Featured image: Abdul El-Sayed, photographed on February 3, 2025. File photo. Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Abdul El-Sayed’s Senate campaign says it raised more than $2.4 million on November 1, its largest fundraising day, as Michigan Democrats confronted Rep. Haley Stevens’ decision to endorse his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.
In a November 2 release, the campaign reported more than 65,000 donors and an average contribution of $36.74. It said 29,602 donors gave to El-Sayed for the first time.
Campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak said the money would help distribute El-Sayed’s closing message, including his support for Medicare for All. The totals are campaign-reported figures.
The announcement followed a public break between El-Sayed and Stevens, who lost to him in the Democratic primary. NPR reported that Stevens appeared with Rogers at a Detroit church November 1 and endorsed him less than two days before the election.
The dispute had intensified over an advertisement by Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks that linked Americans’ grocery costs to U.S. support for Israel. Stevens demanded a stronger denunciation; El-Sayed’s campaign said it had no role in the ad and criticized its contents.
Stevens also criticized El-Sayed’s earlier campaigning with streamer Hasan Piker. El-Sayed had previously said Piker did not speak for his campaign, according to NPR.
Her endorsement drew condemnation from Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel. Several former staff members publicly criticized Stevens’ decision, making the rupture visible beyond the two candidates’ campaigns.
Speaking to reporters outside a “Souls to the Polls” event in Detroit November 1, El-Sayed tried to keep attention on household costs. NPR quoted him discussing families’ worries about school conditions, feeding their children and paying medical bills.
El-Sayed and Rogers are competing to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The race is one of the contests shaping control of the Senate, The Associated Press reported ahead of the November 3 vote.
Rogers previously represented Michigan in the House. AP noted that he also ran for the Senate in 2024, when he lost by fewer than 20,000 votes.
The campaign’s release does not break down when contributions arrived on November 1, so it cannot establish how much of the total followed Stevens’ endorsement.
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