{"id":1054,"date":"2026-09-10T20:09:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T20:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=1054"},"modified":"2026-09-10T20:09:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T20:09:02","slug":"the-right-wing-attacks-on-abdul-el-sayed-keep-faltering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=1054","title":{"rendered":"The Right-Wing Attacks on Abdul El-Sayed Keep Faltering"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When a tornado threatened the east side of Detroit last week, Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed shifted from campaigning to making sure that people were safe. After the tornado hit, El-Sayed was in the streets with local officials such as Detroit City Council member Renata Miller and state Rep. Donavan McKinney (the district\u2019s Democratic congressional nominee and likely next House member) assessing the damage, giving people hugs on their doorsteps, spreading the word about how they could get help, and proposing smart solutions for the future \u2013 such as burying power lines so they don\u2019t get knocked out in storms.<\/p>\n

Read more The Embarrassment of Trump\u2019s Midterms Convention<\/a><\/p>\n

This people-focused response is typical of El-Sayed\u2019s approach, which blends the roles of candidate and community organizer with an agility rarely seen in statewide political campaigns. And it appears to be working.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even as the Republican attack machine and its media echo chamber seeks to undermine and smear the Democrat in a desperate attempt to prop up the campaign of former US Rep Mike Rogers, Donald Trump\u2019s hapless Republican nominee for the seat, El-Sayed projects a level of real-world engagement that makes the GOP attacks ring hollow.<\/p>\n

That may explain why El-Sayed has led in six of the eight major polls that have been conducted on the Michigan Senate race since the August 4 primary. The most recent survey, released by CNN on Wednesday, showed the Democrat ahead of Rogers by three points, 47-44. Notably, the CNN survey found that 40 percent of likely voters had a favorable view of El-Sayed, versus just 35 percent for Rogers. And, despite all the recent attacks against El-Sayed, were still narrowly higher than those of his Democratic rival.<\/p>\n

These leads might not seem like much, but in such a close race, every percentage point matters. And there are other hopeful signs for El-Sayed. The most recent poll from the Michigan State University Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, which was released on September 1, had him moving past the 50 percent mark with likely voters, while Rogers was trailing by five points. Another recent poll from the well-regarded Susquehanna Polling and Research group had the Democrat <\/p>\n

Make no mistake: the Michigan contest is still going to be a long and very expensive race, where El-Sayed knows he will be dramatically outspent \u2014 just as he was in the August 4 primary that secured him the nomination for the open Senate seat. And that spending will focus heavily on attacks, which \u2013 at least in the early stages of the contest \u2013 have been frequently amplified by major media outlets.<\/p>\n

But El-Sayed is offering a master class in how to counter the attacks. Take, for instance, the relentless criticism the Democratic nominee has faced for appearing during the primary campaign with popular streamer Hasan Piker. Republicans and much of the media have been obsessed with Piker, whose past statements about Israel and Palestine and other issues have drawn their share of sharp criticism, but whose appeal among young voters cannot be denied.<\/p>\n

Read more Imani Thompson\u2019s Grad-School Thriller<\/a><\/p>\n

Critics keep demanding that El-Sayed condemn Piker \u2014 as if every candidate should be held responsible for everything that every person they are interviewed by, or photographed with, has ever said. But El-Sayed, a tenacious campaigner who spends much more time on the ground with actual voters than in punditry echo chambers, dismisses what he portrays as clumsy attempts to distract the electorate. \u201cYou would think, if you turned on any media, that this whole campaign is about a streamer in California,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s not what this campaign has ever been about.\u201d<\/p>\n

This savvy pushback against the right\u2019s latest line of attack is wisely framed, as is El-Sayed\u2019s argument that his opponent, Rogers, and the GOP keep coming back to Piker because they have \u201cnothing to say about anything.\u201d That resonates with voters, who El-Sayed suggests are capable of making the distinction that he does when he says, \u201cIt\u2019s not about distancing from an individual. It\u2019s about saying, \u2018here\u2019s the thing I disagree with\u2026\u2019 He doesn\u2019t speak for me. I don\u2019t speak for him. There are a lot of things he says that I deeply agree with: people deserve health care, we shouldn\u2019t be fighting dumb wars, the war in Iran is ridiculous, Donald Trump is a fascist, all true. There are things he said I disagree with. There are things he said he now disagrees with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political insiders and many commentators may refuse to entertain so nuanced a perspective. But that\u2019s on them, not El-Sayed, who explains, \u201cThe whole discourse is intended to confuse and distract us from the actual issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

El-Sayed is not alone in making this observation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely ludicrous that so much oxygen from sitting elected officials in the United States Congress is being dedicated to discourse around a Twitch streamer for young people,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the progressive Squad,\u201d says US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, who recently told CNN, \u201cI do not think that a Twitch streamer is what the people of Michigan are concerning themselves with. I think that what they want to hear all of us talk about is how we\u2019re going to make their lives more affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

That echoes the message from US Rep. Debbie Dingell, a senior Michigan Democrat who says she disagrees with Piker on particular issues but is exasperated with the obsessive media echoing of GOP talking points. \u201cThis election is about what\u2019s going to happen when we elect Abdul to the United States Senate. So don\u2019t any reporter ask me again about Hasan Piker; it\u2019s not what November is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Cuba: The \u201cPandora\u2019s Box\u201d of US Humanitarian Assistance<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nation Magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Right-Wing Attacks on Abdul El-Sayed Keep Faltering - Atlas Living Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=1054\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Right-Wing Attacks on Abdul El-Sayed Keep Faltering - Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Nation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=1054\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-10T20:09:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=1054#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=1054\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc\"},\"headline\":\"The Right-Wing Attacks on Abdul El-Sayed Keep Faltering\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-10T20:09:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=1054\"},\"wordCount\":968,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=1054#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/7bf233f72cb716e0527f37c71fab25a7.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=1054#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=1054\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=1054\",\"name\":\"The Right-Wing Attacks on Abdul El-Sayed Keep Faltering - 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