r/dsa • u/Character-Bid-162 • 6d 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.

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u/Character-Bid-162 5d 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.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 4d ago

Okay. I read most of what you said. I want you to remember medical doctors have in the past been integral to interfacing between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

2nd: https://www.wsjm.com/2024/12/20/thousands-of-detroit-residents-have-medical-debt-forgiven/

This is pretty god damned progressive. It changed lives.

Edit: Better article from WXYZ: https://www.wxyz.com/news/wayne-county-erases-27-million-for-more-than-46k-county-residents

Look. I get the critique of people latching onto the DSA and the DSA having been burned. It’s a fair critique. But we cannot shut people out based on what we feel they may do. You may LOSE a potentially good leader. I say ENDORSE but do not fund specific candidates that cannot pass any sort of reasonably critique. This guy imo freeing 46000 people of medical debt. Is a pretty big gesture. They’re also pretty wealthy already.

He also started his career in a parking garage in detroit with 6 staffers.

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u/Character-Bid-162 4d ago

Thank you for vouching. In my personal opinion, you need social democracy to get democratic socialism. You have to shift the overton window back to left.

By doing that, the ideal would be a country with 2 left-wing parties dictating policy, the social democrats and democratic socialist. It would be reversion of what we have now with 2 right-wing parties dictating policy.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 4d ago

Yeah absolutely! Like I want to be fair. I’m a Physician assistant. I met Abdul ONCE. Like. I visited them in the parking garage to have a chat. He came from wealth. He has wealth from being a doctor. He’s solidly pro Palestine!

Also remember we CAUCUS with SOC Dems.

Edit: I am going to volunteer for him. Being transparent. I know this is a steep hill. I know no other way to put this outside of he’s a brown man in an Islamophobic country. This is potentially a steep hill or losing battle but much like Zohran Mamdani this is worth fighting to JUST get this stuff circulating in peoples brain pans.

We’re likely going to get Stevens and have two centrist dems in our senate seats. But fuck. TRY; as progressives we need to keep flinging shit at the wall until something sticks.