DETROIT — Michigan Senate hopefuls Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed were within 30 miles of each other as they rallied voters for the final time Monday night. Their closing messages were much further apart.
Rogers, rallying in Oakland County, a Democratic-leaning area that also has strong pockets of Republican voters, highlighted his support among Democrats and independents. He praised the "courage" of El-Sayed's primary opponent, Haley Stevens, who endorsed Rogers on Sunday, and said the race was about the "soul of the country."
About 25 miles south, in metro Detroit, El-Sayed spoke at the Majestic Theater alongside the Chicago rapper Common. He railed against President Donald Trump and called on Democratic voters to support him out of loyalty to their "collective."
"When they come for our collective, we won't back down," El-Sayed said.
The two pitches reflected the closing dynamics of the cycle's highest profile race: Rogers, battling a difficult electoral environment for Republicans, encouraging lifelong Democrats to cross the aisle for the first time; El-Sayed, coming off of a bruising primary that never quite ended, calling on them to come home.
"There are a few people who want to use the differences between us to divide us," El-Sayed said at an earlier Monday rally at a United Auto Workers hall in Flint. "They are small, and they think they can make us small like them."
Michigan senator Elissa Slotkin joined El-Sayed at the union hall, where organizers passed out signs reading, "Who Told You to Split Your Ticket? Somebody Who Wants Trump in Charge." Former state representative Mallory McMorrow, who ended her primary campaign against El-Sayed and Stevens early after struggling to gain support, appeared alongside El-Sayed at a farmers' market in the deep-blue Detroit suburb of Royal Oak. Both alluded to Stevens's endorsement of Rogers, something El-Sayed declined to discuss with reporters the day before.
"What matters is if you're on Team Fight or Team Flight," Slotkin said at the UAW rally. "This race is about one thing," McMorrow added in Royal Oak. "It's not about different factions of the Democratic Party … it's about MAGA versus Michigan."
Rogers argued the opposite during his Monday night rally in Oakland County. He said his campaign "went to neighborhoods in Detroit that, candidly, Republicans hadn't been to in a long time. You know what we found? The warmest reception we could ever imagine."
"Once Abdul El-Sayed got through that primary, our world changed," Rogers added. "It's really about the heart and soul of the country and who we want to be."
He also praised Stevens's "courage," saying we "both knew that we loved America, and we loved America more than we loved our parties."
Rogers's rally featured several Jewish and black Democrats who said they were voting Republican for the first time, citing El-Sayed's radicalism and reluctance to condemn terrorism and antisemitism.
Chelsea Rebeck, a Jewish Democrat, said she was worried about "rising antisemitism" driven by El-Sayed's supporters.
"When I look at Abdul El-Sayed, I don't see someone who represents my values," she said.
She also praised Stevens for "having the courage to stand up," prompting a standing ovation from the audience and chants of "Haley! Haley!"
