He has 600 million kronor against him but still wins

The election campaign in the US suddenly healthier than the Swedish one

Zina Al-Dewany

 

Published 06.00

Aftonbladet's editorial page is independent social democratic.

At the time of writing, the votes are being counted in Michigan. The Democratic Party has two candidates for the Senate. It is between the establishment candidate Haley Stevens, with hundreds of millions of kronor in campaign funds, and Abdul El-Sayed, the doctor and upstart who criticizes his own party. Most indications are that the latter has won, against all odds.

Abdul El-Sayed does not come from the organization Democratic Socialists for America, even though he has good support from there. The same organization that New York's popular mayor Zohran Mamdani belongs to. El-Sayed has received support from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders. He has run for election on a universal health care system and that money should not govern politics. In this area, he has criticized the Democratic candidate Stevens, who, according to The Guardian, received much of the money from Aipac (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). NBC news reports that it is over 30 million dollars. That is a historical record in this context.

Aipac and others have spent over 600 million kronor in advertising against him. They obviously see him as a threat. He wants to raise taxes for the richest and abolish the immigration police ICE.

El-Sayed is tough on Israel, which he believes is committing genocide in Gaza. Among other things, he ran for office on the grounds that US support for Israel should end. This is not entirely insignificant in a state where many have a Middle Eastern background. Many international media outlets also highlight that a win in the upcoming election means that he will become the first senator in US history who is Muslim.

El-Sayed is not even formally a member of the Democratic Party. He is one of those politicians who are tired of the political elite, and that the outcome always benefits those with the most money. Elon Musk has already promised billions in support to, among others, El-Sayed's Republican opponent. Democrats who worked for Stevens are of course pessimistic. They believe that someone like El-Sayed will not have a chance against the Republicans.

That's more or less how social democratic centrist strategists in Sweden sound. God forbid the party dares to stand out on any issue. Instead, they sit quietly in the boat, open up for collaborations from all directions and hope that Ulf Kristersson will take care of it for them. When it comes to the latter, Kristersson has hardly let them down.

But the American election and the wave of socialists that are starting to take over in the US say something about how tired people are of politics always moving towards the center. That it just becomes a mess that barely distinguishes between right and left, and that protects the system - even if the system is built to disadvantage the majority of ordinary people.

It is wise not to translate American policy to Swedish conditions. But the hope that has been ignited among Americans who want to see a fairer economic policy, and who are tired of the support for Israel, should not be underestimated.