Progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has defeated Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s Senate race.
El-Sayed will be the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.
The closely watched race was for the seat vacated by retiring Democrat Sen. Gary Peters.
Decision Desk called the race at 1:15 AM EST.
Decision Desk HQ projects Abdul El-Sayed wins the MI US Senate General Election
#DecisionMade: 1:15 AM EST
Follow live results here: https://t.co/3rzJgHtluc https://t.co/ws4pK0zqGA
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 4, 2026
The call came shortly after a DDHQ update with an estimated 72 percent of the vote, showing El-Sayed at 1,819,808 votes to Rogers’ 1,667,658.
El-Sayed, a former Detroit and Wayne County health director and far-left progressive Democrat, narrowly won his party’s primary earlier in the year against Rep. Haley Stevens.
The far-leftist’s policy record has drawn serious criticism and concern from Republicans, as well as some Democrats.
For example, in 2020, El-Sayed repeatedly endorsed the “defund the police” movement.
In a Detroit public-radio interview, he stated, “I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets.”
El-Sayed later deleted roughly a dozen tweets promoting the slogan, including one that claimed major cities “spend WAY TOO MUCH on police departments to police poverty.”
Rogers, a former congressman who narrowly lost Michigan’s other Senate seat in 2024 to Elissa Slotkin, entered the race with significant support and hoped to flip the Democrat-held seat in a state President Donald Trump carried in 2024.
Rogers ran on lowering costs for gas, groceries, and prescription drugs, restoring manufacturing, and prioritizing education over indoctrination. El-Sayed ran on a Democratic Socialist agenda that included Medicare for All, stronger union protections, and opposition to corporate influence.
The contest became one of the most expensive Senate races in state history, with total spending projected to be around $200 million.
The race drew even more national attention after Stevens, El-Sayed’s former primary opponent, dramatically crossed party lines just days before the election to endorse Rogers.
Stevens was subsequently expelled from the Michigan Democratic Party.
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