Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan primary win says about AIPAC’s political influence
CHICAGO/LONDON: Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary was narrow in votes but outsized in political significance.
The Egyptian-American physician and former public health official defeated four-term US Rep. Haley Stevens by roughly one percentage point, after vote-counting continued into Wednesday morning.
He prevailed despite being dramatically outspent in one of the most expensive Democratic primary contests in US history.
The race was transformed into a national test of the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, after the group and affiliated organizations poured more than $30 million into supporting Stevens or opposing El-Sayed.
It was the largest investment AIPAC has made in a single US election contest.
Outside groups spent more than $60 million on Stevens’ behalf, or 78 percent of all spending targeting the primary in Michigan, according to estimates from AdImpact and other campaign-finance monitors.
El-Sayed’s campaign put the total spending against him at more than $75 million, including money from AIPAC-linked and other “dark money” groups, while saying it had spent less than $5 million. It cast the result as a victory for “the many versus the money.”
“Michiganders have spoken,” Alia Kapasi, El-Sayed’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “This was always going to be the many versus the money, and tonight, we have shown that Michiganders want money out of politics, money in their pockets, and Medicare for all.”
