El-Sayed Leads Early Michigan Senate Count After Campaign Split Over Israel

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed led Republican Mike Rogers in the initial count of Michigan’s November 3 U.S. Senate election. The early gap was approximately 23 percentage points, with counting still underway. No winner had been declared in the report, and it did not provide vote totals or the share of ballots counted. The candidates are competing for the seat of retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters. El-Sayed’s position on Israel featured in the campaign: he supports ending American military assistance to Israel, including defensive systems. He defeated Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary, but Stevens subsequently crossed party lines to support his Republican opponent. On November 1, Stevens announced her endorsement in a public statement: “I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.” The endorsement put the former primary rivals on opposite sides of the general-election contest. The initial count does not establish which candidate will ultimately take the seat. Rogers is a former FBI agent and member of Congress. Two years earlier, he lost Michigan’s other Senate race to Elissa Slotkin by approximately 20,000 votes. This contest concerns Peters’s seat, with El-Sayed and Rogers facing each other as the count continues.