Abdul El-Sayed’s Mask-On, Mask-Off Socialism

Grand Rapids, Mich. — Abdul El-Sayed tells the media he’s not “technically or practically” a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. But watch him speak at a rally alongside big-name Democratic Socialists like Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the Michigan Senate candidate sounds an awful lot like he fits right in.

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It’s not lost on El-Sayed, or his supporters, that the idea of “socialism” scares many voters, even on the left.

When Jake Prefontaine walked into an El-Sayed canvassing event on Saturday he was proudly wearing a bright red Democratic Socialists of America t-shirt. But when he left to go door knocking for the campaign, he donned a dull green t-shirt, covering up his affiliation with the controversial organization.

Prefontaine, 28, told National Review he doesn’t want his association with the DSA to be a “turn off instantly” when courting potential voters.

“I think it’s fine to attach [Democrats] to Democratic Socialism, but for a one-off interaction with people I’ve never met before [while canvassing], it might be better if I’m not showing that truth immediately,” Prefontaine said.

Prefontaine’s reservations about sharing his true affiliations are representative of the fine line El-Sayed has walked throughout his primary campaign, where he strives to please his far-left base, without alienating more moderate Democrat voters.

Throughout his campaign, El-Sayed has rejected any official association with not only the DSA, but also its theories of socialism.

Back in July, El-Sayed told the Wall Street Journal he is not “technically or practically DSA.” Similarly, he pointed out in an interview with CNN, “I am not somebody who is a socialist. I believe in capitalism, I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.”

But El-Sayed has been outspoken in his far-left beliefs, both on the campaign trail and on his website. He supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, expresses anti-Israeli sentiments, and wants to end the Senate filibuster. He also supports Medicare for All, which is one of his most talked about issues — aside from Israel — with supporters on the campaign trail.

El-Sayed’s rhetoric is out of step with the more moderate stances of his opponent, and many establishment Democrats in the state.

Notably, El-Sayed was heard in a leaked campaign call saying he didn’t want to comment on the death of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei following U.S. strikes earlier this year, because “a lot of people in Dearborn are sad,” the Washington Free Beacon reported. Similarly, El-Sayed has refused to support the proposition that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, and has pushed for an end to U.S. aid for the “rogue state.”

Not only does El-Sayed’s own platform look like something that could’ve been cooked up at the DSA’s national summit, but many of his allies in the race are outspoken Democratic Socialists. El-Sayed has campaigned with members of the Squad, for example, including Ocasio Cortez and Michigan’s own Representative Rashida Tlaib.

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Tlaib, who represents Michigan’s 12th congressional district, is explicitly associated with the DSA. She is a member, routinely speaks at DSA events and conferences, and supports many of DSA’s progressive policies, like Medicare for All.

The DSA website, for example, explicitly draws out the connections between Medicare for All and socialism, writing “Medicare for All represents a core demand of democratic socialist politics.”

The El-Sayed campaign did not respond to National Review‘s request for comment asking about the line El-Sayed has drawn between himself and socialism, despite his obviously aligned beliefs.

On the campaign trail, National Review asked El-Sayed to clarify what parts of capitalism he likes, given his comments saying he believes in the economic system. While he made a brief effort to defend an aspect of capitalism, the bulk of his answer was a broader criticism of the prevailing economic system in the U.S.

“The part that I have trouble with is that we don’t live in capitalism,” El-Sayed told National Review. “We live in corporatism, where we allow big corporations to move capital based on the interests of shareholders and a quarterly bottom line that seems to be less about efficiently allocating capital based on supply demand and more about maneuvering or manipulating financial markets in ways that are more about the best interests of the richest people rather than the enablement of the efficient allocation of capital.”

This isn’t the first time El-Sayed has pulled a bait and switch: In 2020, El-Sayed said multiple times that he supported defunding the police. Now he insists that never happened.

In a July interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, El-Sayed claimed people were wrongfully fixating on his use of the word “defund,” rather than his overall explanation of his view.

El-Sayed is favored to beat his opponent, Congresswoman Haley Stevens, in Tuesday’s primary election. In fact, multiple polls show El-Sayed defeating Stevens by double-digit margins. But in a match-up against the presumptive Republican nominee Mike Rogers, El-Sayed does not fare as well. His uber-progressive agenda does not have a place with Stevens’s strongest supporters, and sends votes in Roger’s direction, National Review previously reported.

Regardless of the growing popularity of the DSA, a majority of Democrats still prefer a true-blue Democratic candidate over someone affiliated with the DSA, a recent Ipsos poll revealed.

For El-Sayed’s campaign and its most loyal supporters, it is only a matter of time before the jig is up.

Prefontaine, as he headed out to canvass, told National Review he only hopes potential voters are able to “keep an open mind.”

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