Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC closely aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, is investing an additional $10 million to support Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, sources told Axios. The commitment brings the group’s total investment in the race to $30 million and includes television advertising scheduled to begin Tuesday.
🔵 News – Schumer’s Senate super PAC put another $10M behind Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, per Axios pic.twitter.com/ymoVsfBeQh
— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) September 16, 2026
El-Sayed clearly recognizes the stakes. Following a Wednesday meeting with Democratic senators at Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters, he declared, “All pathways to a Senate majority run through Michigan.”
But rather than signaling an embrace of El-Sayed’s progressive agenda, Schumer’s all-in support underscores Michigan’s importance in determining control of the Senate. The Democratic establishment has closed ranks around a nominee it tried so hard to defeat in the August primary, not necessarily by choice, but by political necessity.
Michigan has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1994, and El-Sayed currently holds a narrow polling lead over his Republican rival, former Rep. Mike Rogers. Still, the sheer amount of Democratic spending suggests party leaders view the race as anything but secure. After all, El-Sayed’s roughly 20-point advantage in the primary polls turned into a one-point victory over Rep. Haley Stevens.
According to Axios:
Senators from across the ideological spectrum dropped by his DSCC open house, with El-Sayed personally assuring them that he would work hard to join them in the Senate next year, according to people familiar with the gathering.
The conversations were friendly and forward-looking, and senators posed for pictures with El-Sayed.
“He’s a great candidate. He’s going to win, and we are all united,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the DSCC chair.
Sen. Mark Kelly, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, announced he would campaign with El-Sayed next month.
Although some holdouts remain, such as Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI), most establishment Democrats have lined up behind him. Axios noted that Michigan Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters “have been urging their colleagues to rally around the Democratic nominee. Stevens has offered her full support.”
Republicans are not backing away from the race, which they view as a prime opportunity to flip the seat. Tens of millions from outside GOP-aligned groups are flowing into the Michigan race.
Axios reported:
A MAGA-aligned super PAC is preparing to spend $18 million in the state. In August, shortly after El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary, Senate Leadership Fund — the GOP’s main Senate super PAC — announced an additional $6 million for Michigan, bringing its total commitment in the state to $51 million.
On Wednesday, The Detroit News endorsed Rogers, giving his campaign a significant boost. Mary covered this story here.
After outlining each candidate’s background, the editors cut to the chase:
There is a bigger concern about El-Sayed: He has worked so hard covering his tracks leading up to this Senate race that it’s impossible to know who he really is or where he would stand in the Senate.
He has deleted social media posts that reportedly called into question his attitude about America in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He’s taken down roughly 100 YouTube videos that paint an unflattering picture of him and his cultural views. A candidate who feels the need to hide his past from voters is not someone who can be trusted to be the same person after Election Day as he was on the campaign trail.
El-Sayed claims to be a capitalist, though he has embraced many of the priorities of the Democratic Socialists of America, is endorsed by its spiritual leader, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and has some of its more outrageous members in his orbit.
He also says he has no animosity toward Jews but has demurred on support for Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Again, on this issue, his associations are telling. El-Sayed brought in Hasan Piker as a closer for his primary election campaign. Piker is a Twitch personality and a notorious antisemite. The Democratic congressional caucus is already awash in anti-Israel members; it doesn’t need one more from Michigan.
At the end of the day, El-Sayed is an antisemite, and although he denies it, he supports the socialist agenda. So the willingness of the majority of Democratic lawmakers to rally behind him tells us something about their convictions or lack thereof.
Democrats will go to the mat for the rights of transgenders, but when it comes to defending the Jewish people and our closest ally in the Middle East, well, winning comes first. As for the looming threat that the democratic socialist movement poses to the very principles upon which America was founded, their return to power supersedes everything else.
The torrent of outside money makes one thing clear: Neither party regards Michigan as safely settled. Democrats have closed ranks around El-Sayed because retaining the seat is central to their path back to a Senate majority, while Republicans see a rare opportunity to end their three-decade losing streak in Michigan Senate races. Whatever voters ultimately decide, the contest has become one of the most consequential — and expensive — battles of the midterms.
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