More than 2.3 million Michigan voters had cast ballots before Tuesday’s U.S. Senate election, as Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed pressed for turnout following U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens’ endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers.
The Michigan Secretary of State said the total equaled 31.2% of the state’s 7.42 million active registered voters. Its Monday release counted 743,450 ballots cast at early-voting sites during the nine-day period that ended Nov. 1, alongside 1,569,715 returned mail ballots by Monday morning.
El-Sayed’s campaign said it raised more than $2.4 million on Nov. 1, its largest single-day total. The campaign said more than 65,000 donors contributed, with an average gift of $36.74.
Stevens announced her endorsement in a video Sunday, Nov. 1. She said El-Sayed had told her she was “no longer welcome in his campaign” and should stay away. The Associated Press reported that Stevens appeared with Rogers at a Detroit church before her announcement and that El-Sayed defeated her by about 14,000 votes in the August Democratic primary.
El-Sayed called on voters to cast ballots at a Monday rally at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, the Associated Press reported. The Michigan Democratic Party reaffirmed its support for El-Sayed after Stevens’ endorsement in separate Nov. 1 statements by Chair Curtis Hertel and First Vice Chair Portia Roberson. Hertel said the party stood “united and fully behind Abdul El-Sayed,” while Roberson said Democratic voters had made their choice in the primary.
The Associated Press described disagreements over Israel and the war in Gaza as part of the backdrop to the party dispute. It reported Rogers’ campaign promoted Stevens’ endorsement and Hertel argued the move would galvanize Democrats. Nearly 4.5 million people voted in Michigan’s 2022 midterms, the AP reported. Voters are scheduled to choose the state’s next senator on Nov. 3.
