Midwestern voters aren’t all in on the progressive movement.
Michigan’s primary election provides a case in point. Gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed, former executive director of the Detroit Health Department, campaigned with the new progressive superstar Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary election. Embracing his role as progressive challenger to the Democratic establishment, El-Sayed ran on the issues that have become standard for the progressive base: single-payer healthcare, a $15 minimum wage, and free college tuition.
But far from replicating Ocasio-Cortez’s upset victory over Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley in New York, El-Sayed lost to establishment favorite State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer by 22 points in Tuesday’s primary election.
Over in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, the Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders-backed candidate, attorney Brent Welder, also failed to win the Democratic primary. He lost to attorney and former MMA fighter Sharice Davids by 3.4 percentage points.
Although Whitmer and Davids flaunt their own progressive credentials, the candidates differentiate themselves from their more left-leaning opponents with their positions on healthcare: Davids wants to pursue solutions other than ‘Medicare for all,’ and Whitmer has thus far withheld support for single-payer health insurance.
Contrast this to Democratic candidate Danny O’Connor, who seems likely to lose Ohio’s 12th Congressional District special election by less than 1 percentage point on Tuesday. O’Connor ran as a centrist alternative to Trump-endorsed Republican candidate Troy Balderson. O’Connor, who is in favor of keeping the Affordable Care Act, but has not endorsed single-payer healthcare, is looking to force a recount in a district that has been held by Republicans for 35 years.
All this could be a helpful lesson for the progressive bona fides: The Midwest isn’t New York’s 14th Congressional District. At least in Michigan, the pathway to the Democratic nomination still relies on union support, which Gretchen Whitmer was able to secure.
Ultimately, many Midwesterners are looking to support a mainstream candidate that meets the normal establishment qualifications, while still providing an alternative to Trump’s Republican Party. At least until November, the cause for “democratic socialism” has been set back in the middle of the country.
Cole Carnick is a commentary intern with the Washington Examiner.
