Republicans seize on Michigan progressives’ wins, but party is split on socialism message

MICHIGAN - Republicans seized on victories by two progressive candidates in Michigan primaries to portray Democrats as increasingly far left, with President Donald Trump labelling Michigan's US Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed a "Communist loser”.

The swift attacks by Trump and national party officials underscored a broader effort by Republicans to shift the focus of November's midterm elections from the economic concerns of voters that have weighed on Trump's approval ratings.

But Reuters interviews with advisers to 11 Republican candidates in competitive races for the US House of Representatives suggest not everyone is behind Trump's months of pushing to make socialism and communism defining midterm themes.

While five campaigns said they were leaning into the socialism message, six were sceptical or viewed it as a secondary theme.

Advisers to the six campaigns questioned how much the attack line would resonate with swing voters likely to decide the elections, arguing that concerns about high gas prices and living costs would outweigh ideological labels, particularly as Trump's support has slipped amid the war with Iran.

The debate carries high stakes. Republicans enter the midterms defending narrow majorities in the House and Senate, while Democrats hope to capture one or both chambers.

Trump later on Aug 5 delivered a speech to supporters in Nevada billed as a showcase of his economic achievements, including eliminating taxes on tips. But he spent much of his remarks warning of the evils of communism and casting Democrats as a threat to the American way of life.

Seizing on progressive wins

"Great news for the Republican Party. El-Sayed, a Communist loser who hates Jews and Israel, is the projected winner in his race with the Socialist," Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Aug 5 after the former public health official was projected to defeat his moderate rival, US Representative Haley Stevens.

And minutes after William Lawrence, who has said he sometimes identifies as a socialist, clinched the Democratic nomination in Michigan's 7th Congressional District, the House Republicans' campaign arm posted a social media graphic featuring his image emblazoned with a single word: "SOCIALIST”.

Lawrence championed a federal moratorium on new data centre developments and strengthening the public safety net. El-Sayed, a progressive who does not identify as a communist, focused his campaign on Medicare for all, ending unconditional military aid to Israel and abolishing ICE, the federal agency that has led Trump's crackdown on illegal migration.

Brent Buchanan, founder of Republican polling firm Cygnal, said he expects Republicans to lean heavily on attacks linking Democrats to socialism and communism, in part because candidates "don’t have a ton of other issues they can point to that voters are real happy with them on right now”.

Trump on the attack

Trump has ramped up his attacks on socialism and communism in recent weeks following a series of left-wing Democratic primary victories, including wins in June by a trio of insurgent congressional candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Other Republican leaders have followed Trump's lead. House Speaker Mike Johnson, for example, has taken to calling some Democratic primary winners "mini-Mamdanis" to try to portray them as part of a dangerous shift to the left.

Lawrence, an environmental organizer, quickly found himself in the crosshairs of the national Republican establishment after his win on Aug 4 night. In a series of social media posts, the National Republican Congressional Committee cast him as one of the "Midwest Mamdanis”, highlighting his past advocacy for progressive causes and a previous call to abolish the police that he has since disavowed.

His Republican opponent in November, incumbent Representative Tom Barrett, struck a different tone. Barrett welcomed Lawrence to the race and vowed not to underestimate him, a reference to the establishment Democrats whose campaigns Lawrence upended in the primary. Barrett's social media post made no mention of socialism.

None of the television or digital ads Barrett's campaign has prepared for the general election mentions socialism or communism, instead focusing on Barrett's record and policy agenda, according to campaign strategist Jason Roe.

"I don't want to devote our campaign dollars to talking about William Lawrence's socialism. Tom Barrett has a really good record to run on," Roe told Reuters.

Finding the balance

In a recent survey by Cygnal, 58 per cent of Democrats said they trusted socialism to deliver positive economic outcomes for Americans, compared with 11 per cent of Republicans and 32% of independents.

For Republican campaigns, the question is how far to follow Trump’s national message without losing focus on the local economic concerns likely to decide close races.

Even those embracing the attack said it was most effective when tied to specific Democratic policies and their potential cost to voters, rather than as a broad ideological warning.

An aide to Republican Representative Derrick Van Orden's campaign in Wisconsin said that while they plan to link Democratic opponent Rebecca Cooke to the socialist movement, cost-of-living issues remain a priority.

"You have to find a balance because at the end of the day, will people care about socialism and communism and all of that if they can’t go to the grocery store and feel like they can’t load their grocery cart?" said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Republicans see political value in highlighting Democrats' ties to the party's left flank, even when individual candidates do not embrace socialist policies themselves, said Ciro Riccardi, campaign manager for Republican Representative Mike Lawler, who is running against Democrat Cait Conley in New York's battleground 17th Congressional District.

"Cait Conley and Democrats across the country will spend the fall having to explain to voters the company they keep," Riccardi said.

Conley's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. REUTERS