Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed says his campaign has held more than 700 events in over 120 cities this election cycle, including a week-long town hall tour earlier this month through Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, in a bid to win over voters in areas he says both parties have historically overlooked.
In a published opinion piece, El-Sayed described stops in Escanaba, Iron Mountain, Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie, Petoskey, Midland and Caro — many of them in towns former President Trump carried by roughly thirty points in past elections. El-Sayed said his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, had predicted the campaign would receive “a cold welcome” in those areas.
El-Sayed said one attendee in Escanaba told him it was the first political rally she had ever attended, saying “no one ever comes to Escanaba.” He said he heard similar sentiments throughout the tour, and that he views the neglect of rural and Upper Peninsula voters as a bipartisan failure, arguing Republicans take those communities for granted while many Democrats skip campaigning there altogether.
He said the campaign has also drawn support in Port Huron and Cadillac, with what he described as hundreds of former Trump voters attending town halls.
Economic arguments
El-Sayed cited figures he attributed to unnamed experts estimating that the average Michigan household is paying about $5,600 more because of tariffs imposed under the Trump administration, plus roughly $20 extra per gas tank fill-up tied to the conflict with Iran. He said working families in Michigan, from a mother in Escanaba to a farmer in Ithaca to a teacher in Detroit, are struggling with the cost of gas, groceries and healthcare.
He contrasted that with Rogers’ public comments on the trade war, which Rogers has called “an absolute win,” and on the Iran conflict, which Rogers described as “win-win-win.” El-Sayed also noted that during a recent debate, Rogers characterized the last two years of the Trump presidency as “amazing.”
Financial disclosures cited
El-Sayed’s piece pointed to Trump’s reported 2025 income of at least $2.2 billion in his first year back in office, and said Rogers has built a net worth of $14.6 million since leaving Congress by advising corporations he previously regulated as a lawmaker.
El-Sayed also referenced Rogers’ congressional voting record, saying Rogers received more than $1 million from pharmaceutical industry donors while voting 19 times against measures expanding children’s health coverage and lowering prescription drug costs. He said Rogers took donations from oil industry and Wall Street interests before voting on measures affecting gas prices and credit rates, and that Rogers received support from Trump-aligned political action committees before backing the administration’s actions toward Iran.
Fox News has reported that recent polling shows Michigan voters split between El-Sayed and Rogers in the race.
Campaign platform
El-Sayed said his campaign rests on three principles: removing money from politics, putting money back in voters’ pockets, and implementing Medicare for All. He urged voters to back him on Election Day rather than Rogers, who El-Sayed noted owns a home in Florida.
Rogers’ campaign was not quoted responding to these claims in the material reviewed for this report.
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