El-Sayed and Rogers vie for Michigan Senate seat on Tuesday, 3 November

A close race with national stakes

Michigan voters go to the polls on Tuesday, 3 November, in a Senate race that could help decide which party controls the chamber next year. The Democratic candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, is a 42-year-old former doctor and public health official who has become one of the most visible voices on the party's left flank. If he wins, he would be the first Muslim senator in the United States, and RTE reports he would also be the first Democratic doctor in the Senate since 1969. His Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, is a 63-year-old former congressman and former FBI agent who says on his campaign website that he will support President Trump. Reports describe the duel as particularly undecided.

A final push in Detroit

On Monday, 2 November, El-Sayed closed his campaign at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit, a community that is among the poorest in the United States and where many residents rely on Medicare and Medicaid. More than a thousand people attended the rally. El-Sayed used the speech to answer Trump, who has mocked the pronunciation of his name at rallies. He told the crowd that from the next day Trump could simply call him senator. His message on health care was direct.

“You deserve to be able to see a doctor without getting a huge bill on the back”

Health care at the center

Michigan has about half a million residents without health insurance, out of roughly 10 million people, and about 28 million people across the country are uninsured. A recent study cited by NOS links the lack of coverage to 45,000 early deaths a year. El-Sayed wants the government to pay for health care for all Americans, a position that sits close to the Democratic Socialists of America, although he has distanced himself from that group ahead of the election. Rob Davidson, an emergency physician in west Michigan who leads the Committee to Protect Healthcare, described the stakes on the ground.

“We see in real time on the ground what happens when the system fails our patients.”

Doubts inside the party

Moderate Democrats worry that El-Sayed's opposition to fully ending US military aid to countries such as Israel and Saudi Arabia could push away voters the party needs to win. Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary in the summer, announced she would back Rogers two days before the vote. Barack Obama campaigned for El-Sayed the week before the election. El-Sayed has also called the war in Iran illegal, and Republicans have accused him of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which he has called a distraction.

Beyond Michigan

Health care affordability is likely to be a top Democratic priority in the next Congress, whether the party wins a narrow House majority or a larger one, though the party has not settled on a shared agenda. President Trump stays in office for the next two years in either case. In Maine's Senate race, Democrat Troy Jackson also campaigns on Medicare for All, though he has a lower national profile than El-Sayed. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, is challenging Republican Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina, and Amy Acton is running for governor of Ohio with a focus on pediatrics and preventive medicine. Erik Polyak, executive director of 314 Action, said his group's research shows doctors rank among the most trusted potential candidates for office. Donavan McKinney, a House candidate, accused Trump of moving to postpone major health care cuts until after Tuesday's election.