Can I prove this? Of course not. But crazier things have happened.
“He appears to have become a Democrat for purely strategic reasons, yet claims to be inspired by Bernie Sanders. “
-The Intercept
Here’s how the results shook out (source: Wikipedia):
NPR went out of their way to call Gretchen Whitmer’s victory a “landslide.” But, was it really?
We already know that El-Sayed had some difficulty distinguishing himself from Thanedar. Or maybe I should say that white voters were the ones having a hard time. Two brown people on the same ballot? It’s too confusing. It goes without saying that there were enough people who simply knew El-Sayed as the-brown-guy-who’s-with-Bernie.
And let’s take time to consider Thanadar—a guy who was the center of a Mr. Burns-esque corporate scandal that dredges up images of the C.L.I.T. (none of you are safe). A Burnsian corporate villain who tortures animals? You would think this is red meat for any tree-hugging rank-and-file of the Democratic moderates. So how did he even get on the ticket? How did he manage to get that signed off?
I have some experience with this trope, having volunteered for the Daniel Biss campaign in Illinois. We had a similar loss to another super-tycoon named JB Pritzker. The Illinois Democratic Party supported Pritzker in no small part because he would not rely on any party funds in his campaign. The DNC is dead-ass broke, and seems to have made it’ peace with wealthy candidates who have no experience in government—even ones who are several times wealthier than the Republican incumbent against whom they’re running (Bruce Rauner’s ~$500 million vs. $3.4 Billion?! Big bank take lil’ bank...in Juicy J voice).
Illinois’s primary had a 3rd Democratic candidate as well--RFK’s son, Chris Kennedy, fresh off the plane from Boston (don’t ask me how that works). In this case as well, Kennedy had a platform that did well to distinguish himself from the wealthy frontrunner. But he made confoundingly little effort to also peel off any votes from the other progressive in the race.
Now here’s how the Illinois primary shook out:
We even edged out Kennedy for 2nd place! An argument can be made that, had Kennedy never entered the race at all, the results would have been much closer, possibly even having Biss winning.
Thinking again of Michigan, Thanedar was able to make himself very visible, due to his spending $10 million of his own money in ads. But when you see that he spent that much to come away with a measly 17 percent of the vote, it really makes you wonder if Thanedar overestimated the ease with which he could buy a Michigander's vote.
Michigan's results also make me feel that the intractably strong neoliberal spirit does not exist in Detroit the way it does in Chicago—which is to say that El-Sayed probably had twice the shot of winning that Biss ever did!
Acknowledged: Gretchen Whitmer has a respectable progressive voting record in her time in the legislature. But let’s also acknowledge that Michigan’s insurance industry was clamoring for her to win this primary. Blue Cross Blue Shield even went so far as to encourage its employees to donate to her campaign. I wish this shit were made up! I really do.
In acknowledgement of her win, NPR even gave Whitmer a little hooray-for-women-candidates shoutout...even though there are plenty of poor and single mothers out there who will be tangibly harmed by the policies Whitmer and Big Insurance will undoubtedly espouse. Made my fucking stomach turn.
Can you really not see a world in which the Michigan Dems are receptive to a candidate with his own money? And as an added bonus, can split the vote on the insurgent candidate (read: Bernie-Bro du jour)? And the crony capitalists and “consensus-builders” get to spit on the grave of yet another inspired campaign, and say socialism can’t win in the midwest. Socialism can't win in the midwest, but somehow Trump still can? Hmm....
😕
-AT
