Ms. Rachel Endorses Cori Bush, Abdul El-Sayed and 10 Other Progressives Days Before Michigan and Missouri Primaries

Rachel Griffin Accurso, the children's YouTube star known to millions of toddlers and their parents as Ms. Rachel, waded into partisan politics on Friday, endorsing a dozen progressive Democratic candidates across eight states just days before several key primaries.

"I think all kids and people should have medical care. I don't think anyone needs a billion dollars ever, I think all kids should be safe from violence," Accurso wrote in an Instagram post, according to Fox News. Her channel has more than 20 million YouTube subscribers, per The Washington Post.

The slate includes former Missouri Rep. Cori Bush, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Vermont Rep. Becca Balint, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon and former Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson. A federal filing cited by Fox News shows Accurso also gave El-Sayed's campaign a $3,000 donation ahead of Tuesday's primary against Rep. Haley Stevens.

Two Separate Races, Same Tuesday

Cori Bush is trying to reclaim the St. Louis-area House seat she lost to Rep. Wesley Bell, and she's a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Bush said on X in early July she was proud of the DSA's re-endorsement, vowing to "abolish ICE, deliver Medicare for all, end wars overseas." That's a specific, on-record policy position voters can weigh for themselves.

El-Sayed, meanwhile, is locked in what The Associated Press and Newsweek both describe as one of the most expensive Democratic primaries in history, against Stevens for Michigan's open Senate seat. Sen. Gary Peters is retiring, and Cook Political Report rates the general election a toss-up.

El-Sayed rejected the socialist label in a MS NOW interview with Jen Psaki, per Fox News, saying he's studied policy solutions like Medicare for All and corporate accountability rather than adopting a doctrinal label. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both self-described democratic socialists, have endorsed him, and he spoke at six DSA events between 2017 and 2020, according to Fox News.

The Money Fight Behind the Race

The AP reports AIPAC and its affiliated groups have spent close to $30 million backing Stevens, the group's largest investment ever in a single race, while outside organizations have poured close to $50 million total into boosting her candidacy. One outside group, A Stronger Michigan, has spent roughly $12 million without disclosing its donors, per the AP.

Stevens has been notably quiet about that support. Asked twice about AIPAC during a July campaign stop, she went more than 800 words without mentioning the group, the AP reported, telling reporters instead that "anyone who supported me is supporting me because of my dedication to the people of Michigan." Donors backing a candidate doesn't by itself prove the candidate is controlled by them, and Stevens has a four-term voting record voters can examine directly.

Sanders, campaigning for El-Sayed, called Stevens "nothing more than an employee of these billionaires," per the AP. This is a pointed allegation from a rival's most prominent surrogate, not an established fact, and it deserves to be labeled as such.

Electability, Not Bigotry, Is the Live Question

El-Sayed told a Grand Rapids rally Saturday, according to the New York Post, that critics questioning his electability are really questioning "somebody with a name like mine who prays like I do." El-Sayed has genuine standing to raise his own experience with post-9/11 suspicion of Muslims and Arab Americans.

But the numbers tell a more mundane story. A recent EPIC-MRA poll cited by the Post has El-Sayed losing to Republican Mike Rogers 46% to 43% in November, while Stevens beats Rogers 44% to 42%. The polling shows an electability gap that has nothing to do with El-Sayed's faith and everything to do with head-to-head matchups against the same opponent.

El-Sayed's association with streamer Hasan Piker, who said in 2019 that America "deserved 9/11" and later called the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack a "direct consequence" of Israeli actions, has also fueled Democratic establishment skepticism, per the Post. El-Sayed has distanced himself from those specific remarks without cutting ties to Piker entirely.

What Ms. Rachel's Endorsement Actually Changes

It puts a massive, largely apolitical audience of parents in front of explicitly partisan messaging just before Tuesday's vote. Whether that moves turnout in Michigan or Missouri is unknowable until the polls close August 4. The bigger open question is whether AIPAC's record $30 million bet, or Sanders and AOC's grassroots campaigning for El-Sayed, actually determines the outcome, a test both sides say they're eager to have settled this week.