Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, is campaigning in unlikely places as both candidates seek to chip away at the others’ bases. El-Sayed still faces an uphill battle to unify segments of the party’s base, while Republican nominee Mike Rogers is attempting to extract potential supporters from those same segments; Democratic Jewish and Black voters, two communities that supported U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) in the primary.
The worsening economy under President Donald Trump could outweigh those efforts in determining voter turnout on Nov. 3. Adrian Hemond, a Democratic consultant and CEO of Grassroots Midwest, told Michigan Advance, “I don’t think it matters anymore. The president ran the economy into a ditch with tariffs and a war of choice in the Middle East, and this administration and Republicans more broadly seem absolutely committed to the bit of replaying the mistakes of the end of the Biden administration. … We have inflation running rampant through the economy, and you have the party in power that’s telling you everything’s fine.”
Even as economic woes dominate the narrative, El-Sayed’s issues with Jewish voters persist, and Rogers’ associations with Trump may very well deter him in his quest to convert those voters. Charles Gaba, a Democratic fundraiser and a member of Michigan’s Jewish community, said, “What we lack in numbers, we make up for in activism and organization and volunteering and fundraising.”
Meeting voters where they are becomes a big focus for both campaigns. Rogers has been boastful about his efforts to make inroads with Democrats. He created a coalition to court Black and Jewish voters and opened a field office in Detroit, while being supportive of Nonnegotiable Michigan, a group of “rabbis, cantors and synagogue lay leaders” who have demanded that El-Sayed recognize “Jewish sovereignty in Israel,” among other baseline affirmations for the community.
“There is a reason why more Democrats voted against him than voted for him,” Rogers said after a debate hosted by WOOD-TV earlier this month. “They understand that we’re for real, we’re going to help their problems, and actually have solutions to their problems.”
Rogers’ success on election night could also depend, in part, on his work in the Black community. While The Bulwark recently reported that his “Democrats for Rogers” coalition was made up of and primarily funded by Republicans, Hemond said it was apparent that Rogers has been working in Detroit, and he expected Rogers to do better with the city’s voters than he would have otherwise.
However, El-Sayed’s efforts with those communities have been a major plotline throughout the campaign. He spent time over the last few weeks in Detroit, holding rallies, visiting churches and attending events. President Barack Obama is scheduled to rally with him this weekend, while former U.S. Rep. Andy Levin has come in to help him with Jewish voter outreach. El-Sayed has also spent significant time in West Michigan and up north to sway independent voters and disaffected Republicans fed up with Trump.
