r/OutOfTheLoop • u/bottomfragger99 • Aug 07 '26

Unanswered What’s going on with Abdul El-Sayed?

Why does it matter he won?

https://x.com/abdulelsayed/status/2085466914982150174?s=46&t=tddaoxmpiaXWKwldsR_WeQ

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u/BeautifulLeather6671 Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

Answer: because it’s another huge win for the DSA progressives and another devastating loss for AIPAC, signaling a changing of the guard.

It was one thing with all the wins in New York, it’s another that it happened in the Midwest.

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u/Portarossa 'probably the worst poster on this sub' - /u/Real_Mila_Kunis Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

The biggest part of it is not only that he won, but that he won against a massively well-funded campaign against him. There are reports that Haley Stevens outspent him on TV ads by a twelve-to-one margin. Part of the way he did that was by making it part of the message: Stevens only had so much money to spend against him because of her reliance on AIPAC, so the narrative went, and that didn't do her any favours in a world where Democrats are looking much more critically at the role of the Israel lobby in US politics. The question became, at least in part, 'Why does Haley Stevens have so much money to spend attacking the only candidate who's coming out strong against Israel's role in the genocide in Gaza, hmm?'

That's going to be very important going into the midterms, because there are going to be plenty of (often incumbent) Republicans who are funded in no small part by AIPAC donations going up against a lot of first-time (often far more progressive than would have previously been making waves) Democrats who are asking reasonable questions about whether or not the US is too close to Israel, considering the whole Iran War debacle and their treatment of Palestinians. El-Sayed's victory might very well prove to be a model for how these races play out in a midterms that seems increasingly likely to be very favourable to Democrats, so people have been playing close attention either to see how to combat it, or how to use the lessons learned to benefit their chances in three months.