埃斯卡纳巴，密歇根州 — — 阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德和亚历山德拉·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯已经在考虑2026年之后的事情，尽管他目前还不是参议员。
ESCANABA, Mich. — Abdul El-Sayed and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are already thinking beyond 2026, even though he’s not a senator yet.
周四，他在该州摇摆地区更红、更农村地区的参议员竞选巴士之旅的三个不同站点，埃尔-赛义德和奥卡西奥-科尔特斯吸引了人群，展现出显著的明星效应。虽然共和党人认为密歇根州是他们夺取参议院席位的最佳机会，但这对进步搭档正把自己定位为伯尼·桑德斯十年来领导的更广泛运动的继承人 — — 他们计划将这场推动扩展到该州之外。
During three different stops Thursday on his Senate campaign’s bus tour through redder, rural areas of this swing state, El-Sayed and Ocasio-Cortez drew crowds that showed notable star power. While Republicans see Michigan as their strongest chance to pick up a Senate seat, the progressive pair are casting themselves as heirs to the broader movement that Bernie Sanders has commanded for a decade — a push they plan to expand beyond this state.
“一旦你选出这样一个人，人们就会随后明白过来，”奥卡西奥-科尔特斯在造纸城镇对埃尔-赛义德宣称，该县上一次支持民主党是在2008年。“然后我们将开始选出更多这样的人。”
“Once you elect one person like that, people will then catch on,” Ocasio-Cortez declared of El-Sayed in this paper-producing town, whose county last went Democratic in 2008. “And we will start electing more people like that.”
在特朗普总统上任时承诺要扭转的那种去工业化冲击该地区的地区，埃尔-赛义德因承诺要超越特朗普而赢得热烈掌声：“特朗普只是我们政治之疾的最坏症状 — — 即允许亿万富翁、公司、特殊利益集团、被买卖的政客，以及金钱让系统对抗我们的制度之疾。”虽然奥卡西奥-科尔特斯尚未就她将以自动参选者身份参与的2028年总统初选做出决定，但她在密歇根州的巡演实际上是在喊出她的目标。
In a region walloped by the sort of deindustrialization that President Donald Trump had returned to office pledging to reverse, El-Sayed drew loud applause for vowing to move beyond him: “Donald Trump is just the worst symptom of the disease of our politics — the disease of the system of allowing billionaires, corporations, special interest, the bought and sold politicians, the way that the money brings the system against us.”While Ocasio-Cortez has yet to make her decision on a 2028 presidential primary that she’d enter as an automatic contender, her Michigan tour amounted to calling her shot.
她正以埃尔-赛义德作为她民粹主义品牌的概念验证，即使这一策略引发了民主党内部对黑人和犹太选民可能转向共和党的担忧，她仍在紧张的参议院竞赛中拥抱他为左翼所做的努力。
She’s betting on El-Sayed as proof of concept for her brand of populism, embracing his play for the left in a tight Senate race even as the strategy sparks internal Democratic worries about a possible drift of Black and Jewish voters towards Republicans.
如果他在一个反特朗普情绪异常强烈的选举周期中击败共和党提名人迈克·罗杰斯，成为美国历史上首位穆斯林参议员，埃尔-赛耶德可能会引发他自己的总统竞选热潮。但目前，在一个如今成为民主党提名日历中最早投票的州的州内，他的竞选活动为奥卡西奥-科尔特斯提供了一个平台，让她阐述比单一候选人纲领更雄心勃勃的政策。
If he defeats GOP nominee Mike Rogers in a remarkably anti-Trump cycle to become the first Muslim senator in US history, El-Sayed could spark his own presidential boomlet. But for the moment, in a state that’s now among the Democratic nominating calendar’s earliest to vote, his campaign served as a vehicle for Ocasio-Cortez to spell out more ambitious policy than a single candidate’s platform.
当埃斯卡纳巴的一位与会者询问这对搭档关于取消学生贷款利息时，埃尔-赛耶德表示：“你不应该为了获得高等教育而负债。”他还说，民主党应该寻找创造性的方法来规避最高法院对拜登时代学生贷款减免计划的否决。
When one attendee in Escanaba asked the duo about eliminating interest on student loans. El-Sayed said “you shouldn’t have to go into debt to get a higher education” and that Democrats should find creative ways around the Supreme Court’s rejection of a Biden-era student loan forgiveness program.
随后，奥卡西奥-科尔特斯进一步表示，学生贷款应免收利息，公立学院应免收学费，并且“我们真的需要问自己，让人们为了寻求教育而在一生中陷入契约劳役状态有什么用。”人群爆发出欢呼声。
Then Ocasio-Cortez went a step further, saying that student loans should be interest-free, public colleges should be tuition-free, and “we have to really be asking ourselves what is the utility of putting people in indentured servitude their entire lives for seeking an education.”The crowd cheered.
尽管民主党人在密歇根州这一地区在十一月大选中常常失利，但在此地的初选中，进步派力量一直表现强劲。在今年的参议员初选中，埃尔-赛耶德赢得了他在周四举办活动的三个县，正如伯尼·桑德斯在2016年作为佛蒙特州独立人士参加民主党总统初选时所做的那样。
Although Democrats have often fallen short in this part of Michigan come November, it’s been favorable territory for progressives during primaries. In this year’s Senate primary, El-Sayed carried the three counties where he held events Thursday, as did Sanders during the Vermont independent’s 2016 Democratic presidential bid.
“我只想谈谈汽油、杂货、看病的能力。想把钱从政治中拿出来，放进你的口袋，实现全民医保？”埃尔-赛耶德对记者说。“我认为这就是尤佩人想要的，也一样。”他批评罗杰斯，后者通常会避开埃尔-赛耶德竞选团队偏好的大型集会，今年秋天没有出现在上半岛。
“I just want to have a conversation about gas, groceries, the ability to see a doctor. Want money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all?”El-Sayed told reporters. “I think that’s what Yoopers want, too.”He knocked Rogers, who generally avoids the large gatherings favored by the El-Sayed campaign, for not appearing in the Upper Peninsula this fall.
“所以他上次是什么时候去铁山？上次是什么时候去埃斯卡纳巴？上次是什么时候去马凯特？我不知道。至少我会出现，”埃尔-赛耶德说。
“So when’s the last time he was in Iron Mountain? When’s the last time he was in Escanaba? When’s the last time he was in Marquette? I don’t know. At least I show up,” said El-Sayed.
一位罗杰斯发言人提到，他在过去一年里曾多次在上半岛城镇进行竞选活动，包括今年六月在马凯特的停留。
A Rogers spokesperson pointed to previous stops by his campaign in the Upper Peninsula towns over the last year, including in Marquette in June.
“AOC是民主党最新的花招，但密歇根人知道不能上当，”罗杰斯发言人说。“虽然阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛耶德试图摆脱自己的进步政策，但AOC的访问提醒选民他到底是谁 — — 一位激进的左翼人士，他想削减警察经费，强制密歇根人接受电动汽车规定，并进一步推高我们的公用事业价格。”在大多数民意调查中，罗杰斯的竞选势头依然胶着，而不可否认的是，他在密歇根州民主党内部持续存在的紧张局势中获益 — — 这种紧张源于埃尔-赛耶德与众议员海莉·斯蒂文斯之间激烈的初选竞争。
“AOC is the latest trick up the Democrats’ sleeve, but Michiganders know better than to fall for it,” said the Rogers spokesperson. “While Abdul El-Sayed tries to run from his own progressive policies, AOC’s visit reminds voters exactly who he is — a radical leftist who wants to defund the police, force EV mandates on Michiganders, and jack up our utility prices even higher.”Rogers is keeping the race close in most polls, while undeniably benefiting from the tension that has persisted among Michigan Democrats after El-Sayed’s acrimonious primary against Rep. Haley Stevens.
民主党候选人的批评者之一是现任众议员希拉里·舒尔滕（民主党-密歇根州），她一直保留对他的支持。
Among the Democratic nominee’s detractors are a sitting congresswoman, Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., who has withheld her support for him.
斯蒂文斯可能的众议院继任者、州参议员杰里米·莫斯也在就此话题进行早期讨论后，保留了对埃尔-赛耶德的背书，正如Semafor首次报道的那样。
Stevens’ likely House successor, state Sen. Jeremy Moss, has also held back on endorsing El-Sayed after entertaining early talks on the topic, as Semafor first reported.
莫斯并非唯一一位对埃尔-赛耶德对以色列的严厉批评持怀疑态度的犹太裔民主党人，因此他也没有背书他。斯蒂文斯在一次采访中承认，民主党内部存在“一些动态变化”。
Moss isn’t the only Jewish Democrat who remains skeptical of El-Sayed’s harsh criticism of Israel and, as a result, hasn’t backed him. Stevens, in an interview, acknowledged “some shifting dynamics” among Democrats.
“共和党已经有32年没有在密歇根州赢得参议院席位，很难相信他们真的能在这一年实现反弹，”她说。“但他们肯定在拼命试图做到这一点。”她还暗示，她目前更专注于为密歇根州的众议院候选人和其他民主党人竞选，而非参议院竞选；她计划本周末与众议院候选人克里斯蒂娜·海因斯举办一场政治活动，以展示对黑人选民的 outreach 工作。
“Republicans have not held a Senate seat in Michigan for 32 years, and it’s hard to believe that this would really be the year that they’d be able to make a comeback,” she said. “But they’re sure as heck trying.”She also hinted she was focused more on campaigning for House candidates and other Democrats in Michigan than on the Senate race; she’s holding a political event this weekend with House candidate Christina Hines to showcase outreach to Black voters.
“我想看到哈基姆·杰弗里斯凭借一个叫密歇根的地方成为众议院议长，”她说。
“I want to see Hakeem Jeffries become the speaker of the House [on the strength of] a place called Michigan,” she said.
埃尔赛德和奥卡西奥-科尔特斯在马凯特北密歇根大学的停留，与会者将他们自己的兴奋置于更广泛的担忧之中——即密歇根州室外的选民会认为这两人立场太左。
Attendees at El-Sayed and Ocasio-Cortez’s stop at Northern Michigan University in Marquette contextualized their own excitement around a broader concern that Michigan voters outside the room would view the two as too far left.
“我的大多数朋友会认为AOC太自由派了，”来自内加尼的70岁退休者菲尔·德加布里埃莱说。
“Most of my friends would think AOC is too liberal,” said Phil DeGabriele, a 70-year-old retiree from Negaunee.
年轻选民更容易被进步派所鼓舞。北密歇根大学20岁的大三学生阿瑟·皮切特说，埃尔赛德“就像一股清新的空气”，并且“有埃尔赛德和奥卡西奥-科尔特斯坦率地阐述他们的观点”这件事“很不错”。
Younger voters were more easily energized by the progressives. Arthur Pichette, a 20-year-old junior at Northern Michigan University, said El-Sayed was “like a breath of fresh air” and that it was “nice” to have El-Sayed and Ocasio-Cortez plainly laying out their views.
看到埃尔赛德和奥卡西奥-科尔特斯已经如此大胆地试图建立一个进步派联盟——在他还不知道自己是否需要现有民主党基础中松动的部分来击败罗杰斯之前——这确实令人惊叹。
It’s striking to see how boldly El-Sayed and Ocasio-Cortez are already trying to build out a progressive coalition — before he learns whether he needs the fraying parts of the existing Democratic base to beat Rogers.
但自他初选竞赛开始以来，我们一直知道的一件事是：他很自信。谈论七分的胜利并不是我经常看到摇摆州候选人做的事情。
But one thing we’ve known about El-Sayed since the start of his primary race: He’s confident. Talking up a seven-point win isn’t something I see a lot of swing-state candidates do.
因此，如果埃尔赛德获胜，他应该准备好立即面对一个问题：他在2028年计划如何运用他新获得的影响力。这可能是他的盟友奥卡西奥-科尔特斯；也可能是他自己。
So if El-Sayed wins, he should be ready for an immediate question about who he plans to wield his new influence for in 2028. It could be his ally Ocasio-Cortez; it could be himself.