Abdul El-Sayed And Mike Rogers Duel In Michigan Senate Race After Haley Stevens Endorses Rogers

Michigan Senate race erupts

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers made their final campaign appeals in Michigan on Monday evening ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, with the contest framed as a fight over control of Congress.

Rogers told a crowd in Rochester Hills, Michigan, “Are you guys ready to fight for freedom tomorrow?” and he added, “Are you ready to send a message to the rest of the country that we are the ones that defeated the Democrat Socialists of America?”

El-Sayed focused on a cost-of-living platform in Detroit and told rally attendees, “They don’t wanna talk about gas and groceries. They wanna talk about me and my name and my faith.”

El-Sayed said he would make sure Trump “calls me senator” after Trump said El-Sayed would “invite hordes of jihadis” to the US, and Trump also misnamed him as “Abdul Ramadan” and “Mohammed.”

Representative Haley Stevens, a Democrat who lost to El-Sayed in the August primary, broke ranks and endorsed Rogers, writing on X that “Mike Rogers and I disagree on many things. But Michigan has to elect a senator and there is no neutral choice that absolves me of responsibility,” as duelling rallies continued into the final day.

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Stevens backs Rogers, Democrats split

Stevens’s endorsement of Rogers followed a dispute over a planned church event, and Stevens said she was told she was not welcome in El-Sayed’s campaign. Stevens said, “Abdul made it very clear that I was not welcome in his campaign, that he didn’t need me there, that he didn’t want me there,” and she added, “I did express my support for the Democratic candidate, and he decided to end his campaign saying I was not welcome.” Rogers highlighted Stevens’s backing at a rally in Rochester Hills, and Rogers told the crowd, “Our Sunday wasn’t really planned to look like it was, but someone had enough courage to believe that that was more important than party.”

El-Sayed responded at a Monday rally by emphasizing solidarity, saying, “If we’re willing to reach across the divides they tell us we can’t breach, divides of race, of faith, of geography, of sexual orientation, gender identity, we can build together what we can’t have alone,” while CNN reported Stevens later described her decision as “a weight off my shoulders.” The Michigan Democratic Party expelled Stevens, and party chair Curtis Hertel said, “Congresswoman Stevens is not and will not be a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party,” as Chuck Schumer called the move “a despicable betrayal.”

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Control of Congress at stake

The Michigan Senate race has been treated as a national test of Senate control, with Newsday describing it as a contest that “may determine control of the Senate” and as a swing-state battle where Democrats sought to pick up four seats to win the majority.

Newsday said no Republican had won a Senate race in Michigan since 1994, and it described the seat as an opening created by the retirement of two-term Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

CNN said Trump closed out his midterm campaign blitz with a speech at the Reflecting Pool and earlier said he would “veto everything” if Democrats win back power in Congress, while the Supreme Court shut down Trump’s effort to force California to sideline potentially thousands of ballots.

In Michigan, the stakes sharpened as Stevens’s defection arrived less than 48 hours before Election Day, and NBC News reported that the winner would succeed Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is not seeking another term.

NBC News also reported that Rogers said Stevens’s endorsement reflected standing “against hate,” while El-Sayed told reporters that Michigan is “a state of 10 million people who deserve a lot better from their government” and he said, “At the end of the day, I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens.”

Reporting for this sectionNewsdayNBC News