MS NOW Downplays Michigan Senate Candidate’s Radical Policies

James Waterman
July 8th, 2026 4:11 PM

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With the Democrats’ Maine Senatorial candidate going up in flames, some in the media shifted their coverage to the lesser observed Michigan race. On Tuesday, MS NOW Reports discussed the Michigan Democratic primary candidate, Abdul El-Sayed. There was only one small problem: the candidate they spotlighted also had an extremist streak.

Being the further left candidate of the two, MS NOW’s chief political reporter, Chris Jansing, gave a brief description of his stances:

He's been very clear about what his key issues is- are: Medicare for all. He wants less money for the war machine, no money for the Israeli war, Israeli military. And I think as much as anything, money out of politics is something he repeated over and over and over again. No corporate money, no dark money. And when I said, that sounds an awful lot like Zohran Mamdani, somebody he's been compared to, he said, “I am not a socialist.” He doesn't even like the term progressive.

 

 

From that description, El-Sayed didn’t seem that radical, at least compared to the wave of socialists now popping up in Democratic primaries. Looking deeper into his actual beliefs however, not just those fed to us by MS NOW, we see a different picture.

El-Sayed had received the endorsement of Hasan Piker, a radical leftist who has argued that America deserved 9/11 and endorsed the murder of his political opponents. Aside from the company he kept, El-Sayed’s own policies were not nearly as moderate as MS NOW made them out to be. Alongside his labelling of the Israeli government as “evil” and his calls for “Medicare for all,” he also had a plethora of now-deleted tweets supporting defunding the police. 

Later in the segment, Jansing implied that Trump’s efforts to curb election fraud in Michigan were actually a plot to rig the elections against the Democrats:

[Trump] called Detroit “crooked as hell” after the 2020 election. But he's also someone who won here two years ago. Look, the DOJ has made it clear, they sent the letters out, that in Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing, they're going to send election monitors. What do those three cities have in common? They are Democratic strongholds. 

Jansing’s leading questions to El-Sayed would even more obviously imply that some kind of rigging would be going on, even playing the racism card:

And I asked him point blank if he was worried the intimidation factor could work if he is indeed the Democratic nominee. And he said, you have to be. And I asked him point blank, do you believe these actions are racist? And he said, any time you're going into three cities where the black and brown population is a target, yes, it's racist.

 

 

Jansing’s pearl clutching regarding the DOJ’s move becomes ridiculous when you remember two simple facts. Obviously, any major city will be a “Democratic stronghold,” but major election fraud was also most likely to occur there. On top of that, election monitors weren’t likely to scare anyone away - anyone except people who might actually want to rig the vote.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read.

MS NOW Reports

July 7, 2026

11:41:15 AM Eastern

ANTONIA HYLTON: Let's bring in MS NOW chief political reporter Chris Jansing, who is in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for us. And Democratic strategist Basil Smikle is back at the table with me. Chris, you just spoke with Abdul El-Sayed. We played a little bit of it right there. Tell me more about what he shared with you.

CHRIS JANSING: Yeah, we sat down for about 20 minutes and to put it very simply, I learned a lot. Look, he knows that this race is highly competitive. He knows it's going to be very expensive. And he is very focused on tonight's debate against Haley Stevens, a four-term member of Congress. 

He's been very clear about what his key issues is- are: Medicare for all. He wants less money for the war machine, no money for the Israeli war, Israeli military. And I think as much as anything, money out of politics is something he repeated over and over and over again. No corporate money, no dark money. 

And when I said, that sounds an awful lot like Zohran Mamdani, somebody he's been compared to, he said, “I am not a socialist.” He doesn't even like the term progressive. But here's what he did say. Take a listen:

[Cuts to video]

ABDUL EL-SAYED: I think there is a political system that has been locking people out for a very long time, and there are some of us who want to unlock that system for people. 

I don't think it's a radical idea that everybody in this country, the richest, most powerful country in the world, should have health care. I don't think it's a radical idea that we shouldn't be sending our money abroad to bomb people, when that money could be used to invest in our schools here. I don't think it's a radical idea that corporations shouldn't be able to buy their politicians. 

I don't know how it's moderate to believe any of those things are not true.

[Cuts back to live]

JANSING: And look, tonight's debate, you'll hear more of that. It was already highly anticipated. One of the candidates has already dropped out. So this is going to be a two-person race. And one of the things that we're going to be listening for very closely tonight is what they have to say about the future of the Democratic party, because Democrats everywhere are listening to that. 

Is there a message that someone like Abdul El-Sayed has that's going to resonate not just in November but also in 2028? And he said to me very specifically, listen, because this is about 2028 as well. Antonia?

HYLTON: Basil, what are you going to be watching for tonight with this debate? I mean, as Chris spells out there, it is this head-to-head race right now, someone's very clearly in the establishment lane. And maybe he doesn't like the word progressive, but he's absolutely sort of in the progressive flank here.

(...)

HYLTON: Chris, there's also just the reality of the president, his DOJ, them sending these letters, threats already around the election. We know that the president has long had- had a- you know, certain kinds of things to say about the city of Detroit, for example. How is that hanging over this race?

JANSING: Yeah. He called Detroit “crooked as hell” after the 2020 election. But he's also someone who won here two years ago. Look, the DOJ has made it clear, they sent the letters out, that in Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing, they're going to send election monitors. 

What do those three cities have in common? They are Democratic strongholds. They are critical not just for whoever wins the Democratic nomination for Senate, but also for one key Congressional race. Let me read to you what the response was from the Secretary of State, who said:

And while the U.S. Department of Justice continues to pursue baseless allegations to confuse voters about facts, we welcome anyone who wants to, in compliance with the law, observe Michigan's election process.

One of the things that we have been hearing as we have watched these attacks escalate, the federal government does not have a role in these elections. And I asked Abdul El-Sayed about that. Here's what he told me.

[Cuts to video]

EL-SAYED: It's really concerning. I mean, this is exactly what Donald Trump has said he wants to do. He does not believe in free and fair elections. He does not want certain kinds of people to vote. And he's following through with that. I mean, when you put the SAVE act ahead of solving one of the biggest housing crises in recent memory, it tells you what his priorities are, and he's following through.

[Cuts back to live]

JANSING: And I asked him point blank if he was worried the intimidation factor could work if he is indeed the Democratic nominee. And he said, you have to be. And I asked him point blank, do you believe these actions are racist? And he said, any time you're going into three cities where the black and brown population is a target, yes, it's racist.

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