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demmiblue

(40,075 posts)
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 08:54 AM 6 hrs ago

AP Exclusive: Sen. Van Hollen backs El-Sayed for Michigan Senate in break from Democratic leadership

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen is backing progressive Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, breaking with party leadership and intensifying a battle over the party’s direction in one of the most important Senate races of 2026.

Van Hollen’s endorsement, shared first with The Associated Press on the day early voting begins in Michigan, makes him the first senator to back El-Sayed since Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed him shortly after he launched his campaign last year. It also comes on the heels of big wins for progressive challengers in New York U.S. House races on Tuesday.

The Aug. 4 race in Michigan has increasingly split Democrats along ideological lines, with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer backing U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow drawing support from other prominent senators.

Democrats will need to hold the Michigan seat if they want a shot at winning the majority this year. It opened by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ retirement and former Rep. Mike Rogers has an uncontested path to the Republican nomination.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/michigan-democrats-senate-elsayed-van-hollen-506138f60767f1907340eb89373c80c8

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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AP Exclusive: Sen. Van Hollen backs El-Sayed for Michigan Senate in break from Democratic leadership (Original Post) demmiblue 6 hrs ago OP
The progressives may come out strong after November SSJVegeta 6 hrs ago #1
We just have two enemies to overcome Miguelito Loveless 6 hrs ago #2
I wouldn't call Dem leadership enemies. LuvLoogie 5 hrs ago #3
Anyone who refuses to stand against tyranny Miguelito Loveless 4 hrs ago #6
A leader who is no longer effective is not an enemy. Our party leaders are elected by our caucus. LuvLoogie 3 hrs ago #8
Too many Dems have become Miguelito Loveless 49 min ago #12
Agreed! DemocracyForever 2 hrs ago #10
A Willingness to Tackle Corruption, Prioritize The Working Class Over The Donor Class DrFunkenstein 3 hrs ago #7
Exactly! DemocracyForever 2 hrs ago #9
Mallory McMorrow EuterpeThelo 5 hrs ago #4
I totally agree with you. DemocracyForever 2 hrs ago #11
Chris Van Hollen is BlueMTexpat 4 hrs ago #5

LuvLoogie

(9,050 posts)
3. I wouldn't call Dem leadership enemies.
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 09:48 AM
5 hrs ago

Perhaps, dated with old data and calculus. Our enemies are laziness, lack of adaptability.

Miguelito Loveless

(6,050 posts)
6. Anyone who refuses to stand against tyranny
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 11:10 AM
4 hrs ago

and who impede those standing against tyranny are enemies of democracy. Our leadership is beholden to political consultants who waste our donations by the billions on tactics that last worked in the 90s. Than, and/or they are beholden to the Billionaire Class and act in their interests and not their constituents.

LuvLoogie

(9,050 posts)
8. A leader who is no longer effective is not an enemy. Our party leaders are elected by our caucus.
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 12:15 PM
3 hrs ago

Those within our party who would run against the current leadership, would not consider the leaders enemies. We all are free to form our own parties if the one/s were in are not working for us. There are true quislings like Fetterman and Sinema, but I would not consider Schumer or Jeffries as enemies. I just don't think they are employing the right politics.

Take Nancy Pelosi for instance. She took AoC under her wing, and they were both stronger for it. Nancy is as establishment as it gets, but her talent drive and seriousness are unsurpassed by ANYONE in our party. She recognized that AoC had the right stuff. I like our establishment Dems mostly. I just think it's time for them to let others establish themselves as our leaders.

Mamdani is an example of someone is is not waiting for permission. He did not call the establishment enemies. He challenged them, offered a return to justice and the well-being of citizens. THAT's what we're supposed to be about.

Jeffries was perturbed by this NY primary. It will either light a fire within him or he will be passed over if we ever gain back the gavel for whatever minute our current leadership is playing for.

Miguelito Loveless

(6,050 posts)
12. Too many Dems have become
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 02:47 PM
49 min ago

comfortable in their jobs and don't want to rock the boat. Lobbyists have their ear. We are in an existential crisis as a democracy and can no longer listen to people opposing "radical" policies (Medicare for all, SCOTUS expansion, nationalization of key industries) and government reform, demanding "moderation" and "gradual" change, decrying everyone demanding justice and fairness as "radicals".

To quote William Lloyd Garrison who faced a previous existential threat to democracy in the form of slavery:

I am aware, that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hand of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; -- but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead.

The Democrats constant march to the "middle" (which has meant moving to the right, always to the right) has been going on for decades. We have repeatedly sold out our constituents in order to please the right and the imaginary "moderate" Republican voters whose votes they are worried about losing, despite the fact that such voters really no longer exist. John Oliver brilliantly exposed the idiocy of Chuck Schumer's decades long quest to serve these imaginary voters.

&t=10s

We are in this mess because our leaders refused to take the threat on the right seriously for decades. They fell over themselves being polite and civil to "our colleagues" across the aisle, while those "colleagues" openly planned the destruction of representative democracy and everything the Democrats claim to stand for. They defended their actions as "real politik", and being "pragmatic", a word that whenever it is trotted out by Dem policymakers means some constituency is about to go under the train wheels (see "welfare reform", "tough on crime" policies, "bankruptcy reform", and many more "neo-liberal" policies).

How many times do those of us on the traditional left have to be proven correct about the end goal of US political right before we are listened to?

I can recall when Bush v. Gore was handed down being dismissed by Dem party officials at a party event as "overreacting" when I paraphrased Kyle Reese from The Terminator:

Listen, and understand! The GOP is out there! They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop... ever, until we are dead!

For 26 years I have watched this country's inexorable march to fascist police state while party leaders denied reality. You will pardon me if I don't look favorably on those whose cowardice, cupidity, and borderline quisling/Vichy nature/attitude have lead us to ruin.

DemocracyForever

(313 posts)
10. Agreed!
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 01:07 PM
2 hrs ago

The don't fight back, go along to get along strategy of the last 25 years is a clearly failed strategy that has put our country on the verge of becoming a Nasi dictatorship. The dem grass roots understands this and they want change, now before it's too late. The dem grass roots doesn't want another don't fight back dem in the Senate.

DrFunkenstein

(8,913 posts)
7. A Willingness to Tackle Corruption, Prioritize The Working Class Over The Donor Class
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 12:04 PM
3 hrs ago

We need to show the leadership that economic populism and an anti-corruption platform with teeth is the direction home, not hoping to be seen as the lesser evil.

EuterpeThelo

(460 posts)
4. Mallory McMorrow
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 09:59 AM
5 hrs ago

If I lived in Michigan, she'd have my vote. I've considered her "one to watch" for a couple of years now.

BlueMTexpat

(15,705 posts)
5. Chris Van Hollen is
Thu Jun 25, 2026, 10:55 AM
4 hrs ago

MY Senator!

I am SO fortunate! He really is in there fighting the good fight as hard as he can!

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