El-Sayed and Rogers make final appeals in Michigan Senate race

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers delivered their closing arguments at separate Michigan rallies on Monday evening, ending a bitter US Senate campaign ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. The contest could help determine control of Congress, with a late endorsement adding another point of contention as candidates sought to persuade voters still weighing their choices.

Rogers appeared in Rochester Hills to the sound of Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down. The former congressman portrayed the election as a struggle over the country’s identity and urged supporters to defend freedom. He also asked the crowd whether they were prepared to show the rest of the United States that they could defeat the Democrat Socialists of America.

About half an hour away in Detroit, El-Sayed addressed a rally with members of the United Auto Workers labour group. He centred his appeal on the cost of living, arguing that the expense of fuel and groceries deserved attention. He accused his opponents of focusing instead on his name and religious faith, responding to anti-Muslim rhetoric that had featured in the campaign’s final days.

President Donald Trump has been the leading source of those attacks against El-Sayed, whose family emigrated from Egypt. Trump has claimed that the Democrat would bring jihadis into the United States, repeatedly called him by an incorrect name and emphasised his middle name, Mohammed. El-Sayed dismissed the president’s treatment of his name and told supporters that the election would require Trump to address him as a senator.

The final stretch was also disrupted by Representative Haley Stevens, a Democrat who lost the party’s Senate primary to El-Sayed earlier this year. On Sunday, she endorsed Rogers. After struggling in interviews to explain her decision, Stevens published a lengthy statement on X on Monday, pointing to an advertisement that linked US support for Israel with higher grocery prices. The advertisement was unaffiliated with El-Sayed’s campaign. She also said the campaign had excluded her.

Stevens acknowledged substantial disagreements with Rogers but argued that choosing Michigan’s next senator left her with a responsibility to take a position. She said she had concluded that El-Sayed was unfit for the Senate and then had to decide whom to support. Criticising fellow Democrats’ response to her endorsement, she also suggested she intended to help lead efforts to strengthen the party after leaving office in January.

Rogers drew applause at his rally when he pointed to support from Stevens and other Democrats. He praised the courage behind her decision, prompting supporters to chant her first name. Her intervention introduced a fresh uncertainty as Michigan voters prepared to cast their ballots on Tuesday.

Polling nevertheless indicated a substantial advantage for El-Sayed. A New York Times-Siena survey released on Sunday put him at 53 percent among likely voters, compared with 42 percent for Rogers. That 11 percentage point lead came in a poll with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.