Unlike RedState's Thomas LaDuke, I'm not an expert on Michigan politics, but I do know a little bit about purple states and how candidates for statewide office on either side of the aisle generally tend to try not to go too far right or too far left once the general election campaign season starts, in hopes of appealing to middle-of-the-road voters.
In fact, a lot of the time, they leave the heaviest knock-down-drag-out messaging to their surrogates, while the candidates themselves try to act as though they are "above the fray."
As far as establishment Democrats in Michigan go, though, they are seemingly still in the process of trying to figure out a way to push forward with Abdul El-Sayed, the toxic Senate nominee whom they did not support in the primary, and whose victory is already prompting rumors of Democrat defections to the campaign of his GOP opponent, Trump-backed former congressman Mike Rogers.
READ MORE: 'Meeting the Moment': Mike Rogers Makes His Play As Michigan Democrats Face a Growing Revolt
Rep. Debbie Dingell (MI-06) is one of the more well-known establishment Democrats in Michigan. A year or so ago, she warned against a looming "proxy battle" between the Democrat candidates over the issue of the Israel-Hamas war, something that ended up playing out throughout the primary between El-Sayed, Rep. Haley Stevens (MI-11), and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.
Though Dingell didn't endorse in the Senate primary, one got the impression that she wasn't a fan of El-Sayed's campaign, perhaps because she's fond of reminding people that Michigan is a purple state, and far-left candidates like El-Sayed are not exactly what one would describe as "purple state material."
That said, earlier this week, ahead of the primary, and as the Democrat crash-out was already underway, Dingell revealed in an interview with anchor Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax that she was attempting to learn and understand more about the popularity of El-Sayed's more prominent and controversial backers, most notably America-hater Hasan Piker.
She stated she doesn't agree with many of his statements, but because he's an "influencer who has a great deal of followers" (and because El-Sayed had supposedly run a solid social media campaign himself), she was "following [Piker] now" on social media "'cause I'm trying to understand it."
A flustered Dingell then trailed off in bizarro world, speculating that one of the reasons he's allegedly so popular is that he "works out" and that when he does, "he looks really good," though she quickly added, "so some people are telling me."
Sure, Debbie. Sure.
Watch:
“I guess he works out and when he works out he looks really good and some people follow him for that. Not you or me.”
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) August 5, 2026
Debbie Dingell says she only watches the Hasan stream for the articles. pic.twitter.com/2u69ecNK9w
As one might imagine, Piker got a big kick out of it when he watched it on replay:
"No! Oh, my God. Oh, my God, Debbie Dingell, that is cra - why did you say that? Ain’t no way. I just - oh my God, is Debbie Dingell on Fancam TikTok? Oh, my God. That is incredible."
Debbie Dingell has the best Hasan take to date: I don’t get it. I don’t agree with him. I’m not defending what he’s said. But he’s popular, especially with young people, and he’s hot. So it is what it is. C’est la vie. pic.twitter.com/iaWYIlvdIN
— Brendan Hartnett (@BrendanHartnett) August 6, 2026
My thoughts and prayers go out to establishment Democrats in Michigan at this difficult time, because if they believe this is what qualifies as trying to be "relatable" to a broad swathe of voters, I dunno what to tell 'em.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law-and-order agenda.
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