Mark Halperin’s New 2028 Rankings: Shapiro Surges to No. 1

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**Michael Smerconish** (0:50)
NBC News was the first to call it in the wee hours of the morning. The Associated Press and many media outlets looked to the Associated Press for Guidance made it official about an hour ago. Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan's Democratic nomination for US Senate, defeating US Representative Haley Stevens in a massive victory for the party's progressive wing in a battleground state. The real test of El-Sayed and progressive strength will now come in a November matchup against Republican Mike Rogers, the former member of Congress who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination.
In his special edition of the wide world of news written thereafter, Mark Halpern notes the following, on the eve of narrowly winning the Democratic Party's Michigan Senate nomination, a victory that went from improbable to inevitable, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed stood with controversial influencer Hassan Piker and mocked a man who is arguably the most famous political strategist in Democratic Party history. They were talking about video. I'm now going to play Roland.

**SPEAKER_8** (1:57)
To talk about the larger Democratic Party post the election in Michigan going forward, I am not going to be in the same party with Hassan Piker. I can tell you that right now. If he becomes a force in the Democratic Party, I'm out of here. I have no intention of ever being in the same political party with that guy. Now, I think that a majority, overwhelming majority of Democrats agree with me.

**Michael Smerconish** (2:20)
Mark Halperin then goes on to make a brilliant connection, I thought, between Hassan Piker and James Carville. Mark, what is that connection?

**Mark Halperin** (2:30)
The connection is the message, the very message that made James Carville what he has been for now decades, the guiding force of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign on the Little Rock War Room Wall.
It said, it's the economy is stupid, change versus more of the same, and don't forget healthcare. That rhymes almost exactly with the extraordinarily disciplined, delivered message from Dr. Al Sayed, which is money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all.
James Carville does not like Mr. Piker, and last night Bernie Sanders said, if I have to choose between Carville and Piker, I'll take Piker. Dr. Al Sayed seems to agree. He hung out with him the day before the primary. He had him at his election party last night. Most people think he'll continue to hang out with him, and I think it's one guy. But imagine if Barack Obama at his convocation or benediction at his convention in 2008 had had Reverend Wright deliver the prayer. I mean, this guy is asking for trouble to divide the Democratic Party, which is otherwise extraordinarily unified in part because of the through line from James Carville's 1992 message to Dr. Al Sayed's message today. That is the Democratic message. The Democratic message is, another way he phrases it, is the many over the money. And James Carville believes in the exact same thing, and yet the two of them right now represent the danger that the Democratic Party faces at this moment. Can they beat Republican Mike Rogers if the party is the least bit divided?

**Michael Smerconish** (4:11)
But if the message were only, it's the economy stupid, change versus more of the same, don't forget health care, it would be a winning message. The problem is that Clinton didn't have the baggage of defunding the police, abolishing the Senate and some of the more radical aspects of the DSA.

**Mark Halperin** (4:29)
Well, there's the rub. Now, as I know you know, Dr. El-Sayed is not a member of the DSA.
He's a validly anti-socialist. He says he's not. He is a Bernie Sanders endorsed candidate. I like to say he's socialist aligned. Many of his policy positions, including the one you did mention, Israel, have made him anathema to a lot of Democrats. But a lot of those Democrats, not all, but a lot, John Fetterman is an exception, Congresswoman Schlotten of Michigan is an exception. Many have endorsed him today. It's endorsed today by a bunch of people who've been troubled by some of the positions you just said. But Bernie Sanders holds a lot of those positions too. He's a member of the United States Senate, a member of the Democratic caucus, kind of a member of the Democratic Party.