Rogers, El-Sayed Split on Markets in Michigan Senate Race

Mike Rogers told a Detroit Economic Club audience Tuesday that he’d “use business to solve our problems,” while rival Abdul El-Sayed called for more regulation of large corporations, government-funded health coverage for everyone and a greater role for unions. The candidates, vying for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Gary Peters, appeared separately on Oct. 20 at the Detroit Masonic Temple and answered questions for about 25 minutes each. Election Day is two weeks away.

The contrast was stark. The stakes are national.

Two Visions of the Economy

Rogers, a Republican and former U.S. House member from White Lake, offered a short list: boost American-made energy, keep taxes low and improve student reading scores. He criticized what he called some Democrats’ “anti-business” policies. “I think that’s the difference,” he said.

He made his case around access and results, pointing to his work on bipartisan legislation and his relationship with President Donald Trump’s administration. Trump endorsed him in July 2025. “My thing is this: Send somebody back that can actually go and get a meeting and fix it,” Rogers said. He argued that sending someone whose goal was to “gouge the president’s eyes out” wouldn’t help Michigan. “We don’t have a lot of time to get our very low metrics up,” he added.

El-Sayed, a Democrat and former public health official from Ann Arbor, said big companies have taken over markets. More competition and regulation, he argued, were needed to prevent undue influence. “Old ideas have not been working,” he said. “We are suffering for them.”

He called himself a capitalist, then pointed to a few dominant corporations. To make his point, he asked how many people in the room owned a cellphone made by Apple or Samsung. Most raised their hands. That, he said, showed an oligopoly. “I think we need to start standing up to monopolies and oligopolies and start regulating them,” he said.

The Price Tag of the Agenda

El-Sayed’s platform goes beyond antitrust enforcement. He advocated restoring “competitiveness in a market,” increasing union influence and providing government-funded health care coverage to everyone. “Guaranteeing health insurance to everybody in this country would be the single most important thing we could do for small business,” he said.

The event offered no cost estimates for the proposal; the reporting didn’t discuss any. What it did show was a candidate who sees Washington as the main tool for fixing the economy.

Rogers cast that as the central question facing voters. He closed his segment with a story about a conversation with an elected official in Detroit, who told him the city wouldn’t become a “Democratic Socialist city.” “That’s what’s on the ballot,” Rogers said, pointing to support El-Sayed has received from prominent democratic socialists, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Rogers said they were proposing “big government, government control, more rules, more regulations, another Green New Deal.”

A Race With National Weight

Dozens of reporters attended, including journalists from multiple foreign countries, among them Finland and Japan, according to organizers. The race reflects the national political battle this fall and could determine whether Republicans keep control of the Senate. Peters announced in January 2025 that he wouldn’t seek a third six-year term.

Some political observers say Democrats must hold the seat to have a chance of flipping the GOP-led Senate. Vice President JD Vance called the Michigan contest the most important in the country at an appearance in Monroe the previous week.

The discussion focused heavily on policy, including tariffs and artificial intelligence. Only El-Sayed took reporters’ questions afterward. Asked whether Rogers represented more of the same in Washington, he said, “I don’t know what Mike Rogers is. He won’t say anything except for he refers to himself in consistency with what Donald Trump wants. I don’t’ think he has an economic viewpoint. I think his economic viewpoint is go along to get along.”

A second televised debate was scheduled for the following day.

Why This Matters:

Michigan voters face a clear choice over who should steer the state’s economy: private enterprise or an expanded federal hand. Rogers backs lower taxes, domestic energy and business-led solutions. El-Sayed wants stricter rules for large companies, stronger unions and a government-funded health plan covering everyone. The reporting doesn’t say what those proposals would cost, leaving voters without that information before November. With Senate control potentially riding on this seat, the result will shape how much regulatory and fiscal weight Washington puts on Michigan employers. This is more than a local contest. It’s a referendum on how much government the economy should carry.