Live Updates: El-Sayed and Rogers Clash in First Debate of Key Michigan Senate Battle Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat, is facing his Republican opponent, former Representative Mike Rogers, in a race that could be crucial to Senate control.

Latest After weeks of trading barbs online and on the airwaves, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, and former Representative Mike Rogers, his Republican opponent, squared off Thursday night in a televised debate. It’s their first debate in a race that could determine control of the Senate.

The candidates took the stage at 7 p.m. Eastern time in Grand Rapids for the debate, which will be carried nationally by NewsNation and streamed online. The race is tight: Recent polling by The New York Times/Siena University showed Dr. El-Sayed with a five-point edge in a state that President Trump won by just over one point in 2024.

Dr. El-Sayed, a progressive whose primary victory was cheered by the left, has sought to appeal to independents with a populist economic message that includes support for “Medicare for all” in his campaign. He has also aimed to link Mr. Rogers to Mr. Trump, whose approval ratings have plummeted as his war on Iran sent gas and diesel prices skyrocketing.

Mr. Rogers, who was endorsed by Mr. Trump in the primary, has broken with the president in recent weeks. Mr. Rogers called last month for the war to “end quickly,” and on Wednesday began airing an ad that criticized Mr. Trump’s trade war with neighboring Canada. Mr. Rogers has cast Dr. El-Sayed as “dangerous” and “radical” while emphasizing the support the Democratic nominee has received from the provocative Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.

Democrats are trying to hold onto the Michigan seat, currently occupied by the retiring Senator Gary Peters, and flip at least four other Republican-held seats to claim a Senate majority.

There will be no live audience for the debate, which is being hosted by the Grand Rapids station WOOD-TV8 and will also air on local NewsNation affiliates in the state. Another debate is scheduled for Oct. 21, to be hosted by WXYZ-TV in Detroit.

Last month, Dr. El-Sayed took the stage alone to answer questions after Mr. Rogers declined to participate in a debate hosted by Fox 2 in Detroit. Mr. Rogers claimed the host was biased toward Dr. El-Sayed. Here’s what else we’re covering: Democratic Establishment: Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, appeared with Dr. El-Sayed in Grand Rapids ahead of the debate, her first appearance with him after she endorsed his opponent in the primary. Later this month, former President Barack Obama will rally in Detroit for him and Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee for governor.

Republican Surrogates: Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, is set to rally with Mr. Rogers in Oakland County, the principal county of Detroit, on Friday. Mr. Trump has told reporters he planned to visit the state before Nov. 3.

The moderator, Rick Albin, asked Rogers to explain his 180 on tariffs, showing a clip of him defending them a week ago and then noting his new ad criticizing Trump’s trade war with Canada, which began airing on Wednesday. In response, Rogers said that he would “like to see a deal made” and that he had “called the White House this week, talked to the secretary of commerce” about that this week.

Rogers made a case that things are not going well in Michigan, citing high utility prices and poor education scores. It is a curious argument to make for a Republican running in a year when there is an unpopular Republican president in office. El-Sayed quipped, “You did that, man.”The sparks are already flying. Rogers accused El-Sayed of falsely portraying himself as a physician, saying, “If somebody came into his office and he tried to treat that patient, he’d go to jail.”El-Sayed responded that he had a medical degree from Columbia University. Earlier, El-Sayed accused Rogers of being “bought off” by oil and gas corporations.

The debate’s first question goes to El-Sayed, asking if he would support a pause in the federal gas tax. He said he was in favor, and pivoted quickly to attacking the war with Iran while reminding viewers that Rogers has supported the war. (More recently, Rogers has called for an end to the conflict.) The Michigan Senate debate between Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and former Representative Mike Rogers has begun. (It is being streamed on YouTube here.) It is the first of two debates between the candidates, who have been firing pointed barbs at each other for weeks. Tonight’s face-off is taking place in Grand Rapids, a part of the state known for political moderation and being the hometown of former President Gerald R. Ford.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official running on a progressive, anti-establishment platform, is the Democratic nominee in the Senate race in Michigan, a test of the left’s ability to win a marquee race in a swing state.

Here are five things to know about Dr. El-Sayed, 41, of Ann Arbor, Mich., who, if elected in November, would become the first Muslim senator. He faces Mike Rogers, a former congressman, in the general election. He is supported by major left-wing figures.

Dr. El-Sayed has generated a deep well of left-wing support. He supports universal health care, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and ending U.S. aid to Israel. He is a vocal critic of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

He was backed in the primary by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and other left-wing leaders. He appeared with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez at a fund-raiser on Monday in Lower Manhattan.

Dr. El-Sayed has separated himself from some of his progressive supporters by saying he is a capitalist, not a socialist. But he has embraced framing his swing-state race as a test for the progressive movement.

“What does it say about what America really wants, needs and deserves if our state bucks all of the pundits and all of the pontificators who think that this is not possible?”Dr. El-Sayed said at the event with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. He’s known for his rhetorical skill and his sharp personal attacks.

Dr. El-Sayed, a former podcaster and CNN commentator, is a smooth communicator. He often refers to Mr. Rogers as “habibi,” an Arabic term of affectation, and appears with some regularity on Fox News.

He said in one speech in August that Mr. Rogers’s last name was fitting “because that’s his answer every time a corporation or Donald Trump tells him to do something.”“‘Mike, we need you to put a data center in the backyard.’ ‘Roger!,’” Dr. El-Sayed said. (Mr. Rogers has said regulating artificial intelligence would be among his top priorities if he is elected.)

He ran for governor in 2018. Dr. El-Sayed tried to use a similar message that year, and he was also backed by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. But he was handily defeated by Gretchen Whitmer, a moderate Democrat who went on to win the general election.

In an interview, Dr. El-Sayed said his message in 2018 was “a little bit premature for most folks.”That message, he added, was that President Trump’s victory in 2016 was not a “cosmic mistake” but a natural backlash to a political system “rigged” against Americans.

Now, Dr. El-Sayed argues, Democratic voters are “looking for fighters who are going to stand up not just to the worst symptom of the disease.”He drew scrutiny by campaigning with a provocative streamer.

Dr. El-Sayed made campaign appearances during the primary with the streamer Hasan Piker, a critic of the Israeli government who has made incendiary comments. Jewish organizations and some Democrats have accused Mr. Piker of antisemitism (he rejects the claim), and some Democrats assailed Dr. El-Sayed for campaigning with him.

Since then, Dr. El-Sayed has resisted pressure to publicly disavow Mr. Piker, but he has said he has no plans to campaign with him before the Nov. 3 election. He also said that he disagreed with many of the streamer’s opinions. He is the son of Egyptian immigrants.

Dr. El-Sayed was born in Michigan, and his first language was Arabic. As a youth, he struggled to fit in. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he was called anti-Arab slurs. On the campaign trail, he speaks of America’s promise and flaws.

“I know what America can do for somebody,” he said at one rally. “I just know that too often America does not do that for too many of her kids.”Mike Rogers, a former congressman with a background in law enforcement and national security, is the Republican nominee for Senate in Michigan, where he faces a progressive Democrat in a closely watched race that could decide who controls the chamber.

Mr. Rogers, 63, has walked a fine line on his support of President Trump while vying for an open seat in the critical battleground state against Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. Mr. Rogers has received Mr. Trump’s backing, but has distanced himself from the president to appeal to voters who have grown frustrated with him. If elected, Mr. Rogers would be the first Republican from Michigan to win a Senate seat in more than 30 years. Here are five things to know about the candidate. He has a background in the military, law enforcement and politics.

Before entering politics, Mr. Rogers served as an officer in the U.S. Army from 1985 to 1989. He spent the next five years as an F.B.I. special agent based in Chicago, where he specialized in countering organized crime and public corruption.

He served in the Michigan State Senate from 1995 to 2000 then spent 14 years in the U.S. House. In Washington, he was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee during his last four years in office, overseeing the nation’s $70 billion intelligence budget.

After leaving Congress in 2015, he built a lucrative career in the private sector as an adviser, board member and investor in defense and cybersecurity firms. He has also worked as a talk-show host for CNN and Westwood One, a national radio network. This is his second consecutive Senate run.

Mr. Rogers first tried in 2024 to capture a Michigan Senate seat. He narrowly lost that race to Elissa Slotkin, 50, a Democrat.

He is now trying to replace Senator Gary Peters, 67, a Democrat who is retiring. He has a complicated relationship with the president.

Mr. Rogers used to be a vocal critic of Mr. Trump. After the 2020 presidential election, he consistently rebuked Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results, called his leadership style “chaotic” and blamed him for provoking the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Rogers became a staunch ally of the president upon beginning his first Senate campaign, repeating some of the president’s unproven claims of voter fraud and promising to support some of the president’s top agenda items, including global tariffs. Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Rogers for both campaigns.

But Mr. Rogers has, on some issues, distanced himself from Mr. Trump as Election Day nears. He said in August that he supported a one-year moratorium on new data center developments in Michigan, contrary to Mr. Trump’s full-throated support for building up artificial intelligence infrastructure. After previously speaking in support of the president’s authority to continue the war in Iran, Mr. Rogers said in a video posted on social media last month that it “needs to end and end quickly” to lower rising energy costs.

He also backtracked on Mr. Trump’s tariffs, saying in a campaign event last month that some of them were hurtful for Michigan. In a new ad released on Wednesday, he called for an end to the “tariff war.”He joined two rallies with Mr. Trump during the summer. But when asked by The Times in September whether he would be open to campaigning with the president before the election, his campaign did not comment.

He has clashed with his opponent on health care, immigration, abortion and Israel.

Mr. Rogers has opposed the “Medicare for all” plan supported by Dr. El-Sayed, just as he opposed the creation of the Affordable Care Act while serving in Congress. He has defended the Trump administration’s focus on immigration enforcement, curbing illegal immigration and securing the border, while Dr. El-Sayed has called for overhauling the immigration system and securing the border in another way.

Mr. Rogers has opposed abortion, supporting the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. He said the next year, though, that he would not try to change the 2022 amendment to Michigan’s Constitution protecting legal access to abortion, saying the matter should be left to the states. Dr. El-Sayed favors codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law.

Mr. Rogers has also described Dr. El-Sayed as being overly focused on Gaza and condemned his criticism of Israel. Dr. El-Sayed’s arguments regarding Israel — one of many issues in his broader platform — have caused friction among some Jewish voters. He has reached out to Democratic voters.

Dr. El-Sayed has faced hurdles in unifying the Democratic base in Michigan, a swing state that went narrowly for Mr. Trump in 2024, after winning a divisive primary against a moderate Democrat. To leverage the fissures among Democrats, Mr. Rogers has reached out to voters who typically vote Democratic and have been disaffected by Dr. El-Sayed’s campaign, including Jewish and Black voters.

He created a “Democrats for Mike Rogers” coalition in August, appealing to voters willing to cross party lines.

Both of Michigan’s Senate candidates are fighting significant vulnerabilities with voters heading into the first of two scheduled debates tonight. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat, has angered some Jewish Democrats with his left-wing positions on Israel policy, while former Representative Mike Rogers has been trying to distance himself from President Trump’s tariff policy — which he supported earlier in his campaign.

The debate will be in Grand Rapids, the hub of western Michigan, a part of the state that had long been friendly for Republicans but has become increasingly Democratic during the Trump years.

Michigan is crucial to both parties’ hopes of winning a Senate majority. Democrats must retain the seat being vacated by Senator Gary Peters and flip at least four Republican-held seats to take control, while if Republicans win in Michigan, it makes their path of keeping control far easier.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, had a modest lead over the Republican nominee, Mike Rogers, according to a poll last month from The New York Times and Siena University.

Dr. El-Sayed held a five-point edge over Mr. Rogers, 49 percent to 44 percent, according the survey, which was conducted from Sept. 15 to 22. And he was viewed more favorably by voters. The race in Michigan, a perennial swing state, is one of a handful of competitive contests that could decide control of the Senate.

Mr. Rogers, a former congressman backed by President Trump, has sought to distance himself from the increasingly unpopular president, including by calling for an end to the war with Iran. Dr. El-Sayed, a progressive, is working to heal wounds from a bitter primary. Here are seven takeaways from the poll. Dr. El-Sayed was viewed more positively overall, but remained polarizing.

Forty-six percent of Michigan voters said Dr. El-Sayed, a former public health official, had good character, while 39 percent said the same of Mr. Rogers, a former congressman. Dr. El-Sayed also held an edge in the number of people who view him favorably, 47 percent to 39 percent. But a significant number of voters also viewed Dr. El-Sayed very unfavorably, 35 percent for Dr. El-Sayed, compared with 27 percent for Mr. Rogers. Older voters prefered the older candidate.

Mr. Rogers, 63, led Dr. El-Sayed, 41, by nine points with voters ages 45 and up, a bloc that makes up two-thirds of the likely electorate. Among voters 44 or younger, Mr. Rogers trailed Dr. El-Sayed by 39 percentage voters, the poll found. Independents were roughly split on the candidates.

Mr. Rogers has been trying to win independents and peel off Democrats by portraying Dr. El-Sayed as an extremist. The results suggested he has met with mixed results: Dr. El-Sayed held a one-point lead with independents. And just 3 percent of Democrats said they planned to back Mr. Rogers, which was about equal to the share of Republicans who said they planned to support Dr. El-Sayed. Still, more voters in the poll said Dr. El-Sayed was more extreme (50 percent) than said Mr. Rogers was more extreme (36 percent). A.I. has emerged as a high-profile issue.

Dr. El-Sayed has called for strong A.I. guardrails (including a pause on A.I. development), and Mr. Rogers split with Mr. Trump, who has largely dismissed any risks, by saying he would make A.I. regulation a top priority if elected. Dr. El-Sayed held an 11-point edge over Mr. Rogers in a poll question about who would be better on A.I. data centers. A streamer who campaigned with Dr. El-Sayed was deeply unpopular among voters who knew him.

The streamer, Hasan Piker, campaigned with Dr. El-Sayed in the Democratic primary. A fierce critic of Israel who has a history of provocative commentary, Mr. Piker is viewed very unfavorably by 29 percent of Michigan voters and somewhat unfavorably by 5 percent, according to the poll. Only 6 percent viewed him very or somewhat favorably, according to the poll. Still, despite Mr. Rogers’s efforts to push Mr. Piker to the center of the campaign, most Michigan voters said they had not heard of him. Democrats didn’t regret their bruising primary.

Dr. El-Sayed’s primary victory over Representative Haley Stevens featured sharp insults and barbed disagreements about Israel. But 62 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters in Michigan said the vigorous debate during the primary made the party stronger, according to the poll, compared with 27 percent who said it weakened Democrats by exposing divisions. Voters were split on who would make a more effective lawmaker.

Mr. Rogers served for more than a decade in Congress, but voters are not sure he would be a better senator than Dr. El-Sayed, who has never been a lawmaker. Forty-seven percent of voters said Dr. El-Sayed would be more effective in Congress, while 43 percent said Mr. Rogers would be better, the poll found.