIPAC and other political action committees (PACs) [1]. This made the race the most expensive Democratic primary in U.S. history.
Even after spending tens of millions of dollars, AIPAC could not keep things as they were, since many Democratic voters had already moved on. This loss has hurt AIPAC’s credibility and affected the broader U.S.-Israel relationship. It marks a turning point for the Democratic Party, showing that big spending and major endorsements do not always lead to victory. AIPAC has said it will keep opposing El-Sayed in the general election and will support former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers, who has Donald Trump’s endorsement and is likely to get more support from pro-Israel groups.
Michigan, which is home to one of the largest Arab-American communities in the United States and the origin of the ‘uncommitted’ voting movement protesting the Biden administration’s response to the Gaza conflict during the 2024 presidential primary, served as a natural testing ground for progressive political movements.
El-Sayed has pledged that he would defund military aid to Israel and expressed concerns about the country’s Jewish supremacy. Mainstream narratives have framed these statements as anti-Semitic. However, El-Sayed’s actions suggest that accusations of anti-Semitism largely reflect a conflation of the Israeli government with the Jewish community, intended to divide working-class Michiganders. The election results indicate that most voters did not accept this narrative.
El-Sayed actively engaged with Jewish voters. He attended a Passover seder at Congregation T’chiyah, a progressive Reconstructionist synagogue near Detroit. Many congregants volunteered for his campaign as part of a group called ‘Jews for Abdul.’ El-Sayed also addressed Jewish Americans directly during his victory press conference.
“To my Jewish American sisters and brothers, one of the most indelible moments in this race will have been the opportunity to break bread with you at seder, to worship with you at shul, to be embraced by you, and listening to the sisters and brothers who said, ‘I want to join this movement because AIPAC doesn’t speak for me, because I understand that self-determination for one people doesn’t require the quenching of self-determination for another people.'”
“I want you to know that my commitment to your safety, my commitment to Jewish safety, is the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.”
Defeating Trump with an Anti-Monopoly Coalition
El-Sayed’s win was not just about his support for his criticism of Israel’s government. His platform also included Medicare for All, ending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and removing corporate money from politics. He also campaigned in rural areas, calling for a ban on artificial intelligence data centers, which he said would hurt rural communities.
A key part of Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign was restoring worker power. He pushed for strong antitrust enforcement and wanted the Federal Trade Commission to stop harmful corporate mergers, to protect wages, working conditions, and union contracts. He also said that NAFTA and similar trade deals have hurt workers [2].
Michigan unions like the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the United Automobile Workers (UAW) were important supporters of his campaign.
El-Sayed will need to keep building relationships with the Jewish community and other ethnic groups while sticking to his main anti-monopoly message. If he keeps up his momentum, he could beat AIPAC again.