86&42

Haley Stevens was not the candidate in the general, Abdul El-Sayed was. I agree that endorsing a Republican is insane for a sitting Democratic Congresswoman. But it needs to be said without reservation and explicitly: Abdul El-Sayed is a horrific candidate. He has completely failed to step up into the leadership role for Michigan Democrats he secured by winning the primary. His behavior has been just as bad as hers by virtue of the immense stakes of this election, and how completely he has failed to act accordingly. His behavior shows zero regards for the electoral hell of facing another four years of a Republican-controlled Senate with Trump on power. It is clear that there is nobody in his campaign who thought to pick up the phone and reach out to Stevens to resolve their issues out of the public eye. Despite the full throated support of people as high profile as Obama, El-Sayed continued to act as if he didn't have an able and willing staff that should be fully capable of doing the hard political work of consensus making. If he cannot build bridges with someone who endorsed him without reservation, who agreed with him on nearly all substantive issues, and pissed her off so badly she endorsed a Republican, that speaks to his leadership capacities and talent for politics, or complete lack thereof. It has been ten years of this insurgent nonsense. Candidates like Abdul El-Sayed need to grow the fuck up and act like they're a member of the Democratic party. Because they obviously are.