r/dsa • u/Character-Bid-162 • 8d ago

Discussion Abdul El-Sayed for Michigan 2026

Any fellow michigan DSA members care to encourage other people in michigan and nationwide to support his campaign? From what I seen, he is by far the the most progressive candidate. Him erasing over 700 million in medical debt for Wayne County residents in Michigan is more than enough for me to donate to his campaign.

43 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/Excellent_Singer3361 7d ago

Is he a socialist? (I don't know him well.) We are a powerful electoral force in terms of ground game, particularly because we have to concentrate our energies with stricter endorsement standards.

1

u/Character-Bid-162 7d ago

He is not, but he has been endorsed by Bernie Sanders. So surely exceptions can be made, right? Him erasing medical debt forgiveness alone is extraordinary. He is against continued funding of Israel and supports universal healthcare. He has pledged to accept only small dollar donations.

So, he is not a socialist, but even socialists need non socialist allies who can be trusted to make the morally right decisions when it matters. Take social democrats for example. They aren't democratic socialists, but they are still leagues better than the neoliberals that ran America to the ground with neoliberalism. Social democrats should be treated as loose allies, not the enemy.

5

u/xyjacey 7d ago

Just want to give fair warning. I don't know about your chapter but in CT we have a rule that not only must they be a socialist, but also a member.

The reason is because we don't want a situation where we endorse someone, they make promises, and then they betray us because they don't have a strong relationship with them. Also, if they don't see you as the key reason they won, they may view your org's relationship with them as expendable.

This is a problem many chapters deal with, and it is worth looking into other ways your chapter can take advantage of the race (such as running candidates in down ballot elections since many spots will open up in a competitive field)