—
Added on August 24, 2026
Sara Swanson
Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed are competing in Michigan’s closely watched US Senate race. AP photos.
by Lauren Gibbons, Bridge Michigan
As voters consider who should fill Michigan’s open US Senate seat, there are several big policy issues for candidates to address: What is the future of health care? What to do about high costs of living and affordable housing shortages? Should the rules around money in politics be changed?
In the closely watched and nationally consequential tossup race between former US Rep. Mike Rogers and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed, the candidates’ backgrounds, past and present associations with polarizing figures and even their personal heritage and faith could also factor heavily into voters’ decisions come November.
Progressive Democrat El-Sayed and Republican Rogers may both have challenges winning over the middle as they pivot from wooing primary voters to the statewide electorate, said Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University.
Rogers has closely aligned himself with President Donald Trump despite flagging popularity. And thanks in part to the heavy outside spending he’s railed against, El-Sayed may be starting with a disadvantage if the negative attacks from Democrats and Republicans alike stick.
“This is a case of, what you do in the primary might hurt you in the general,” Grossmann said.
The race is one of the nation’s most important as both parties vie for control of the chamber. Democrats need to retain the seat held by retiring US Sen. Gary Peters. But Republicans consider Rogers, who only narrowly lost to Sen. Elissa Slotkin in 2024, one of their best chances for a flip.
As part of Bridge Michigan’s 2026 election coverage, we’ve turned to readers to help us define the top issues facing Michigan.
Here’s a look at how several of those issues have shaped the race, and where the major party candidates stand.
Economy and affordability
Economic pressures are likely to remain at the top of voters’ minds when they head to the polls in November.
Costs of living in Michigan and nationally have skyrocketed in recent years, driven by inflation and economic volatility, and the job market is tight. Michigan’s median household income lags nationally, and families here continue to weather higher costs of groceries, rent, child care and more.
El-Sayed has called for increased support for union membership, more spending on research and development, stronger enforcement of anti-monopoly laws, elimination of corporate tax breaks and a “steady, thoughtful and targeted” approach to tariffs.
Like one of his key supporters, US Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, El-Sayed favors a wealth tax on the nation’s highest earners. El-Sayed has also called for lower utility costs and more support for homes and businesses experiencing power outages.
Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at a news conference at the base of the Spirit of Detroit monument in Detroit, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. Photo credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya.
Rogers is advocating for tax cuts for working families and would like to see a revitalization of Michigan’s manufacturing industry, calling for shop classes in every high school.
Trump did not follow through on his vow to halve energy bills in the first year of his second term. But Rogers contends Michigan’s high costs were helped along by Democratic policies at the state and federal level, arguing regulations and state energy standards caused an “artificial increase” in energy prices.
In February, Rogers announced a sweeping housing plan that would allow tax-free withdrawals from 529 college savings plans for first-time homebuyer down payments, a rollback of housing-related regulations and new incentives for homebuilders.
In addition to advocating for a “building boom” of new, affordable housing across the country, El-Sayed has promised to stand up to corporations, hedge funds and speculators driving up the cost of housing, as well as landlords who unfairly evict tenants.
The Trump factor
Observers both in-state and nationally are closely watching how the public’s views of Trump and his second-term policy agenda will impact the US Senate race.
As in his 2024 campaign, Rogers is closely aligning himself with Trump, vowing to “stand with” the president and deliver on what Rogers called “a mandate given to him by the American people.”
Recently, Rogers has repeated some of Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election — a shift from his criticisms of the president’s rhetoric at the time — and even questioned his own loss to Slotkin in 2024. Slotkin noted in a social media post that Rogers “certainly wasn’t claiming election fraud when he called me to concede in November 2024.”
Rogers lost in 2024 by just over 19,000 votes, underperforming Trump in Michigan by about 123,000 votes. Without Trump at the top of the ticket, and in a political climate less favorable to the party in power, that close alliance could be a tougher sell.
President Donald Trump listens to Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers speak during an event at the General Motors Proving Ground Monday, July 27, 2026, in Milford, Mich. Photo credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya.
Despite running unopposed in the Republican primary, Rogers “needed to be as close to Trump as possible” to maintain his appeal with some GOP voters, Grossmann said. But he noted Rogers may still benefit from his past congressional record and that “he showed no signs of Trumpism before needing Trump support.”
“The question is, how much of that traditional Republican support does he maintain?” he said.
Democrats have also called Rogers’ time in Washington and post-Congress career into question. El-Sayed has suggested his opponent’s work in the private sector as a commentator and cybersecurity consultant made Rogers wealthy and amounted to “trading on the relationships he built while he was a congressman for this state.”
Rogers has pushed back on some of El-Sayed’s accusations, notably sending his campaign a cease-and-desist letter for referring to him as a “pharma lobbyist” who took payouts from special interests.
Data centers
With a new $56 billion data center complex in Saline underway and other communities considering similar projects, the hyperscale facilities and the artificial intelligence they fuel have emerged as hot topics in races across the state — including for US Senate.
El-Sayed has called for public ownership of AI and regulating AI firms like public utilities, suggesting a system along the lines of federal banking oversight could be a good framework. He wants to go beyond Sanders’ recent call for a one-time, 50% tax on AI firms’ stocks to give the government a stake in their business.
On data centers, El-Sayed has proposed “terms of engagement” holding developers and utilities to binding agreements for keeping electric rates down, guaranteeing energy reliability and adhering to clean energy laws, with penalties if they don’t comply.
Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed Speaks at a General Election Kickoff Rally for Michigan Demcrats at Renaissance High School Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Detroit. Photo credit: AP Photo/Paul Sancya.
Asked about data centers this week, Rogers said he thinks “we need to take a pause, probably, and make sure that we’re answering all the questions that people have” about data centers. He told The Detroit News he would support a one-year moratorium on new data centers.
Healthcare
Ever-increasing insurance costs and recent federal changes affecting rural hospitals, Medicaid and previously subsidized insurance plans make health care policy a top issue to watch in 2026. El-Sayed and Rogers have widely differing views on how to bring down costs.
El-Sayed has long advocated for moving beyond the Affordable Care Act to a single-payer health care plan, commonly known as “Medicare for All,” that would guarantee health care for all US residents regardless of age.
Critics have argued switching to a single-payer system would force tax hikes and could reduce overall access to care, citing increased wait times in other countries that have a government-run health system. Some unions, too, have been wary of Medicare for All over concerns that it could impact employer-sponsored health plans negotiated in the bargaining process.
In his campaign, El-Sayed has said he supports allowing an option for workers to keep supplemental private insurance provided by unions or employers.
Rogers recently announced a health care plan calling for an expansion of the TrumpRx program for lowering prescription drug costs. He supports penalties for health
