How An AIPAC Smear Campaign Works
I was recently in Michigan, reporting for the Nation about the Senate campaign of Abdul El-Sayed. The race has hugely important implications. El-Sayed is a Medicare For All-supporting, Bernie Sanders-style progressive and critic of the Democratic leadership, who wants to cut off U.S. military aid to Israel. His opponent, Haley Stevens, is a centrist so devoted to Israel that she says the country “comes to me in my dreams.” (Note: Stevens is not even Jewish!) If El-Sayed defeats Stevens, it will be another step forward for the left-wing insurgency that is currently roiling the Democratic Party (see the victories by Zohran Mamdani, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Melat Kiros, and a certain odious oysterman who is best forgotten but whose electoral success nevertheless showed the weakness of the party establishment). If El-Sayed wins his primary and defeats Republican Mike Rogers in November, he will have destroyed the argument that milquetoast centrism is necessary for winning swing states, and he will immediately be discussed as a potential presidential contender. On the other hand, if El-Sayed loses in November, it will be seen as proof that “safe” candidates are needed, and the left will be accused of having sabotaged the Democrats’ chances at taking the seat. The name “George McGovern” will frequently be spoken.