Michigan After the Vote

Our guest, Michigan local and Democratic organizer Jessica ‘Decky’ Alexander, said the state’s Democratic Senate primary felt seismic – not just for Michigan, but for the national Democratic Party. Decky spent the past year and a half listening, organizing and talking directly with Jewish Michiganders. She originally supported Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the race last month, before backing Haley Stevens. Throughout the primary, Decky also kept a line open to yesterday’s winner, Abdul El-Sayed, sharing concerns she heard from across the American Jewish community. Now, as someone helping convene Jews in Michigan to support El-Sayed in November, her question to the voters she talks to is simple: What do they need to see and hear from Abdul now? One thing she made clear: There is no single “Jewish vote.” Michigan Jews supported Haley, Abdul and Mallory – and many of the issues Abdul campaigned on resonate deeply with Jewish voters and Democrats across the state. We also dug into AIPAC: The astonishing amount of millions they poured into the race and the tricky line between exposing its role and turning it into the one-and-only political boogeyman while other special interest groups played the spending game. After Decky left us, we shifted gears to Gaza, Israel and Iran – asking whether we’re finally seeing the beginnings of something different, or just another turn of the same merry-go-round.