In this episode

• Key to some of the progressive wins in the most recent Michigan primaries
• What does it mean to be a democratic socialist?
• What chances do some progressive democrats have in the November election?

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The progressive wing of the Democratic party made some noise in the recent primaries. What has been the key to their success so far? This week on MichMash, WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow chat with Chris Gilmer-Hill, one of the progressives who won his race.

Gilmer-Hill shares why he feels like he was able to win.

Gilmer-Hill attributes his win against incumbent Democratic state Rep. Helena Scott greatly to the Democratic Socialist of America and the engine they put behind his campaign. Especially being that without them he lost by a large margin two years ago. 

“DSA is the biggest difference. Two years ago I filed because I disagreed with a lot of what our incumbent was doing and I didn’t think it was right for her to run unopposed but I didn’t have DSA or a whole movement of folks behind me. I wasn’t expecting to win. Actually at the time 27% was a lot more than what I was expecting so I saw an opening for the future. But that opening wouldn’t have been something we could’ve use to win without an army of DSA members”

Gilmer-Hill is running for the 8th state House District.

More from WDET:

• The Metro: What Abdul El-Sayed learned from being outspent 11-1
• The Metro: What Republican candidates need to do to win Michigan
• Jerome Vaughn retires from WDET