Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive Democrat running for the US Senate in Michigan, has quietly erased thousands of old social media posts — including a dozen tweets that championed the “defund the police” movement, described police as “standing armies,” and urged cities to divert money from law enforcement to social services.
The former Detroit health director deleted his entire X history sometime before launching his Senate campaign in April, a move that highlights how progressive Democrats once aligned with “defund” policies are now distancing themselves from a slogan that remains deeply unpopular with voters.
“Most major US cities spend WAY TOO MUCH on police departments to police poverty & WAY TOO LITTLE on public schools, health departments, recreation departments, & housing to eliminate poverty. Fixing that is what the #Defund movement is about,” El-Sayed wrote in a since-deleted post from June 2020.
“The police have become standing armies we deploy against our own people,” he added in another June 2020 post.
In a crowded Democratic primary for the Senate seat, early polling shows El-Sayed trailing slightly behind Rep. Haley Stevens, with state Sen. Mallory McMorrow close behind.
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