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Abdul El-Sayed has secured the collective backing of all seven members of the Squad, the prominent left-wing congressional group, ahead of Tuesday’s Michigan Democratic Senate primary. According to his campaign, the endorsements represent a unified show of support from Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Delia Ramirez of Illinois, and Greg Casar of Texas.
The coordinated endorsements underscore the ideological fault line in Michigan’s primary contest between El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, who represents the party’s establishment wing. Recent polling cited by the New York Times shows El-Sayed maintaining a substantial lead over the more centrist Stevens as voters prepare to cast ballots.
El-Sayed’s ties to the Democratic Socialists of America have become a flashpoint in the race, even as he works to distance himself from the organization ahead of a potential general election in this swing state. He appeared at six DSA events between 2017 and 2020, including a Detroit fundraiser that generated roughly $10,000 and featured him standing alongside Tlaib next to a poster depicting a hand labeled “DSA” strangling a snake representing capitalism.
Casar, the most recent Squad member to endorse El-Sayed, praised what he called a “bold, pro-working class campaign” that would advance progressive priorities in the Senate. Despite his socialist associations, El-Sayed has rejected the socialist label in recent interviews, telling the Wall Street Journal in July that he is “not technically or practically DSA” and asserting his belief in regulated capitalism to CNN.
Republicans have seized on the Squad endorsements as a vulnerability for El-Sayed in a general election matchup. The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s Samantha Cantrell told Fox News Digital that the endorsements would be “rejected by Michiganders at the ballot box,” characterizing them as linked to a “radical, socialist, anti-American agenda.”
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