As Zohran Mamdani fleshes out his plan to provide government-run grocery stores in New York, Abdul El-Sayed promises Michiganders free and available health care without a premium, deductible or copay. His smooth delivery gives Obama vibes to first time voters who were not yet born when Barak Obama was first elected in 2008.
Meanwhile in Minnesota, DFL US Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan promises to eliminate all private health insurance. This goes beyond where El-Sayed was willing to go. There is no question that the DSA-approved messaging is landing with Gen-Z everywhere, and with primary voters elsewhere in 2026, but is it turning off enough older voters to stall out the ascendant wing of the DFL in Minnesota?
The new breed of Democrat skips over the familiar talking points they heard from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama when they were children. Out with “public option” in with “Medicare for all.” And for some candidates, that means picking up where Obamacare chickened out. Obama was pragmatic enough to abandon the “public option” (offering wealthier people a chance to buy into public health programs) which gave just enough space to pass the bill. Republicans were able to gain a trifecta in 2016, but despite dozens of attempts, were unable to repeal Obamacare. Democrats like Flanagan and El-Sayed would likely vote to do so and replace it with a ban on private health insurance.
The giant leap to the left that the Alexandria Ocasio Cortez/Bernie Sanders (AOC-BS) wing of the Democrat party is leapfrogging past the old standard-bearers who worry that the leap might be too far for at least half the country this year. But the promises, paired with scapegoats to blame, seem awfully enticing to a new generation of voters who have been taught to believe that the American Dream is dead, or if it isn’t, it should be.
Merely 41% of Gen-Z respondents to a recent Gallup poll endorsed felling “very proud” or “extremely proud” to be an American, less than half as proud as their grandparents “silent” generation. Apparently that lack of patriotism does not preclude these younger Americans from trusting the same government they are not proud of to take over vast portions of the economy that previous generations wanted Uncle Sam to unhand. But Gen-Z alone can’t deliver an election victory. Which is why Mamdani was thought to be beatable in New York.
Mamdani, New York’s democratic socialist mayor, is moving ahead with five city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough. The first is set to open in the Bronx in 2027, with discounts of 30 percent on produce, meat, bread, milk and other staples locked in monthly. City officials project average household savings of about $90 a month. The city covers land, construction and overhead while private operators run the stores under price rules. Many democrats worried that Mamdani’s brand of socialism would turn off voters, but he seems to be where the green grass grows in democrat’s brave new world.
In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed just secured the Democratic Senate nomination after a hard-fought primary. His signature pitch remains Medicare for All: coverage from cradle to grave with no premiums, no deductibles and no copays. He has described it repeatedly as a second insurance card that never expires and works everywhere. He cleverly proposes new tax increases as a switch for medical costs now being paid for by the patients. He conveniently leaves out the fact that Medicare and Medicaid currently pay doctors and hospitals below cost of care.
Minnesota’s Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan, is running for US Senate with the backing of AOC-BS, who campaigned for her here recently. In addition to staking out familiar DSA territory such as rejecting AIPAC money, Flanagan has gone further than most by directing parents to “listen to kids” when they want to change genders. But it is health care that is the brightest line. Her primary opponent, Rep. Angie Craig staked out a position building on existing health insurance policies.
Craig has attacked Flanagan, warning that if she were to win, Republicans would pounce on the opportunity to tie her to the state’s infamous fraud problem that drove her boss, Governor Tim Walz from a reelection bid.
If Flanagan wins, republican’s real growth opportunity will not be fraud (voters are already informed on it) but rather Flanagan’s promise to eliminate private health insurance. Minnesota, like Michigan, has hundreds of thousands of union workers who have traded money for health insurance benefits over decades and in some cases generations of members. If Democrats choose Flanagan, it will create another Midwest opportunity for the GOP to retain control if the US Senate.
Building a handful of state-run grocery stores will show everyone why the government is bad at running grocery stores. But eliminating private health insurance is different. It is personal. People have moms and kids who need MRIs and surgeries and medications. There will not be a CUB or Trader Joe’s version of your health plan to turn to when the government one can’t or won’t help. People over 40 remember what pre-Obamacare plans cost. They remember the promises. They liked their plan. They liked their doctor. They decide elections.
