Democrats are scrambling to steady their footing in Michigan’s high-stakes US Senate contest after a prominent party figure broke ranks and endorsed the Republican candidate days before voters head to the polls.
The flare-up landed as President Donald Trump escalated legal efforts aimed at ballot-counting rules, while both parties delivered their closing messages on the eve of midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
In a rapid turn over the weekend, US Representative Haley Stevens — who lost the Michigan Democratic Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed in a bruising fight — abruptly threw her support behind Republican Mike Rogers and joined him for an appearance at a Detroit church.
The Michigan contest is central to Democrats’ bid to pry the Senate away from Republicans, who currently hold a 53-47 majority under Mr Trump.
US Park Police on patrol as US President Donald Trump delivers a speech marking the end of the midterm election campaign
Ms Stevens’ endorsement came the same day a federal judge tossed out a US Justice Department lawsuit that sought to prevent Alaska from certifying election results if Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan were to lose narrowly in the battleground state.
Mr Trump, pressing ahead undeterred as he crisscrosses the country holding daily rallies for Republican candidates, filed an emergency request with the US Supreme Court seeking a temporary block on California counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters whom federal officials allege are likely non-US citizens.
California countered that the case could strip voting rights from 20,000 people on the basis of broad claims, arguing the federal government’s methods for identifying non-citizens are flawed and susceptible to error.
The president — who continues to falsely insist his 2020 loss to Joe Biden stemmed from widespread fraud — spoke at the delayed reopening of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington.
Abdul El-Sayed, US Democratic Senate candidate from Michigan, during a campaign event in Detroit, Michigan with Barack Obama
“This is the last day before the midterm elections, the most important midterm I believe in our lifetime,” Mr Trump said 26 minutes into a speech which largely focused on his project to renovate monuments in the US capital.
Mr Trump also referenced an earlier makeover tied to his beautification push in Washington that went awry when contractors botched work and the “American flag blue” liner began peeling away — damage he had incorrectly attributed to vandals.
A spokesperson for Mr El-Sayed’s campaign said it brought in $2.4million yesterday, the campaign’s biggest single-day haul, powered by small-dollar gifts averaging $36.74 from more than 65,000 donors.
Non-partisan analysts generally give Democrats the edge in the battle for the House of Representatives. The Senate map is considered more difficult, though those analysts now rate contests in traditionally Republican-leaning states such as Texas, Kansas and Iowa as competitive, broadening Democrats’ potential routes to a majority.
More than 54 million people have cast a ballot amid a surge in early voting
Winning either chamber would limit Mr Trump’s ability to move legislation and would hand Democrats leverage to investigate his administration. A Senate majority would also enable Democrats to stall or block his nominees to the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court.
The University of Florida Election Lab reported that 55 million ballots have already been cast, in person and by mail — surpassing the 45 million cast in the 2022 midterm elections.
Michigan rift
Ms Stevens urged Mr El-Sayed to denounce an advertisement from an outside group that she said blames Israel for rising grocery prices.
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“That ad was very painful,” Ms Stevens told CNN last night. “There are so many Democrats who want to vote for our Democratic nominee, and they’re just being told, ‘Hey, this is a party you don’t belong in, or this is a campaign you don’t belong in.'”
Mr El-Sayed dismissed the demand, arguing Ms Stevens was trying to revive a primary battle that ended months ago.
“You guys love to play the condemn game,” he told reporters on Saturday when asked about Ms Stevens’ demand. “I’ve already been clear that that ad was not made by me, and I do not agree with the contents of that ad.”
I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today. https://t.co/pQgfSBuhOJ
— Haley Stevens (@HaleyforMI) November 1, 2026
Mr El-Sayed, an Egyptian-American Muslim born in Michigan, has been singled out by Mr Trump and other Republicans who have repeatedly questioned his loyalty to the United States and have baselessly labelled him a terrorist sympathiser, arguing his election would invite attacks on Americans.
Mr El-Sayed has described the loyalty questions as “shameful.”
The exchanges reflect a wider pattern of heated campaign rhetoric from some Republicans aimed at Arab Americans, Muslims and transgender people, while casting Democrats as communists and dangerous radicals in the run-up to the midterms.
Ms Stevens’ mother, Maria Marcotte, said her daughter backed Mr Rogers because of what she characterised as threatening political rhetoric from Mr El-Sayed. She cited, among other things, his past appearances with Hasan Piker, a left-wing streamer criticised for comments about Israel and American Jews.
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“She’s really reached a point where she felt like her constituents, the people that she cares about, and the people she knows and loves are scared and frightened by some rhetoric that’s coming out,” Ms Marcotte said in an interview with Reuters from the porch of her home in Birmingham, a northern Detroit suburb.
Alaska intervention falters
The Trump administration’s push to step into Alaska’s Senate race hit a wall when a federal judge yesterday dismissed the Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of results if Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan were to lose by a slim margin.
The Justice Department said voters could be misled because a challenger named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. appears on the same ballot.
The controversy has dominated the campaign in recent days after the New York Times reported that Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign had a role in recruiting Sullivan Jr. to run as a spoiler.
Senator Sullivan said yesterday he would accept Tuesday’s outcome even as the Trump administration pushes a criminal investigation into the matter.
Ms Peltola has denied any involvement, and Mr Sullivan Jr. has denied working with her campaign.
