- High turnout, Democratic shifts helped senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed and governor-elect Jocelyn Benson win Michigan
- Benson, El-Sayed both outperformed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024
- Republican US Senate nominee Mike Rogers lost ground in Detroit, while El-Sayed fared well in college towns
Democrats Abdul El-Sayed and Jocelyn Benson rode a “blue wave” to win Michigan’s US Senate and governor’s races, respectively, outperforming recent party performance in an election that was a rebuke of President Donald Trump.
Benson, a Democrat, will succeed outgoing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after beating Republican John James by more than 10 percentage points, according to unofficial results.
El-Sayed, a progressive who campaigned on universal healthcare and taxing the rich, defeated Republican Mike Rogers by about seven points, defending the seat to help Democrats retake control of the US Senate.
Here’s a look at how they secured victory:
High turnout, broad Democratic shifts
El-Sayed and Benson both benefited from relatively high turnout across the state, particularly among Democratic voters.
According to unofficial results, more than 4.8 million voters cast ballots in Michigan. That appears to be a midterm record, topping the 4.5 million Michiganders who voted in 2022 but shy of the 5.7 million who cast ballots in the 2024 presidential election that Trump won.
Benson won 18 counties, while El-Sayed won 14, including several of the most populous counties that helped make up for losses in more rural areas.
But even in the counties they lost, Benson and El-Sayed exceeded expectations.
All 83 Michigan counties shifted toward Democrats compared with the 2024 election, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. That included a 14-percentage point shift in Wayne County, the state’s largest, but also double-digit shifts in more rural areas like Dickinson, Branch and St. Joseph counties.
In Wexford County, where Rogers won by a smaller margin than two years ago, retired Manton voter Jerrilyn Mathews, a former Republican, said she voted for El-Sayed, other Democrats and “anything against Trump.”
Detroit and Wayne County
As of 7 a.m., about 93% of all Wayne County ballots had been counted with El-Sayed and Benson each getting more than 70% of the vote in their respective races, according to unofficial results.
Both outperformed 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who topped Trump with 63% of the Wayne County vote in 2024.
In Detroit, the state’s largest city, Benson won about 93% of the vote and El-Sayed won about 92%, according to unofficial results. Both topped the 90% Harris won in Detroit two years ago.
Rogers spent considerable time in Detroit and touted inroads with Democrats, including outgoing state Rep. Karen Whitsett. But he received only 5% of the city vote in Tuesday’s election, down from the 7% he won there in his 2024 loss to US Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
“I voted to go against Trump. When it all comes down to it, we are trying to vote against Trump,” said Henry McCoi of Detroit, who cast his ballot at Mayberry Elementary School.
Oakland County
Rogers also heavily courted Jewish voters turned off by El-Sayed’s opposition to US support for Israel and comments in the wake of a March attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township.
Unofficial results show Rogers did improve his vote share in some Oakland County communities with heavy Jewish populations, but he did not gain enough ground to make up for Democratic shifts in other parts of the county and state.
In West Bloomfield Township, for instance, Rogers won 46% of the vote, up from 42% in 2024. El-Sayed won the township by 2,240 votes, down from the 5,538-vote margin Slotkin won it by two years ago.
All told, El-Sayed won Oakland County with 56% of the vote, topping Harris’ 54% in 2024.
In Huntington Woods, which El-Sayed carried, 55-year-old Lauren Slutsky described herself as a lifelong Jewish Democrat but said she voted for Rogers because El-Sayed “hasn’t proven that he will stand against antisemitism and hate.”
At the same polling place, Steve Gold stood wearing a “Jews for Abdul” shirt and praised El-Sayed’s push for Medicare for All, calling it “shameful that the United States has not provided healthcare to everybody after 250 years.”
Meanwhile, some metro Detroit communities with larger Muslim populations that had broken for Trump two years ago shifted back to Democrats on Tuesday.
Trump won Dearborn by six percentage points in 2024, but El-Sayed won the city by 65 points on Tuesday, and Benson won it by 60 points, according to unofficial results. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said the city’s 45,464-voter turnout was the highest ever.
College towns
College towns also helped secure victories for El-Sayed and Benson.
With nearly all ballots counted in Washtenaw County, El-Sayed won there with 74% of the vote. Benson received about 75%. Both outperformed Harris, who had won 71% of Washtenaw County votes in 2024.
El-Sayed and Benson also outperformed Harris in Ingham, Kalamazoo, Isabella and Kent counties, all home to universities and large groups of young voters.
Jack Morean, a 19-year-old Michigan State University student from Grand Rapids, voted in his first general election Tuesday morning at an on-campus precinct in East Lansing.
Morean said he voted for Democrats up and down his ballot.
“We’re in a time where divisiveness is very apparent,” he said. “Our current government is honestly abhorrent. I’m here to vote for change.”
Matt Mencarini is a Report for America corps member who covers data and accountability for Bridge Michigan.