Mike Rogers vs. Abdul El-Sayed: What to know about US Senate race in Michigan

Republican Mike Rogers, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed face off in Michigan’s tossup US Senate contest
In the final days before the 2026 midterms, both candidates are appealing to their bases while attempting to build new coalitions
The race is among the most closely-watched in the nation, and its outcome will help determine which party controls the Senate

The nation will be watching next week as Michigan voters decide whether to send US Rep. Mike Rogers or former public health official Abdul El-Sayed to Washington to represent them in the US Senate.

The contest, widely considered a tossup, could be a deciding factor in which party controls Congress for the last two years of President Donald Trump’s term.

That’s why it’s one of the most expensive races in the country and easily the most expensive in Michigan history, drawing a slew of outside ad spending and bringing big-name surrogates to the state in the final days of the campaign.

If Rogers were to win the race to succeed retiring Democrat Gary Peters, he’d be the first Michigan Republican elected to the US Senate in decades. El-Sayed would be the first Muslim and one of the most progressive Democrats in the chamber.

The race has been rife with attacks on the candidates’ backgrounds, past and present associations with polarizing figures and even their personal heritage and faith.

Related:

Bridge Michigan fact-checked many candidate claims, which you can read here. Here’s what else to know before casting your ballot.

Meet the candidates

Mike Rogers: A former member of Congress, military veteran and FBI agent, Rogers most recently ran and narrowly lost a 2024 US Senate campaign to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin. He’s also worked as a commentator and cybersecurity adviser.

During his 14-year tenure in the US House that concluded in 2015, Rogers chaired a powerful committee overseeing national intelligence, which his campaign says is how he “made his greatest mark in Congress.” He also sponsored eight laws ranging from national security spending to emergency preparedness.

More controversially, Rogers also advocated for opioid access and was a key supporter of the Patriot Act and its extension, positions El-Sayed has used to attack him in the general election.

Rogers was generally regarded as a bipartisan operator during his congressional tenure, a reputation that has faded somewhat since he aligned himself with Trump in both of his US Senate campaigns.

Mike Rogers speaks into a microphone. — Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Mike Rogers speaks at a midterm campaign rally at CHI Aviation in Howell, Mich., Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

In reintroducing himself to general election voters, Rogers has highlighted his family’s middle-class roots and his past bipartisan work in Congress, tying his background to new policy proposals like putting shop classes in every school and building more affordable housing.

On issues like skyrocketing gas prices and other high costs, Rogers has attempted to thread a needle by defending Trump’s actions while calling for changes to alleviate the burden on Michigan residents.

Abdul El-Sayed: A graduate of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, El-Sayed served as a public health director in both Detroit and Wayne County, posts he served in for about two years each before leaving to run for public office.

As a local government appointee, El-Sayed worked with a nonprofit to provide free glasses for thousands of local kids and started a free Narcan distribution system to prevent overdose deaths, programs that continue today.

One of El-Sayed’s signature initiatives, a medical debt payoff program for Wayne County residents, has cleared more than $95 million in bills for more than 100,000 county residents since 2024. The totals fell well short of his $700 million goal, causing him to alter early campaign messaging that claimed he had met the target.

Outside his public health roles, El-Sayed has also coauthored a book on Medicare for All, hosted a podcast and offered political commentary via columns, speaking engagements and in advisory roles.

Abdul El-Sayed and supporters behind him. — Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at a news conference at the base of the Spirit of Detroit monument in Detroit, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

El-Sayed has never held elected office, but the 41-year-old has been on the statewide ballot before: In 2017, he resigned as Detroit’s health director to join the 2018 gubernatorial race, losing in the primary to current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by more than 20 points.

Last year, El-Sayed resigned as Wayne County Health director to run for the US Senate after Peters announced he would not seek reelection.

Issues shaping the race

Few issues are motivating 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.

Other issues driving voters in 2026 include:

Healthcare: El-Sayed, a longtime proponent of single-payer “Medicare for All,” and Rogers, who opposed the Affordable Care Act while in Congress, have widely differing opinions on the future of healthcare policy, though they’ve both called for lowering prescription drug costs and improving care.
Housing: Rogers supports a sweeping housing plan rolling back housing regulations and creating a tax-free savings plan for first-time homebuyers. El-Sayed has promised to stand up to corporations, hedge funds and speculators driving up the cost of housing and has advocated for a “building boom” of new, affordable housing.
AI and data centers: El-Sayed has called for public ownership of AI and regulating AI firms like public utilities, suggesting a system along the lines of federal banking oversight could be a good framework. Rogers is backing a one-year pause on new data center projects and wants a federal framework establishing guardrails on artificial intelligence.

Go deeper: Mike Rogers vs. Abdul El-Sayed: 7 issues defining Michigan’s US Senate race
Read: Could healthcare price transparency lower costs? Mike Rogers thinks so
More: Mike Rogers, Abdul El-Sayed pitch competing economic visions

Key voting blocs

Ten years after Trump first won Michigan by courting union workers and disaffected voters, both El-Sayed and Rogers are again appealing to unlikely voting blocs as they attempt to piece together winning coalitions.

Rogers is hoping to capitalize on divides in the Democratic base after El-Sayed’s primary win over US Rep. Haley Stevens left a majority of Michigan’s Black and Jewish Democrats with a general election candidate they hadn’t supported.

El-Sayed, too, is making overtures to voters not historically inclined toward his party: people who supported President Donald Trump in past elections but still feel left behind by the government he had promised to change.

El-Sayed, who if elected would become the first Muslim US Senator in the nation’s history, has also faced unrelenting attacks from Trump, Rogers and other conservatives over what they claim are connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamic organization that advocates for political systems entwined with Islamic law.

That rhetoric has made many prominent Arab American leaders uncomfortable, even some who supported Trump in his winning 2024 campaign, and could jeopardize Republican support among a group that took out their frustrations with the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza at the ballot box in 2024.

Turnout among different age demographics could also make a difference for either candidate. Youth voters have gravitated toward El-Sayed, while Rogers is more popular among voters age 55 and over.