Black Voters to the Rescue: Michigan Edition

We don't deserve Black voters. 

Time and time again, they bring us back from the brink of disaster. They see through the bullshit that White saviors attempt to thrust upon all of us. They understand and respect true allies. They know better than anyone when a candidate is being sincere and when a candidate is trying to pander to them to gain their vote. They are the base of the Democratic Party, which is why they've had such a target on their backs over the past decade. While we've seen the Republican Party shift to a party that wants to completely eliminate black power through representation, we've also seen the far left work to do the same. In the far left's case, rather than gutting the VRA, they have instead worked against Black voters by elevating candidates who are chasing the mythical "White working-class" vote at the expense of people of color. As the Bernie Sanders meme goes, Black civil rights seem to be a barrier to the Great White Socialist Revolution and are seen as a distraction rather than a central issue for all of their candidates. 

This recent poll shows us how Black voters are once again seeing through the bullshit of a far-left candidate. They did so in Maine. They are now doing so in Michigan. While Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is trying to pump the brakes on his freefall, he is doing so in a way that completely undermines his candidacy. By trying to paint himself as an early champion of Kamala Harris, El-Sayed is opening up the can of worms relating to the 2024 Uncommitted Movement, one that very publicly worked to undermine the Democratic Party and specifically Joe Biden. Black voters remember this. They remember how the movement consistently called him "Genocide Joe" and worked to damage Joe Biden at a time when he was guaranteed to be the party's 2024 nominee. Going after Joe Biden, someone who championed both Kamala Harris and Barack Obama, has been and will continue to be an insult to Black voters. Once you go down that path and show your whole self, Black voters tend not to forgive nor forget. Abdul El-Sayed's attacks on Joe Biden were and continue to be seen as an attack on the Black community as a whole, a community with whom 92% voted for Joe Biden during the 2020 election. As we've seen time and time again, attacking Joe Biden continues to be a losing strategy. 

Which is why we've seen El-Sayed pivot over the past week. But actions speak louder than words. El-Sayed actively worked to undermine Joe Biden in 2024. His later support for Kamala Harris came at a time when everyone else was flocking to her, not before. And while these are strikes one and two, strike three is simply the extreme policy positions that El-Sayed has come to adopt. What DSA-aligned candidates like El-Sayed continuously miss is that Black voters are the most pragmatic voting bloc we have. They have to be because they know their entire existence is an affront to the modern Republican Party. They do not have the luxury to demand extreme policy positions; instead, they know that incremental change is better than nothing at all. That is why the candidates of DSA, Our Revolution, and Justice Democrats remain immensely unpopular with Black voters. They don't want a White wish list of policy goals; they want meaningful reforms done in a way that makes a tangible difference in their communities. 

So when El-Sayed struggles to defend his previous policy position of defunding the police, Black voters take notice. Because as much as they know how corrupt modern American policing has become, they also understand that chanting "Defund the police!" is a losing slogan; one that has caused Democratic candidates to lose multiple winnable races over the past few years. Black voters know that El Sayed's previous statements could make the difference in a tight general election matchup against his Republican opponent. That is why they trust Haley Stevens to be their candidate. It's why she's polling 41 points higher than El-Sayed. Black voters easily recognize weak candidates who would do poorly in the general election. They did so with Platner. They're doing so with El-Sayed. This is not some grand AIPAC conspiracy theory, as Bernie Sanders wants us to believe; this is Black voters once again putting their foot down and shouting from the rooftops not to trust someone who clearly would be a terrible general election candidate. They can smell bullshit from a mile away, and nobody is defecating more than Abdul El-Sayed at this moment in time. 

This is simply the latest case where the Great White Socialist Revolution will fail. DSA needs both El-Sayed in Michigan and Francesca Hong in Wisconsin to win their statewide races next month. But Black voters in Michigan understand the assignment. So too will Black voters in Wisconsin. While DSA reels in the cosplay socialist millennials, Black voters in both states will show up and show out like they always do. Because they can't afford not to. They can't afford to live in some fantasy world where radical left candidates win the primary election and stray so far to the left that they become unelectable in a statewide race. These are two critical swing state races, and Black voters have had enough of DSA, Our Revolution, and The Justice Democrats. Abdul El-Sayed and Francesca Hong may well win the White vote, but the overwhelming number of Black voters will vote against them, thereby saving White Democrats from themselves. And while El-Sayed and Hong and their ilk will bitch and moan about AIPAC and the "establishment," what will be the true cause of their demise will be Black voters understanding the stakes and once again making the right call at the voting booth. 

Thank God for them all.