LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – While Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El- Sayed continues his campaign, renewed scrutiny of his relationship with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is attracting attention.
Back during his 2018 gubernatorial run, El-Sayed was asked whether he had sought support from the DSA. His response was notable.
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“We’ve had great conversations, and we share a lot of ideals,” El-Sayed said at the time to the Baffler, a left-wing political website. He added that he didn’t like political labels and stated that “socialism” was a slippery word at the time, meaning different things to different people. He went on to say, “I respect what DSA is working on and what they do. We have a lot we share – a lot in common. I consider us to be sister and brothers in the work.”
Shared priorities and common ground.
To be clear, El-Sayed has never publicly identified himself as a DSA member. But he also hasn’t exactly kept the organization at arm’s length. In fact, public reports and social media posts indicate that El-Sayed has spoken at or attended multiple DSA-sponsored events.
And although the group didn’t endorse him in 2018 when he ran for governor of Michigan – nor has it endorsed him or anyone else in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in August – the optics still raise questions about how much daylight exists between El-Sayed and the organization.
El-Sayed and the DSA share common ground on many issues, including Medicare for All-style healthcare, expanded government social spending, stronger union power, aggressive climate policies, rent and housing interventions, and a larger government role in addressing economic inequality.
Those policy similarities and El-Sayed’s progressivism are drawing added attention as El-Sayed emerges as a leading contender in Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary. He is competing in the primary on August 4 against U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Senator Gary Peters. According to an average of recent surveys compiled by RealClearPolling, El-Sayed leads the Democratic primary field with 32%, followed closely by Stevens at 31%, while McMorrow trails at 11.7%.
DSA’s security wing draws new scrutiny.
For years, Democrats have dismissed Republican criticism of DSA, their tactics and priorities as political fear-mongering. But recent reports about the organization are making that argument harder to wave away. That’s because the latest controversy resurfacing isn’t about tax rates, healthcare, or student loans. It’s about a group that sounds less like a political club and more like something out of a Tom Clancy novel. It’s a controversy that involves the DSA’s “Red Rabbits Security Commission,” a group critics say is developing a paramilitary-style activist security network.
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According to City Journal, a public policy and political commentary magazine, the DSA has been organizing training in areas such as protest marshaling, unarmed self-defense, de-escalation tactics, first aid, firearm safety, communications, and what organizers describe as “community defense.” The publication reported that the training is designed to prepare activists for what the group’s authorizing resolution calls a “national uprising against federal agents and police brutality.”
The group’s activism has brought the DSA into closer alignment with groups even farther to the left. According to the New York Post, the Tucson’s Red Rabbits work with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a revolutionary organization with reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Portland DSA has partnered with the National Lawyers Guild, a legal group with a history of Soviet-era associations. The organization even has an Oklahoma City Queer Fight Club.
Supporters portray the organization’s efforts as preparation for protecting demonstrators and vulnerable communities. Critics see something else entirely: the early stages of a political movement building its own activist security apparatus.
Whether those concerns are justified or overblown, the resurfaced controversy arrives at a politically awkward moment for a Democratic Senate candidate who not only shares overlapping policy priorities with the organization, but has also appeared alongside DSA-backed activists and progressive allies at political events, drawing renewed attention to the extent of his alignment with the movement.
No DSA endorsement yet, but progressive support network runs deep.
Michigan News Source reached out to Metro Detroit Democratic Socialists of America about whether they intend to make an endorsement in the U.S. Democratic Senate primary and they did not return our request for comment. However, El-Sayed has many other endorsements from progressives including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, and Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, as well as organizations such as MoveOn, UAW, Michigan Democratic Party’s LGBT&A Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, Patriotic Millionaires, Justice Coalition, the University of Michigan Dearborn College Democrats, and more.
An awkward conversation for Democrats.
As DSA chapters face scrutiny over activist security training, El-Sayed’s past praise for the organization, appearances at DSA-affiliated events, and acknowledgment that they share many of the same goals could become a larger issue in the campaign. For voters, the question may be less about formal membership and more about whether El-Sayed’s vision for government aligns with a movement that is increasingly generating controversies of its own.
