The New York Times · on the New York Times/Siena poll putting El-Sayed at 49% to Rogers's 44%
A New York Times/Siena University poll found Abdul El-Sayed leading Mike Rogers 49% to 44%, with El-Sayed viewed favorably by 47% to Rogers's 39%. The Times reported that 50% of voters called El-Sayed the more extreme candidate against 36% for Rogers, that Rogers led by nine points among voters 45 and older, and that El-Sayed led by 39 points among voters 44 and younger. 62% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters said the primary "made the party stronger."
A Suffolk University poll of 500 likely voters conducted September 16–20 had El-Sayed 47% to 40%, and Sabato's Crystal Ball moved the race from Toss-up to Leans Democratic on September 22.
The Detroit News (Bloomberg) · on America PAC's $3.4 million in the Michigan Senate race
Federal Election Commission filings showed Elon Musk's America PAC had spent $16.6 million in U.S. Senate contests, including $3.4 million in the Michigan race between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers, $6.3 million in Texas, and $3.1 million across more than 30 House districts, Bloomberg reported. Its door hangers in New York's lower Hudson Valley read "The Socialist Left is Destroying America" over images of Democrat Cait Conley, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. A Democratic National Committee fundraising email for El-Sayed said, "If Elon buys every ad break between now and November, most Michiganders will only hear his version of me."
America PAC reported about $274,000 cash on hand at the end of June; its third-quarter FEC report is due October 15.
El-Sayed met with Senate Democrats on Wednesday at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters, where DSCC chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said, "He's a great candidate. He's going to win, and we are all united." Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona said he plans to travel to Michigan to campaign with El-Sayed. El-Sayed won the August primary over Rep. Haley Stevens, who had been recruited by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Harris's spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the former vice president will campaign in Michigan with El-Sayed at an event highlighting Black maternal health, and will also meet with local elected officials and faith-based leaders. Harris endorsed El-Sayed in August after he won the primary against Rep. Haley Stevens.
Local reporting places the event on Tuesday, September 22, a roundtable on healthcare costs and Black maternal health.
A CNN/SSRS poll of 843 Michigan likely voters conducted August 31–September 6 put Abdul El-Sayed at 47% and Mike Rogers at 44%, inside the poll's 4.1-point margin of error. Fifty percent of voters called El-Sayed's positions too liberal, against 42% who called Rogers too conservative. Black likely voters backed El-Sayed 77% to 10%, and 40% of Black voters and of voters under 35 said they had not firmly decided.
El-Sayed lost Wayne County, home to Detroit, by roughly 17,000 votes in the August Democratic primary against Haley Stevens.
Rogers attacked El-Sayed over ties to streamer Hasan Piker, who in 2019 said "America deserved 9/11"; El-Sayed, who has distanced himself from Piker, responded Friday by citing Rogers's vote against the 2010 James Zadroga Act providing healthcare to 9/11 first responders. Rogers said on X the "insinuation that I do not support the victims or their families is patently false" and cited an annual $150 million appropriation he advocated. GOP groups supporting Rogers have run at least three ads referencing 9/11 and Piker's comments; El-Sayed's supporters and Muslim advocacy groups called the association attempts Islamophobic.
The Senate Leadership Fund, the leading Senate Republican super PAC, has announced over $45 million in ad reservations in Michigan this fall.
MS NOW · on Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed
The Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed El-Sayed on Tuesday; in the primary, 14 Black members of Congress, including PAC chair Gregory Meeks, had endorsed Haley Stevens. The PAC had a little under $600,000 on hand per FEC filings and no imminent plans to campaign in Michigan. Rogers has attended services at predominantly Black Detroit churches and launched a "Democrats for Rogers" coalition alongside outgoing state Rep. Karen Whitsett, who left the Democratic Party this year.
Rep. James Clyburn, who cut ads for Stevens in the primary, endorsed El-Sayed last month.
Reuters interviewed more than two dozen activists, strategists and community leaders on whether DSA-aligned nominees can win Black voters in November, reporting that some voters want candidates focused on housing, healthcare and living costs rather than on Gaza or policing. The piece reported that Angie Nixon overcame a more-than-16-to-1 fundraising disadvantage against Alex Vindman while running up large margins in Black communities, and that Republican nominee Mike Rogers ran unopposed in Michigan and has built a $4.5 million campaign fund. DSA national co-chair Ashik Siddique said the group focuses on "economic solutions that bring people together across identity differences."
Fox News reported that William Lawrence, a DSA member running for Congress in Michigan who has campaigned with Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, said on a podcast that he wanted to inspire a sense of abundance "while frankly, destroying the American way of life," and that El-Sayed was scheduled to appear September 5 at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention. The piece reported El-Sayed spoke at six events held by DSA chapters between 2017 and 2020, including as keynote speaker at a 2019 fundraiser, while saying he is not a socialist. El-Sayed spokesman Cole Wozniak responded that Rogers has staffed his campaign with people who defended a group chat containing praise for Hitler.
At the Michigan Democratic Party nominating convention Saturday, Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed told the party's Jewish Caucus he "made a mistake" in a video posted after the Temple Israel attack in West Bloomfield, in which he had noted the assailant's family members were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and said "hurt people hurt people." He said the remark "was not my intention" and "if my statement caused pain, I'm sorry." The attacker drove a vehicle into a synagogue building housing a school and daycare with more than 100 children inside before being shot by security staff.
Rogers and El-Sayed agreed on August 26 to their first debate, hosted by WOOD-TV on October 8.
A Fox News poll of 1,006 Michigan registered voters, conducted Aug. 6–10 by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research, found Republican Mike Rogers at 51 percent and Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed at 47 percent, within the margin of sampling error. The poll found 98 percent of DSA supporters backing El-Sayed, falling to 69 percent among non-DSA Democrats and independents. It also found 54 percent of the electorate concerned El-Sayed's positions are too extreme and 51 percent concerned Rogers is too close to Trump.
Trump carried Michigan in 2016 and 2024 by less than 2 points each time; Biden won it by nearly 3 points in 2020.
AP reported that after El-Sayed became the first Muslim nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the U.S. Senate, some Republicans including President Trump referred to him by his full name while depicting him as a danger, and Rep. Nancy Mace posted that every Muslim holding public office is "a Trojan horse." The article connected the political attacks to mosque disputes in McKinney, Texas; Mooresville, North Carolina; and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where the regional Islamic Society filed suit August 3 over a January 4-1 rezoning rejection. CAIR's national deputy director said there is "a very concerted backlash" to Muslim political progress.
El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary over Rep. Haley Stevens on August 4.