August 6, 2026 • 11 mins
Ryan talks with The Dispatch Senior Editor Sarah Isgur about what Abdul El-Sayed’s Michigan Senate primary victory means for the Democratic Party, and why campaign fundraising is becoming a less reliable predictor of election outcomes.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah
Accident Attorneys Tampa.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
A foot point on Abdul l Sied. Despite his in
my opinion, extreme positions like abolishing eyes, his flirtation at
one point with defunding the police, his far left positions
like medicare for all, Republicans should not underestimate him. He
(00:27):
is a performer. He can put on a good show,
captivate an audience. He can get his message across. I mean,
just listen to him yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
They're gonna point men point of my name is like, Wow,
he's different. My name is not raising your gas prices.
My name is not taking us to war. My name
is not the reason you can't afford your groceries. You
know what is there BS policies.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That will resonate, and you can see why he won.
Hailey Stevens, the congresswoman who ran against him, she's like
a vanilla Wait right, He's like flaming Hanscheetos, And even
if you don't love the ingredients, you can get drawn
to them pretty easily.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Right well, And just what he says it resonates with people.
And those are not extreme positions that he's expressing there either,
it's just the basic stuff that people are upset about right.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Now, right right. And you know, if Republicans think that
they're just going to use his like full name and
scare voters off and stuff like that, that is not
going to work. There are plenty of things that you
can go after him on with his positions. I just
don't like, you know, when they go down that road,
when either party goes down that with those kinds of
(01:38):
scare tactics, like about someone's name or something like that, Right,
it's just it's stupid. You've got other ammunition that you
can use against Lsian. But if you think that just
because he has some of those extreme positions that you're
going to sail to victory, well I think you have
(01:58):
another thing coming. Because he in front of the camera
pretty good, right.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
And when he says those things that appeal to people
and they really can't afford their groceries, then they're going
to vote for And also, he's a very attractive guy.
I don't know, but I don't like his policies at all.
But I'm like, oh, you know what, he's actually kind
of cute.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
He's a good looking do.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So you'll watch him because of that. Yeah, and hear
his message. All right. Let me bring in senior editor
at The Dispatch, host of the Advisory Opinions podcast, and
author of the new book Last Branch Standing, which you
can get wherever you get your books. Sarah Isker is
with us this morning. Sarah, it's great to have you
back on and I want to start with that Senate
(02:41):
primary race in Michigan where Abdul el Sayed won beating
out Congresswoman Hailey Stevens. And obviously, what's captured the most
attention about that racist that you had a ton of
money going up against el Sayed, the established different interest
groups trying to get Hailey Stevens over the finish line,
(03:04):
you had Bernie Sanders AOC backing el Sayed. He ends
up winning in a closer race than some of the
polling showed leading up to election day. What's your big
picture take on that outcome and what it could mean
for the midterms this year.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
We're seeing the Democratic Party go through something very similar
to what we've seen the Republican Party go through for
the last ten years, which is basically a grassroots takeover
of what it means to be, you know, a Republican,
a Democrat. You know, back in the day before we
had open primaries or sort of anyone could vote in them,
(03:40):
the political parties themselves controlled who their candidates were, what
their platforms were, and what they stood for. I think
today's the day we can announce that that era of
American politics has officially ended.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It is over.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Voters now control what these parties stand for that can
change election to election, and candidates don't necessarily sign on
to a party platform. In fact, the party is in
more ways signing on to them.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And money, I mean tens of millions of dollars spent
against El Saiet. I think he was outspent like nine
to one, yet he wins the race. What does that
tell you about where politics is at these days?
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Well, the Democratic Party wanted Haley Stevens to win because
they thought that she was a much stronger challenger against
Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate in the general election.
You know, we have a problem here where about ten
percent of voters vote in primary and so they tend
(04:46):
to be very unrepresentative of general election voters. They pick
more extreme candidates, more partisan candidates, and then when those
candidates reach a general election, they often fall on their faces.
And so what the democratic you know, quote establishment, What
a Democratic party was trying to do was to have
a candidate that could win a general election the primary.
(05:06):
Voters in Michigan said, we'll take our chances. Same thing
happened in Texas with Republicans. By the way, Republicans spent
millions to try to get John Cornyn over the finish
line for that Republican Senate primary. Same idea right that
he would sail through the general election, Republican primary and
voters saying we'll take our chances.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
With Ken Puxton, we're joined by senior editor at The
Dispatch and host of the Advisory Opinions podcast, Sarah Isker.
So do political parties really matter anymore?
Speaker 5 (05:37):
No, not not in not in any of the traditional ways.
They don't matter in terms of establishing a policy agenda
for the party. They don't matter right now, at least
in terms of the money that they offer candidates, as
we have seen both in the Michigan Senate race, but
also throughout the last ten years. Remember Hillary Clinton met
(06:00):
simply outspent Donald Trump in twenty sixteen, only to lose money.
Is no longer a predictor, and in fact, can often
be a reverse predictor of who's going to win these races.
And so when the biggest carot and stick the political
parties had was the money that they could spend on
these candidates, that is no longer a factor either. And
of course, the political parties themselves are incredibly unpopular with voters.
(06:23):
For the first time in American history, more voters identify
as independent than they do with either political party.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So we're in this new world where money doesn't matter
as much. The political parties can't control the process to
get a candidate who would be better in the general
election in place. They also don't really have a lot
of control over their messaging and policy positions. And that's
where I want to bring this conversation to me, what's
(06:52):
happened in New York with the election of Zorn Mamdani
as New York City Mayor what's happening in Michigan with
Abdul else I had winning that primary race. I was
talking to a Democrat running for office here recently, and
I told her, I'm like, your biggest problem, it's not
(07:14):
anything tied to you, it's how voters view the Democratic
Party as a whole because of these other figures in
other places. How much does that start to factor in
to races where the candidate themselves they don't have anything
to do with these other people, but it's these other
people who have kind of taken over the party or
(07:37):
at least have become the symbol of the party.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Well, I got good news for her there. You don't
have to outrun the bear, You just have to outrun
the other political party. And at this point, both political
parties are seen as so extreme because they end up
being defined by the very people they didn't want being
the nominee for their party. That voters are really you know,
(08:01):
blaming the political parties on both sides. And as I said,
we're really seeing the Democratic Party this cycle catch up to,
or learn from the worst behavior of the Republican Party
in the last ten years, with voters realizing that the
political parties themselves no longer control this process and that
individual candidates who again aren't really tied to any specific
(08:25):
coherent policy agenda together. You know, they individually run on things,
but there's not like a now policy platform that you
can say the Democratic Party believes in or that the
Republican Party believes in and yet of course the brands
themselves get seen as extreme partisan, vitriolic, angry, and that's
(08:49):
not just across the board.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Last question for you, and again we're joined by senior
editor of The Dispatching host of the Advisory Opinions podcast,
Sarah Isker. The selection of Abdul Lsim of Zoron Mamdani
as the representatives of the Democratic Party in their particular races.
(09:11):
Is that more because of their policies or is that
more because of the types of political figures they are.
I mean, if we're being honest, they both they're pretty charismatic,
they can command a stage, they come across as fighters.
Is that more of a factor in why these kinds
(09:32):
of candidates are becoming more popular?
Speaker 5 (09:36):
I think you've hit on something really important on the
Democratic side especially. You look at the race for Zora Mamdanni.
He was running against the incredibly flawed Andrew Cuomo. You
look at Graham Platner in Maine, remember he won that
Democratic primary. He was running against I mean, at the
end nobody, but you know, before that, an elderly governor.
(09:59):
And then you look at Haley Stevens, a flawed candidate
in Michigan who just simply did not have the sort
of retail politics skills that Elsa had had. So there's
no question that you can look at these races and say, oh,
the more left wing candidate one. The problem is in
all three of those races you can also say the
more charismatic candidate one, the better candidate one. And so
(10:24):
we really need an example where there is a more
charismatic establishment candidate. You haven't had that example, that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Senior editor at The Dispatch and host of the Advisory
Opinions podcast. Also author of the new book Last Branch Standing,
which you can get wherever you get your books. Sarah
Isker with us this morning. Sarah always appreciate it. Thanks
so much.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Thanks Brian.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Published Live to have a Ryan Gorman Show on iHeartRadio
every weekday morning on WIOD in Miami, w FLA and Tampa,
presented by Verah and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Farah and Farah
Accident Attorneys Tampa.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
A foot point on Abdul l Sied. Despite his in
my opinion, extreme positions like abolishing eyes, his flirtation at
one point with defunding the police, his far left positions
like medicare for all, Republicans should not underestimate him. He
(00:27):
is a performer. He can put on a good show,
captivate an audience. He can get his message across. I mean,
just listen to him yesterday.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
They're gonna point men point of my name is like, Wow,
he's different. My name is not raising your gas prices.
My name is not taking us to war. My name
is not the reason you can't afford your groceries. You
know what is there BS policies.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That will resonate, and you can see why he won.
Hailey Stevens, the congresswoman who ran against him, she's like
a vanilla Wait right, He's like flaming Hanscheetos, And even
if you don't love the ingredients, you can get drawn
to them pretty easily.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Right well, And just what he says it resonates with people.
And those are not extreme positions that he's expressing there either,
it's just the basic stuff that people are upset about right.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Now, right right. And you know, if Republicans think that
they're just going to use his like full name and
scare voters off and stuff like that, that is not
going to work. There are plenty of things that you
can go after him on with his positions. I just
don't like, you know, when they go down that road,
when either party goes down that with those kinds of
(01:38):
scare tactics, like about someone's name or something like that, Right,
it's just it's stupid. You've got other ammunition that you
can use against Lsian. But if you think that just
because he has some of those extreme positions that you're
going to sail to victory, well I think you have
(01:58):
another thing coming. Because he in front of the camera
pretty good, right.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
And when he says those things that appeal to people
and they really can't afford their groceries, then they're going
to vote for And also, he's a very attractive guy.
I don't know, but I don't like his policies at all.
But I'm like, oh, you know what, he's actually kind
of cute.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
He's a good looking do.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So you'll watch him because of that. Yeah, and hear
his message. All right. Let me bring in senior editor
at The Dispatch, host of the Advisory Opinions podcast, and
author of the new book Last Branch Standing, which you
can get wherever you get your books. Sarah Isker is
with us this morning. Sarah, it's great to have you
back on and I want to start with that Senate
(02:41):
primary race in Michigan where Abdul el Sayed won beating
out Congresswoman Hailey Stevens. And obviously, what's captured the most
attention about that racist that you had a ton of
money going up against el Sayed, the established different interest
groups trying to get Hailey Stevens over the finish line,
(03:04):
you had Bernie Sanders AOC backing el Sayed. He ends
up winning in a closer race than some of the
polling showed leading up to election day. What's your big
picture take on that outcome and what it could mean
for the midterms this year.
Speaker 5 (03:19):
We're seeing the Democratic Party go through something very similar
to what we've seen the Republican Party go through for
the last ten years, which is basically a grassroots takeover
of what it means to be, you know, a Republican,
a Democrat. You know, back in the day before we
had open primaries or sort of anyone could vote in them,
(03:40):
the political parties themselves controlled who their candidates were, what
their platforms were, and what they stood for. I think
today's the day we can announce that that era of
American politics has officially ended.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It is over.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
Voters now control what these parties stand for that can
change election to election, and candidates don't necessarily sign on
to a party platform. In fact, the party is in
more ways signing on to them.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And money, I mean tens of millions of dollars spent
against El Saiet. I think he was outspent like nine
to one, yet he wins the race. What does that
tell you about where politics is at these days?
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Well, the Democratic Party wanted Haley Stevens to win because
they thought that she was a much stronger challenger against
Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate in the general election.
You know, we have a problem here where about ten
percent of voters vote in primary and so they tend
(04:46):
to be very unrepresentative of general election voters. They pick
more extreme candidates, more partisan candidates, and then when those
candidates reach a general election, they often fall on their faces.
And so what the democratic you know, quote establishment, What
a Democratic party was trying to do was to have
a candidate that could win a general election the primary.
(05:06):
Voters in Michigan said, we'll take our chances. Same thing
happened in Texas with Republicans. By the way, Republicans spent
millions to try to get John Cornyn over the finish
line for that Republican Senate primary. Same idea right that
he would sail through the general election, Republican primary and
voters saying we'll take our chances.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
With Ken Puxton, we're joined by senior editor at The
Dispatch and host of the Advisory Opinions podcast, Sarah Isker.
So do political parties really matter anymore?
Speaker 5 (05:37):
No, not not in not in any of the traditional ways.
They don't matter in terms of establishing a policy agenda
for the party. They don't matter right now, at least
in terms of the money that they offer candidates, as
we have seen both in the Michigan Senate race, but
also throughout the last ten years. Remember Hillary Clinton met
(06:00):
simply outspent Donald Trump in twenty sixteen, only to lose money.
Is no longer a predictor, and in fact, can often
be a reverse predictor of who's going to win these races.
And so when the biggest carot and stick the political
parties had was the money that they could spend on
these candidates, that is no longer a factor either. And
of course, the political parties themselves are incredibly unpopular with voters.
(06:23):
For the first time in American history, more voters identify
as independent than they do with either political party.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So we're in this new world where money doesn't matter
as much. The political parties can't control the process to
get a candidate who would be better in the general
election in place. They also don't really have a lot
of control over their messaging and policy positions. And that's
where I want to bring this conversation to me, what's
(06:52):
happened in New York with the election of Zorn Mamdani
as New York City Mayor what's happening in Michigan with
Abdul else I had winning that primary race. I was
talking to a Democrat running for office here recently, and
I told her, I'm like, your biggest problem, it's not
(07:14):
anything tied to you, it's how voters view the Democratic
Party as a whole because of these other figures in
other places. How much does that start to factor in
to races where the candidate themselves they don't have anything
to do with these other people, but it's these other
people who have kind of taken over the party or
(07:37):
at least have become the symbol of the party.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Well, I got good news for her there. You don't
have to outrun the bear, You just have to outrun
the other political party. And at this point, both political
parties are seen as so extreme because they end up
being defined by the very people they didn't want being
the nominee for their party. That voters are really you know,
(08:01):
blaming the political parties on both sides. And as I said,
we're really seeing the Democratic Party this cycle catch up to,
or learn from the worst behavior of the Republican Party
in the last ten years, with voters realizing that the
political parties themselves no longer control this process and that
individual candidates who again aren't really tied to any specific
(08:25):
coherent policy agenda together. You know, they individually run on things,
but there's not like a now policy platform that you
can say the Democratic Party believes in or that the
Republican Party believes in and yet of course the brands
themselves get seen as extreme partisan, vitriolic, angry, and that's
(08:49):
not just across the board.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Last question for you, and again we're joined by senior
editor of The Dispatching host of the Advisory Opinions podcast,
Sarah Isker. The selection of Abdul Lsim of Zoron Mamdani
as the representatives of the Democratic Party in their particular races.
(09:11):
Is that more because of their policies or is that
more because of the types of political figures they are.
I mean, if we're being honest, they both they're pretty charismatic,
they can command a stage, they come across as fighters.
Is that more of a factor in why these kinds
(09:32):
of candidates are becoming more popular?
Speaker 5 (09:36):
I think you've hit on something really important on the
Democratic side especially. You look at the race for Zora Mamdanni.
He was running against the incredibly flawed Andrew Cuomo. You
look at Graham Platner in Maine, remember he won that
Democratic primary. He was running against I mean, at the
end nobody, but you know, before that, an elderly governor.
(09:59):
And then you look at Haley Stevens, a flawed candidate
in Michigan who just simply did not have the sort
of retail politics skills that Elsa had had. So there's
no question that you can look at these races and say, oh,
the more left wing candidate one. The problem is in
all three of those races you can also say the
more charismatic candidate one, the better candidate one. And so
(10:24):
we really need an example where there is a more
charismatic establishment candidate. You haven't had that example, that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Senior editor at The Dispatch and host of the Advisory
Opinions podcast. Also author of the new book Last Branch Standing,
which you can get wherever you get your books. Sarah
Isker with us this morning. Sarah always appreciate it. Thanks
so much.
Speaker 5 (10:46):
Thanks Brian.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Published Live to have a Ryan Gorman Show on iHeartRadio
every weekday morning on WIOD in Miami, w FLA and Tampa,
presented by Verah and Farah Accident Attorneys, Tampa
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