Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is warning Democrats that Republicans’ “anti-communist” messaging could sink socialist candidates and jeopardize the party’s chances of retaking control of Congress.
During a podcast appearance with liberal tech journalist Kara Swisher, Clinton raised concerns about the electability of Abdul El-Sayed, who narrowly defeated establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s heated Democratic Senate primary.
“You’re not going to convince Republican voters in Michigan, and the real fight will be how do we make sure that people who voted for Haley feel comfortable voting for Abdul El-Sayed, and how do we get independents to feel comfortable?” Clinton asked. “And you can see that it’s not just about Michigan, but the Republican messaging is communist, socialist. It’s going to be a very effective attack.”
Over the weekend, the White House previewed its midterm messaging campaign with a highlight reel of El-Sayed’s most controversial views, calling communist ideology a “direct threat” to the country and drawing a contrast between what the administration described as a “vision for two very different Americas.”
Midterms aside, a recent Washington Post poll found that 55% of Americans would not consider voting for a socialist-backed presidential candidate — a political reality Clinton is urging her party not to ignore.
“So people on the Left have to be prepared to answer that and to be effective at answering it,” Clinton said. “All I know is that’s the attack that Trump is leading with, and I assume they’ve tested it, and I assume that they have reason to believe that it’s effective, or they wouldn’t be beating the drum on it because now it’s not just him. Vance has done it; others are doing it. They are trying to, you know, bring back scare tactics about our candidates.”
Since President Donald Trump’s re-election, the Democratic establishment has watched its leftist wing barnstorm the country, racking up one victory after another. Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s upset in New York City’s mayoral primary kicked off the movement’s breakthrough, followed by three Democratic Socialists of America-backed leftists ousting longtime Democratic representatives.
Socialists also steamrolled their way through Washington, D.C., and Denver. In battleground Michigan, El-Sayed’s narrow victory was powered by young, college-educated white voters, pitting the Democratic Party’s far-Left base against its older, black, and working-class voters — while delivering the socialist movement its biggest electoral victory yet.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, El-Sayed appeared dismissive of his close campaign ties to the leftist streamer Hasan Piker, who has said America deserved the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“Of course, of course, it was a dumb statement, and of course, I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement. He disavowed it. So yes, America didn’t deserve 9/11,” El-Sayed said, but then immediately pivoted to qualify his remarks, suggesting that continued focus on Piker’s remarks amounted to “cancel culture.”
“I want to be held accountable for what I say and what I do, rather than this idea that we’re so stuck in cancel culture that all of us agreed was a bad idea back in 2020, but we seem to want to bring back,” he added.
Natalie Baldassarre, a national press secretary for the Republican National Committee (RNC), blasted El-Sayed’s connection to Piker.
“El-Sayed is a terrorist sympathizer and an America-hating socialist. His refusal to distance himself from Hamas-hugging radicals like Hasan Piker reaffirms his true allegiance is to terrorist groups, not America,” Baldassarre said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “Democrats’ refusal to disavow this clown shows they either share his poisonous ideology or they’re too cowardly to confront it.”
Cook Political Report ranks the Michigan Senate race as a toss-up.
“When you have an effective candidate on the Left, it still is going to be a close race on our side,” Clinton warned.
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