The Art of Losing: Haley Stevens

A look at the reasons behind a historic loss and the center's terminal struggles

On the night of Tuesday, August 4th, the Democratic establishment was dealt its biggest defeat in its modern history. In an open Senate race in Michigan where they ran a handpicked candidate blessed with a nine-to-one spending advantage, their primary voters chose to nominate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, an unapologetic Berniecrat, over Rep. Haley Stevens, a centrist four-term House incumbent. It may have only been by a narrow plurality that significantly underran pre-election polling, but it still occurred nonetheless, and it marks the end of an era.

Prior to this Tuesday, it had been an iron law in Democratic Party politics that the left could only contend in the most radical parts of the bluest cities in the country and that the establishment held dominion everywhere else. Absent an extraordinarily unique and ultimately doomed experiment in the state of Maine, the faction was still yet to establish itself as a meaningful statewide force even in deep blue America, to say nothing of the purple territories that actually decide national elections. But El-Sayed just won in one of the most competitive states in the country, and it leaves us with just one question: why? After years and years of the left not even coming close to contending in the races that actually count, what was it that allowed this man to break all precedents and accomplish the now-inconceivable?

As far as the mainstream media is concerned, the answer is a simple one: his win was simply inevitable. Because the polls had El-Sayed up by so much, it is said, victory had always simply spelled itself out for him, to the point that the fact that he only managed a one point win is an embarrassment on his part and a credit to the center. Progressives, it was said, “didn’t get the big election night they wanted.” In fact, they went home “chastened,” while the establishment showed that it “still has plenty of life.” It’s an utterly absurd attempt at spin that gets the entire result backwards. Between her massive fundraising advantage, credible resume, and laundry list of big-name endorsements, this race was Stevens’ to lose. She was given an uncontested platform to push her message and her message failed, and it failed because her faction fundamentally does not know what it is doing. They were astonishingly arrogant, they were fanatically ideological, they were hopelessly, sickeningly online, and they completely blew it—and now, they’re being celebrated for having achieved a moral victory.

It’s well past time for a reality check. Here are the biggest reasons why everything the center knows is wrong, they choked away a winnable race, and any remotely competent establishment would be utterly mortified by the results we saw.

#1: They Couldn’t Fucking Log Off. Haley Stevens and her Army of Bibi Bros Ran One of the Most Terminally Online Campaigns of All Time.