Despite Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed denying ties to socialism, a Republican Michigan lawmaker warned his policy agenda tells a different story and predicted voters will reject it in November.
“Abdul El-Sayed can’t define what a woman is, so I’m not surprised he can’t define what socialist is,” Michigan state Rep. Bill G. Schuette told Fox News Digital.
“The facts are all the policies he supports are emblematic of the DSA movement and of this really far-left socialist idea.”
El-Sayed, a former public health official, narrowly defeated establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., securing an upset victory for the partys progressive wing in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary earlier this month. His nomination follows multiple primary victories by candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), including in New York, Florida and Colorado.
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While El-Sayed has pushed back on the socialist label, he has drawn support from political heavyweights and DSA members like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
El-Sayed previously told CBS News he wants to build a “broad coalition” of supporters of President Donald Trump and DSA members, saying he doesnt “do ideology” but favors “solutions that solve problems.” He separately told CNN, “I believe in capitalism, I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.”
According to Schuette, El-Sayeds victory is evidence that the Democratic Party has “jumped the shark” by embracing more progressive candidates.
“They’ve gone down a policy rabbit hole of far-left socialism that is at odds with our way of life in Michigan and our way of life in the United States of America writ large,” he said.
Schuette said his biggest concern is that El-Sayed wants to put Michigan on “a completely different track.”
“I’m more concerned about the policies that he’s advocating for that, again, I think are at really sharp odds with the way you can start a business, start a family and live your life in Michigan,” he said.
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Some of El-Sayeds campaign priorities are abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Medicare for All, taxing billionaire wealth and ending U.S. military aid to Israel.
Schuette said affordability will be key in the midterms, saying that El-Sayeds policies run counter to the “spirit of America.”
“The spirit of America is about entrepreneurship and American ingenuity, hard work,” he said. “Those are the types of policies that Abdul El-Sayed would work directly against.”
Schuette also took aim at El-Sayeds association with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, who has roughly 10 million social media followers and has said “America deserved 9/11.” Piker endorsed El-Sayed and
