Democratic strategist James Carville said he will support Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in November despite his sharp disagreements with the progressive candidate and recent criticism from El-Sayed himself.
Carville made clear that his support has more to do with the alternative in the race, former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who will face El-Sayed in the November midterm election.
“El-Sayed himself has said the Democrats is as much of a problem as the Republicans, which I disagree with. But when I look at him and I look at Mike Rogers, who’s a lackey for the entire pharmaceutical industry, who’s an election denier, then I’m going to take El-Sayed every time,” Carville told Piers Morgan on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” in a clip posted Monday.
Carville acknowledged that El-Sayed would not necessarily be his preferred candidate under different circumstances.
“Would I take him in a vacuum? Probably not,” Carville said, before again attacking Rogers and declaring that he would support El-Sayed in the matchup.
The endorsement comes despite an increasingly public divide between Carville and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
Earlier this month, Carville went after left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who has campaigned alongside El-Sayed. Carville warned that if Piker becomes an influential force within the Democratic Party, “I’m out of here.”
El-Sayed subsequently fired back during an appearance on Piker’s stream, openly questioning Carville’s continued influence in Democratic politics.
“Part of me is like, why does anybody still listen to James Carville?” El-Sayed said.
“He said one smart thing once, which he seems to have forgotten, which is, ‘It’s the economy, stupid,’” he added.
The war of words comes as progressive insurgents such as El-Sayed and democratic socialists have scored victories during this year’s primary season in races across the country, including contests from New York to Colorado.
Their success has fueled an ongoing debate over how far to the left the Democratic Party should move.
Carville has been a vocal critic of that shift, previously arguing that the progressive left of the Democratic Party is “too hotheaded to know that they’re not popular.”
Despite those ideological disagreements, Carville is now lining up behind El-Sayed as Democrats prepare for the Michigan Senate contest against Rogers.
El-Sayed, meanwhile, wasted little time attacking his Republican opponent following his victory in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary.
The Democrat accused Rogers of being a carpetbagger and a “corporate sellout,” claiming the former congressman spent his time in Washington preparing to benefit financially after leaving office.
“Mike’s a guy who spent 14 years in Congress with one goal: to figure out how to cash out the day he left,” El-Sayed said last Wednesday.
El-Sayed also accused Rogers of taking repeated corporate checks while in Congress before ultimately “cash[ing] out” after leaving Washington.
