Michigan Senate race 2026: Abdul El-Sayed vs. Mike Rogers

The basics

Michiganders vote Nov. 3 for the seat held by Democrat Gary Peters, who announced in January 2025 that he would not seek a third term. El-Sayed won the Aug. 4 Democratic primary with 48.5% of the vote over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, who then endorsed him. Rogers was the only Republican to qualify for the primary ballot. Spending on the race has passed $243 million, the most for any Michigan election, The Detroit News reported. Republicans have not won a Senate race in Michigan since 1994.

The candidates

Abdul El-Sayed (D) is a physician and epidemiologist who led Detroit's health department and later served as Wayne County's health director. He ran for governor in 2018. He supports ending military aid to Israel and has called for abolishing ICE, and he says he wants "unconditional support for our healthcare, childcare" and schools.

Mike Rogers (R) is a former FBI agent who represented a Lansing area district in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2015 and chaired the House Intelligence Committee. He was the Republican nominee in 2024 and narrowly lost to Elissa Slotkin. He has courted Democrats who backed Stevens through a "Democrats for Rogers" effort.

Where the race stands

El-Sayed has led most October polls. Mitchell Research (Oct. 26–27, 636 likely voters, ±3.9) had El-Sayed 51%, Rogers 44%. A CNN poll by SSRS (Oct. 20–27) had El-Sayed 49%, Rogers 42%. And Marist (Oct. 15–18) had a closer 50% to 48%. STTPN's average of six recent independent polls is El-Sayed 49.7%, Rogers 45.5%.

Cook rates the race a Toss-up, Inside Elections Tilt Democratic and Sabato's Crystal Ball Lean Democratic. El-Sayed had raised about $53.8 million through Oct. 14 and Rogers about $23 million, according to the FEC.

The issues

Trade and the auto industry

Rogers calls President Donald Trump's tariffs a "mixed bag": he supports bringing auto manufacturing back from China and Mexico but said "maybe these Canadian tariffs were not well thought through," Al Jazeera reported. "If it's good for Michigan, I'm going to be for it," he said. El-Sayed has tied Rogers to past trade deals and to Trump's trade war.

The war in Iran and gas prices

Both candidates say the war should end. El-Sayed blames it for gas and grocery prices and accuses Rogers of "cheerleading" for it. Rogers says Iran's nuclear program has been "set back twenty years," Al Jazeera reported. Rogers has also called for a pause in Michigan's gas tax, which a state Republican leader rejected.

Immigration and Israel

Rogers backs the administration's deportation push, saying, "Find those folks who are committing crimes and get them the heck out of the country," though he said some enforcement efforts in Minnesota "were probably not appropriate." El-Sayed says, "I believe that we don't need ICE." Rogers supports continued aid to Israel. El-Sayed has called the war in Gaza a genocide and wants the money spent at home.

Controversies

Rogers has said El-Sayed took campaign money from people who support Hamas and Hezbollah, questioned whether he could get a security clearance and suggested he could not condemn a March synagogue attack. El-Sayed called the attacks "shameful," said "I did condemn it" and accused Rogers of making things up. At an Oct. 19 rally in Kansas, Trump referred to El-Sayed as "Mohammed". El-Sayed responded that his name and faith "are not the reason people can't afford their gas," ABC News reported. Vice President JD Vance has called El-Sayed "evil".

El-Sayed portrays Rogers as a yacht owning millionaire out of touch with working families, and Democrats have criticized Rogers for raising money with a former lawmaker who made a widely criticized remark about race.