In late July, when Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, endorsed Haley Stevens in the state’s Democratic Senate primary, it was unclear what the move meant. So it’s fitting that El-Sayed is also the most politically talented of the group. As much as El-Sayed’s win is a testament to his talents, it’s also an indictment of the Democratic establishment. Television ads backing Stevens featured Obama almost as much as they did the candidate herself, even though Obama did not endorse Stevens’s bid. El-Sayed, by contrast, spoke openly about his fight against the Democratic establishment and about how he hoped his victory in the state he called “the carotid artery of American politics” would propel a progressive candidate to capture the Party’s Presidential nomination in 2028.