Democrats back El-Sayed after Stevens endorses Republican rival in Michigan

Democratic leaders rallied behind Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on Monday as campaigning entered its final day before the November 3 United States midterm elections. Democrats are trying to wrest both chambers of Congress from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party, with the cost-of-living crisis, worsened by the US-Israel war on Iran, a central campaign issue.

The Michigan contest drew renewed attention after Democratic Representative Haley Stevens endorsed Republican candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday. Stevens, who lost the Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed in August, had clashed with him for weeks over American support for Israel. El-Sayed opposes military assistance to Israel and has argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed the US into war with Iran. Stevens has accused him of anti-Semitism over his criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza, where Israel has been accused of committing genocide.

El-Sayed said supporting Rogers would amount to supporting Trump, and his campaign reportedly received a surge in donations following Stevens’s endorsement. Michigan Democratic Party chairman Curtis Hertel criticised her decision in an interview with CNN. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also condemned the endorsement in a post on X, affirming his party’s support for El-Sayed and arguing that he would defend the economic interests of Michigan’s working families.

Michigan Jews for Democracy also backed El-Sayed, who has faced Islamophobic attacks during the campaign. The advocacy group rejected Stevens’s suggestion that she represented Michigan’s Jewish community and accused her of trying to divide it shortly before the election. Trump welcomed her endorsement at an Iowa rally on Sunday and said he would welcome her into the Republican Party. Whether her intervention will move supporters towards Rogers or deter them from voting remains uncertain. Reuters reported that polling indicated El-Sayed had largely secured Democratic backing.

In Alaska, a federal judge dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit aimed at preventing certification of a defeat for Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. The administration argued that another candidate bearing the same name could affect the result. Sullivan, a Trump ally, told CNN on Sunday that he would accept the election outcome. Alaska is among seven closely contested Senate races likely to determine control of the chamber.

Early voting has already surpassed the total recorded during the 2022 midterms. A University of Florida analysis found that 54.5 million of roughly 210 million registered voters had cast ballots by Sunday morning, compared with 46 million early voters in 2022. The analysis included 30 million votes cast in person and 24 million mail-in ballots. More than 11 million registered Democrats had voted early, compared with about 8 million registered Republicans.

Texas recorded more than 7.7 million early voters. In South Carolina, an Associated Press polling analysis showed early voting was 83 percent higher than at the equivalent point in 2022. Trump won the state by nearly 18 percentage points in 2024, and it has open contests for governor and the US Senate this year. Kansas, Michigan and Maine have also recorded increases.

Tuesday’s elections will decide all 435 House seats, 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats and governorships in 36 states. Despite the increased participation before election day, early turnout figures do not reveal which candidates voters supported or establish what the final results will be.