- Michigan voters have cast their ballots in the US Senate race between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers
- Contentious from the start, the race has attracted record outside spending and could decide which party controls Congress
- This story will be updated with the latest results as election officials across the state tally votes
DETROIT — With polls closed across Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed leads Republican Mike Rogers in early vote tallies in the state’s hotly contested US Senate race.
The race remains too close to call, however, with many of the early returns coming from Democratic areas like Oakland, Kent and Washtenaw counties. Rogers was showing early leads in Eaton, Ottawa and Livingston counties.
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The race is among the most consequential in the country as both major parties fight for control of the Senate during the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term.
Rogers, a former member of Congress who narrowly lost a bid for Senate in 2024, and El-Sayed, a former public health official who also ran for governor in 2018, are competing to replace retiring US Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat.
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Recent polling has favored El-Sayed, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report on Monday shifted the race from a tossup to leaning Democrat amid what’s expected to be a nationwide referendum on Trump and a Republican-majority Congress.
But Rogers has worked to exploit deep divides among Michigan Democrats that emerged in a bitter primary as he seeks to flip the seat and stop Democrats’ chances at total majority control of Congress.
Those long-simmering Democratic tensions exploded to the surface in the race’s final days, with El-Sayed’s primary rival Haley Stevens shocking her party by endorsing Rogers.
In a final pitch to voters in Rochester Hills on Monday evening, Rogers characterized the race as a battle for the “heart and soul” of the nation, expressing confidence that “we’re going to surprise some people” with a Republican victory.
And at a Monday night Detroit rally, El-Sayed argued his opponent and the Trump administration have been more focused on his Muslim faith than the affordability issues voters are facing.
“They don’t want to talk about gas and groceries,” he said. “They want to talk about me and my name and my faith.”
What voters said
El-Sayed has urged the US to end support of Israel amid wars in Gaza and Iran, arguing the federal government could use that money to help Americans at home. It’s among the issues that divided Democrats in the primary, and remained a top issue for some voters on Tuesday.
In Huntington Woods, 55-year-old Lauren Slutsky described herself as a lifelong Jewish Democratic but said she voted for Rogers because El-Sayed “hasn’t proven that he will stand against antisemitism and hate.”
At the same polling place, Steve Gold stood wearing a “Jews for Abdul” shirt and praised El-Sayed’s push for Medicare for All, calling it “shameful that the United States has not provided healthcare to everybody after 250 years.”
In northern Michigan, Jen Mahaffy of Torch Lake Township said she voted for El-Sayed because she believes he “is going to lead our state to better things.”
Mahaffy called Stevens’ endorsement of Rogers “very disappointing” and said she didn’t agree with the rationale.
“He approaches differences of opinion with humility and grace,” she said of El-Sayed, “and I think just because he didn’t come out and immediately denounced doesn’t mean that he’s an anti-semite.”
If elected, El-Sayed would be the first Muslim in the US Senate, and some voters told Bridge they were uncomfortable with that prospect.
“I come from a Christian background,” said Walker Darnell, a first-time voter and student at Michigan State University. “I respect all religions and faiths, (but) I just personally can’t get behind someone with a Muslim faith. So that’s why I’m supporting Mike Rogers.”
A national focus
Always contentious, the US Senate race has become supercharged in recent weeks as high-profile surrogates descended on Michigan and outside spending poured in.
Both former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump headlined Michigan rallies to support candidates from their respective parties.
Other surrogates who campaigned in the state include progressives like US Sen. Bernie Sanders and US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Republicans like Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
The US Senate seat is key for both parties in the quest for majority control of the chamber.
National Democrats are hoping to take advantage of favorable headwinds to pick up seats from Republicans in states like Texas and Maine. But to make the math work for a majority, most experts agree the party must keep Michigan, a state that’s elected Democrats to the Senate for decades.
Peters’ decision not to seek re-election opened a competitive Democratic primary for his replacement, and Republicans saw a rare opportunity for a flip this cycle in Rogers, who ran in 2024 and only narrowly lost to now-US Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
Spending frenzy
Voters’ TV screens, phones and mailboxes have also been flooded with campaign ads related to the race, funded by record spending from candidates and outside groups alike.
The contest is far-and-away the most expensive election in Michigan’s history, with more than $270 million in disclosed spending as of last month, not counting additional undisclosed “dark money” spending. That’s up from $217 million in disclosed spending in Rogers’ 2024 race against Slotkin.
El-Sayed set a Michigan fundraising record last quarter, raising $30.7 million to Rogers’ $9.7 million. He also saw a fundraising surge after Stevens’ eleventh-hour Rogers endorsement, reporting raising $2.4 million on Sunday alone.
Rogers has long held the advantage in outside spending support, however with GOP-aligned groups investing heavily in the race. As of mid-October, outside groups had a combined spend of nearly $95 million to boost Rogers in the general election, compared to $42 million for El-Sayed. Millions more was spent on political advertising in the final days of the race.
What shaped the race
Few issues motivated Michigan voters quite like the economy, with high costs of groceries, gas, utilities and healthcare dominating the conversation.
That could be bad news for Rogers and other Republicans with ties to the Trump administration, as critics blame the Iran war, steep tariffs on foreign goods and other federal actions for the current affordability crisis.
Rogers initially backed the Trump administration actions but more recently called for an end to the Iran War and trade battle with Canada.
El-Sayed, a progressive, entered the general election bruised from a primary battle dominated by divisions over the US government’s involvement in the Middle East and the direction of the Democratic Party.
Rogers has worked to exploit those fissures, appealing directly to Michigan’s Jewish population and other Democratic-leaning voters who had concerns about El-Sayed in the primary.
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