El-Sayed Claims Michigan Senate Seat With 7-Point Victory

Michigan has a new U.S. Senator. Abdul El-Sayed won the race for the state's open Senate seat on Wednesday, defeating Republican challenger Mike Rogers.

El-Sayed secured the victory with a seven-point margin. He received 52.5% of the statewide vote while Rogers garnered 45.5%. The result makes El-Sayed the first Muslim to win a Michigan Senate seat.

The 2024 contest set the stage for this year's race. Elissa Slotkin defeated Rogers in that cycle by a mere 0.3 percentage points. The margin represented fewer than 20,000 votes across the state.

Wayne County provided the decisive boost for the Democrat. El-Sayed captured more than 70% of the vote in the county with over 95% of ballots counted. He beat Rogers by more than 43 points in that jurisdiction.

Detroit showed the strongest support for El-Sayed. He earned more than 92% of the vote there compared to 5.5% for Rogers. Dearborn followed with 82% for El-Sayed and 17% for Rogers. Rogers only won in specific Wayne County cities including Grosse Pointe Farms, Sumpter, Huron, Flat Rock, Rockwood, Gibraltar, Trenton, and Grosse Ile. Results from Van Buren and Belleville had not been returned as of 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Oakland County also favored El-Sayed. He won the county by 14.4 points, taking more than 56% of the vote. The county has backed the Democratic candidate in the last two Senate races. Slotkin won there by 12.1 points in 2024, and Gary Peters carried it by 11 points in 2020.

Rogers found his only county-level win in Macomb. He beat El-Sayed by 1.8 points there, receiving 50.0% of the vote as of Wednesday afternoon. Rogers also won Macomb in 2024, beating Slotkin by 9.7 points. John James had carried the county against Gary Peters in 2020 by 5.7 points.