Leftist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are concentrating their efforts on getting another radical leftist elected — this time in Michigan for the U.S. Senate.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are scheduled to host rallies across Michigan for leftist Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed on July 18 and 19. El-Sayed is in the middle of what’s expected to be a close race for the party’s nomination against Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens.
El-Sayed is running his campaign much like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, with a heavy social media presence and large appeal among Muslims and young leftists.
For the Fourth of July, he made a music video in which he danced to a Taylor Swift song on the pop star’s wedding weekend. “Happy Taylor wedding…err, July 4th weekend!” El-Sayed wrote in the caption above the video.
In another video, he took the song “I want to dance with somebody” and changed the lyrics to “I want to vote for somebody” while listing out his attributes. Stevens called out El-Sayed for his posts, arguing that he’s more focused on his own publicity than the people of Michigan.
Happy Taylor wedding…err, July 4th weekend! pic.twitter.com/1s1blnoY4P
— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) July 4, 2026
El-Sayed portrays himself as a physician despite not being granted a medical license. Like democratic socialist candidates who have recently won Democratic primaries, El-Sayed is defending past radical statements he has made.
In a 2020 radio interview, El-Sayed said, “We are in a moment where a lot of our public conversation gets chewed down into 280 characters or less … I believe that we do need to defund the police in so far as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets.”
El-Sayed is currently defending his remarks by saying he never called to defund the police. One year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, El-Sayed supported another lockdown in April 2021. He suggested businesses should be fined for trying to open their doors in the midst of the public health crisis.
His anti-Israel stance also sparked controversy last October when El-Sayed’s campaign sent a fundraising email on the anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel that made no mention of Hamas’ atrocities and blamed Israel for launching “a ground invasion of Gaza.” El-Sayed’s campaign later said the email was sent by mistake, but the leftist stood by the message in the email.
During his Senate campaign, he has called for ICE to be abolished, while doubling down on his push for Medicare for all and tuition-free access to higher education. The Michigan primary is on August 4.
Democratic-socialists have been on a recent tear, ousting decade-long Democratic incumbents in the primaries. In June, Democratic socialist Melat Kiros upset incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) in the primary for Colorado’s 1st congressional district. DeGette has served in Congress for longer than Kiros has been alive.
In New York, three Mamdani-backed candidates swept their races. One of the candidates, Darializa Avila Chevalier, defeated incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat despite past anti-American social media posts such as “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.”
A Fourth of July poll from the Cato Institute revealed that socialism is on the rise, as 53% of Gen Z and 40% of Millennials have a favorable view of socialism and are taking their new ideals to the voting booth.
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