Michael Goodwin: Michigan Senate race displays the radical ‘shift’ the Democratic Party has taken

In the run-up to Michigan’s hotly contested Democratic Senate primary last week, a slew of headlines declared the showdown a “fight for the party’s soul.”

As cliches go, that wasn’t a bad one.

Leaving aside the issue of whether a political party has a soul, the framing worked because the candidates represented starkly different positions, backgrounds and styles.

The outcome would thus reflect the party’s emerging values and agenda in a key swing state.

And so it did, but in a way that simultaneously makes Michigan look bad and illustrates how radicals are gaining the upper hand in the national party.

After far-left, anti-Israel candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed squeaked out a narrow victory against the more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, new cliches were called upon to explain the outcome.

Dem Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, despite being a frequent target of El-Sayed’s, quickly fell in line and congratulated him.

Schumer, the highest elected Jewish official in American history, defended his move by insisting his party is “a big tent.”

He told PunchBowl News that Dems have a chance to gain a majority only when they “welcome rather than suppress opposing visions of its future,” and declared himself in favor of “big tent-ism.”

Because Schumer is fixated on becoming majority leader again, his self-serving appeal has its limits.

One of El-Sayed’s most notorious backers quickly replied by saying, hell, no.

Hasan Piker, a social media star and virulent antisemite who once said America deserved 9/11, was in no mood for kumbaya.

He demanded that Dems who didn’t support El-Sayed suffer “Marxist-Leninist” punishment for failing to “follow the party line.”

He called them “haters in our ranks” who were giving ammunition to Republicans.

“You can’t be out here saying like, ‘Oh, I’m a centrist Democrat. And I think Abdul is a bridge too far.’ That must be punished.”

Dems with a more traditional vision took aim at him.

Among them was Neera Tanden, head of the Center for American Progress, a party think tank and hiring hall. She warned that Piker’s rhetoric could alienate general election voters and give GOP candidate Mike Rogers a path to victory in November.

“It’s hard to imagine a bigger turnoff to swing voters than this guy,” Tanden wrote on X.

“My free advice to the AES campaign is to get him to shut up.”

Rogers had a similar thought, posting a video where he said, “If you’re among the majority of Democratic voters that woke up on Wednesday feeling, well, hopeless, because the person who won does not represent your values, well, just know, there is still hope.”

More bile

But Piker is not the only El-Sayed backer who could scare away general election voters.

In a sermon last month, a Muslim cleric in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, celebrated the death of GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and asked worshippers to pray for President Trump’s death.

He also urged them to vote for El-Sayed.

Mohammad Baqer Qazwini made the remarks at the Islamic Institute of America, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), and published by the Jerusalem Post.

It said the imam blamed Graham for “genocide in Gaza” and for the deaths of civilians in Lebanon, and called his death “a slap” from Allah.

Then he asked worshippers to pray that Allah would take “the friend of Lindsey Graham,” meaning Trump.

Separately, the Washington Free Beacon reported that Qazwini declared that Muslim men and women have a “moral responsibility” and “duty” to support El-Sayed because he is a Muslim.

In a late July sermon, the outlet reports, he urged his audience to “deal the Zionist a bigger blow” by voting against Stevens, whom he said served Israeli interests.

The Michigan outcome is part of a larger pattern where candidates from the progressive swamps are taking over the national party.

Although the heart of their domestic agenda aims at creating a larger, more expensive and powerful central government in the style of European socialism, antisemitism and a demonization of Israel are also main tenets.

Last month, nearly half of House Dems voted to cut off all military aid to Israel at a time when the Jewish state, the only democracy in the region, is also our major ally in the war against Iran.

Power shift

As the Wall Street Journal noted, only 17% of House Democrats voted for a similar bill two years ago.

It said members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus made up the majority of votes against Israel in the recent vote.

The emergence and growth of that caucus demonstrates the power shift within the party.

Much of it, I believe, was ignited by the nonstop personal hatred Dems like Schumer and Nancy Pelosi expressed against Trump.

Biden’s effort to jail the then ex-president also broke the guard-rails of acceptable behavior.

Those leaders started a fire which, fanned by their media handmaidens, is burning beyond control and consuming their party.

New York City’s election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor last year stands as the clearest example of how voters, especially young ones, are turning against traditions and embracing a new generation of candidates with extreme agendas.

It is also relevant that Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim mayor, and El-Sayed would be America’s first Muslim senator.

Both have falsely charged Israel with committing genocide in Gaza, and expressed deep animus toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mamdani reluctantly dropped his effort to have Netanyahu arrested if he comes to New York, but there are signs that his attacks are leading to increased street violence against Jews.

The rise of antisemitism in New York and across America cannot be denied.

In that vein, Trump declared El-Sayed’s victory “Great news for the Republican Party.”

On Truth Social, he called the winner “a Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel,” adding that now, “the Dumocrats crazy policies will only get worse!”

Even Hillary Clinton seemed to see what Trump saw and is worried about what she predicted would be the GOP line of attack against El-Sayed.

On a podcast, she said charges that he is a communist would have an impact on many swing voters, especially independents.

“It’s not just about Michigan, but the Republican messaging is communist, socialist. It’s going to be a very effective attack,” she said.

Effective because it’s true, and events in Gotham are proving the point.

Consider that Tina Moore, the Post’s veteran NYPD bureau chief, reports that New York’s Finest are “bracing for a security nightmare” during Netanyahu’s visit to the United Nations next month.

She writes that cops are saying the mayor’s obsession with the prime minister will “embolden radical agitators, leaving frontline cops and everyday New Yorkers squarely in the crosshairs.”

She quotes a law enforcement source as saying the mayor is “making what would be considered a Category 1 hurricane into a Category 5 because of his words.”