The meaning of Abdul El-Sayed’s triumph

Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan’s Senate Democratic primary isn’t just a triumph for the progressive Left, though it certainly is that. It must be understood, more broadly, as a rebuke to the Democratic establishment. Long delayed, the establishment’s reckoning has now fully arrived. Democratic elites — the incumbent politicos, corporate donors, the NGO-industrial complex, and aligned media — are on the back foot for the first time in decades. Even two years ago, the idea of candidates like El-Sayed and New York’s Zohran Mamdani winning Democratic primaries with large electorates was almost inconceivable. El-Sayed, a former public-health official, managed it, clinching (as of this writing) 48.5% of ballots, against 47.5% for his centrist opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens. The narrow margin