The stakes are high as party nominees, Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers, Democrat and Republican respectively, vie to fill the seat of longtime senator Gary Peters.
Peters is retiring at the end of the year after 11 years of service in the U.S. Senate.
Rogers is no stranger to the ballot. He served in the U.S. House representing Michigan’s 8th Congressional District from 2001 to 2015, and the state Senate, from 1995 to 2000.
He ran for the U.S. Senate in Michigan in 2024 , losing to Elissa Slotkin.
Rogers is an Army veteran, serving from 1985-1994; and a FBI Special Agent, investigating organized crime and corruption based in Chicago He also served as the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (2011-2015).
Post-Congressional Work includes time spent as a cybersecurity executive, board member (including MITRE Corporation), and media commentator.
Rogers’ platform is the following: • Economy and Manufacturing: Focuses on returning manufacturing jobs to America, reducing federal regulations, and lowering costs for everyday items such as gas, groceries, and prescription drugs.
• National Security and Law Enforcement: Emphasizes a “law and order” approach, leveraging his background as an Army veteran, FBI special agent, and former House Intelligence Committee chairman. He prioritizes strong national defense and border security.
• Social Security and Medicare: Pledges to protect Social Security and Medicare for seniors, highlighting his past legislative support for Medicare Part D.
• Education: Prioritizes traditional education and student literacy over what his campaign terms ideological indoctrination, alongside proposals like adding high school shop classes and expanding educational savings programs.
• Social and Fiscal Issues: Is personally opposed to abortion, advocates for leaving abortion regulations up to individual states, and targets home affordability and local credit accessibility.
El-Sayed is a graduate of Andover High School in Bloomfield Hills and went on to earned a Bachelor of Science degreeinbiologyand political science from the University of Michigan.
He earned a PhD in public health as a Rhodes Scholar and Soros Fellow at Oxford University and his doctor of medicine and National Institute of Health fellowship.
His work experience includes service as: the Detroit Health Director; Wayne County, director of the Wayne County Department of Health, Human & Veterans Services (2023–2025).
El-Sayed Advocates for national single-payer healthcare to eliminate co-pays, deductibles, and medical debt, alongside expanding veterans’ affairs and public health funding.
He recently released a 22-point artificial intelligence platform proposing public benefit charters, safety testing, compute controls, support for Bernie Sanders’ American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, and bans on superintelligent/ recursive AI development.
He also pledges to ban corporate PAC money, end gerrymandering, abolish the filibuster, and reform the Supreme Court.
El-Sayed supports taxing billionaire wealth, raising the minimum wage, protecting labor unions, and investing in green jobs, housing, and public education.
He also calls for shifting U.S. Foreign policy away from “endless wars” and reevaluating foreign aid and conditions — including aid to Israel.
