Abdul el Sayed’s campaign reset in response to a politically bruising summer appears to be paying dividends as his quest to keep Michigan’s open Senate seat blue comes down the home stretch.
asserted
quest → appear → stretch
The Israel critic and progressive provocateur has made overtures to crucial voting blocs where he lacked support, such as Jewish and black voters.
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he → make → voters
He’s also picked up endorsements from party holdouts and maintained a nominal lead in the polls over Republican rival Mike Rogers, even after months of negative headlines from his association with controversial streamer Hasan Piker.
El Sayed’s current election prospects are undoubtedly up from where they were just a month ago, when he couldn’t shake his ties with Piker, a far-left Twitch streamer, and was lobbying skeptical Senate Democrats in Washington to get behind him.
“When you’re in a circumstance where there’s a large constituency of people who feel very uncomfortable with your ascension into higher office where they don’t feel safe, you’ve got to put those concerns at the core of your campaign,” Mike Nellis, an ex-senior adviser to former Vice President Kamala Harris, said of Jewish Democrats’ unease with el Sayed.
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Nellis → pick → Sayed
“I think, for the most part, he’s done a pretty good job of that.”
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he → think → that
Those efforts include meeting with Jewish leaders, plans to hire a Jewish community liaison, and apologizing for offensive remarks about a terrorist attack on a Michigan synagogue.
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efforts → include → synagogue
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Jewish Democrat who backed el Sayed’s primary challenger, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), and has been critical of el Sayed’s anti-Israel rhetoric, endorsed him last month.
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who → back → him
But in a reminder of the lingering hurdles el Sayed faces in unifying his own party, Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) continues to withhold her endorsement over his association with Piker, who recently said America “pound for pound” commits more terrorism than al Qaeda.
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America → linger → Qaeda
El Sayed and Piker campaigned together during the primary.
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Sayed → campaign → primary
While el Sayed has distanced himself from Piker, the candidate has refused to denounce the streamer.
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candidate → distance → streamer
For black voters, who largely sided Stevens in the primary, those outreach efforts include stumping with Harris.
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efforts → side → Harris
The pair sat for a roundtable last month that was focused on black maternal health.
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that → sit → health
The Rogers campaign described el Sayed as “so desperate that he’s parachuting Kamala Harris into Michigan to save his flailing campaign.
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he → describe → campaign
Across eight polls in the past couple weeks, including one from Fox News, el Sayed is either leading or tied with Rogers, a former congressman and strong supporter of President Donald Trump.
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Sayed → include → Trump
The Rogers campaign has downplayed the results as skewed.
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campaign → downplay → results
Still, both sides consider the battleground contest to replace retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) a virtual toss-up.
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contest → consider → Peters
Meanwhile, Rogers is among the Republican candidates who are increasingly critical of the Iran war and eager for its end to bring down gasoline, diesel, and food prices.
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end → bring → prices
The GOP nominee broke publicly with the president in a recent campaign ad, in which he said the “war with Iran needs to end, and end quickly” to bring down the price of gas and groceries.
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war → break → gas
Nellis cautioned Democrats against putting stock in the “drunk polls” across the Senate map, such as those showing independent former state Rep. Todd Achilles leading Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) in what nonpartisan forecasters consider a “solid” Republican seat.
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forecasters → caution → what
The Democratic strategist does not “for one second” believe it’s competitive.
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it → believe → second
But he does see el Sayed’s recent steady polling in the high 40s or around 50% as a reassuring sign the Democratic nominee may have righted the ship at a crucial time before the Nov. 3 elections.
uncertain
nominee → see → elections
“The blue wave is being picked up by the polls,” Nellis said.
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Nellis → pick → polls
“The question is whether or not the undercurrent for the Republicans catches up to them, and I don’t know if it does or not.”
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it → catch → them
The Aporia
