(Elyse Apel, The Center Square) Former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump both campaigned in Michigan over the weekend, highlighting the national importance of the state’s closely-watched U.S. Senate race.
Obama attended a rally in Detroit on Saturday, throwing his support behind Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
“We’re clear about the choice in this election,” Obama said. “Abdul is fighting for change, real change, change that will bring an end to this war. Change that will get money out of politics and put money in your pocket. Change that will finish the job we started with the Affordable Care Act and guarantee quality, affordable healthcare to every single American.”
On Sunday, Trump attended a rally for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Port Huron.
“You’re the people that built this country,” Trump said. “We’re not going to let them tear it down. So I am asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot.”
Trump appeared alongside rapper Nicki Minaj, who urged Michiganders to get out and vote for Republicans. She also called the coming election a “major turning point for our country.”
In just eight days, El-Sayed will face off against Rogers, though Michigan voters have already begun receiving absentee ballots and early voting.
The race is considered one of the most-important U.S. Senate races in the nation as the party-makeup of the 120th Congress hangs in the balance.
Democrats were divided during the primary between El-Sayed and establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens. El-Sayed, who is seeking to become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, narrowly won that race. Since then, the Democratic Party establishment has rallied around the 41-year-old.
Currently, analysts consider the outcome of the race a toss-up, while betting markets give El-Sayed a 65% chance of winning.
The polling in the U.S. Senate race marks a shift from before the primary, when Rogers held the advantage over El-Sayed. Now, the most-recent polling has El-Sayed leading Rogers 48.4% to 45.2%.
That is according to the average of the five most recent polls compiled by 270toWin, with the most-recent posted on Oct. 23.
In 2024, Michigan’s U.S. Senate race was decided by less than half a percentage point, with Democrat Elissa Slotkin narrowly defeating Rogers. Rogers returned as the Republican nominee in 2026 after securing the party’s nomination unopposed.
El-Sayed is seeking to become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate. He has cast himself as a progressive and faced constant allegations of “extremism” throughout his campaign. During the weekend’s rally, Trump called him a “jihadist” and “on the side of the terrorists.”
The 41-year-old responded to the president’s frequent quips.
“I don’t even care that he remembers my whole name because he can just go on and call me “senator’ after November,” El-Sayed said during a rally on Sunday. “I will be Senator Muhammad to you, bro.”
