Bonus: Abdul El-Sayed Wins in Michigan feat. Bernie Sanders

**Jon Favreau** (0:00)
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**Jon Favreau** (1:54)
Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau.

**Dan Pfeiffer** (1:56)
I'm Dan Pfeiffer.

**Jon Favreau** (1:58)
So we were going to record a reaction to Tuesday's election results last night, but the Michigan Senate race was much closer than all the polling suggested. So here we are today, bringing you a bonus pod, complete with an interview with Bernie Sanders, which you'll hear in a bit. But first, the headline. Abdul El-Sayed is now the Democratic nominee for the US. Senate race in Michigan. With more than 95% of the vote in, he defeated Haley Stevens by 1.48.5% to 47.5%.
And will face former Republican Congressman, current Florida homeowner Mike Rogers.
On one hand, polls had Abdul ahead of Haley by anywhere between 10 to 19 points. And his team's confidence heading into Tuesday certainly matched that margin. On the other, we have a very progressive Muslim candidate who took on the entire Democratic establishment in DC and Michigan, was outspent 11 to 1 by $60 million in outside spending, including a $32 million APEC spend that's more than any group has spent in any Democratic primary this cycle, and Abdul still won. Haley Stevens very graciously conceded, and Mallory McMorrow, who had also been in the race, actually introduced Abdul at his victory event Wednesday morning, where he previewed his argument against Mike Rogers.

**Abdul El-Sayed** (3:22)
Mike Rogers is a guy who will do anything Blue Cross, Blue Shield wants him to do, including raise your rates. Mike Rogers is a guy who introduced legislation to increase the flow of opioids. He did that while I was in high school.
Mike Rogers is a guy whose politics and vision and perspective are old.
Mike Rogers is a guy who has never shied away from a corporation he could do a favor for. Mike Rogers is a guy who, believe it or not, went back to Florida so he could lick every single boot Donald Trump owns to beg for his endorsement. I'm so sorry if you want a senator who's going to lick some boots, fine, go vote for Mike Rogers. But if you want a senator who's going to stand up to Donald Trump, then you've got your option right here. Michiganers are sick and tired of BS politics coming in to divide us when there's so much more we can unite to actually guarantee if we're willing to come together around it. So if all Mike Rogers got is that his name is Abdul and my name is Mike, you're going to be surprised how many people will be like, yeah, but that's the Abdul who wants to bring down the price of my groceries and gas and stop us sending money abroad and make sure that I got health care. So yeah, I like that Abdul over your Mike from Florida.

**Jon Favreau** (4:40)
We'll get to that message in a bit, but let's start with the closer than expected results. What do you make of that and what happened with the polling?