BRIGHTON, Mich.—Progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Senate election on Nov. 3, defeating former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) in one of the most closely watched races of the 2026 midterms.
El-Sayed’s win keeps retiring Sen. Gary Peters’s (D-Mich.) seat within Democratic control, and pushes the party’s Senate majority to 54 seats. The party earlier in the evening won control of both the Senate and the House.
The race was a major test for the progressive movement. Progressive Democrats have netted a series of wins and upsets throughout blue cities and districts this year but had yet to prove themselves against a Republican in a purple battleground state like Michigan. After Democrat Francesca Hong narrowly lost the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary, attention turned to El-Sayed’s matchup against Rogers….