GRAND RAPIDS — Republican Mike Rogers expressed optimism Saturday, Oct. 3, that his U.S. Senate campaign is making inroads with Black and Jewish voters, while acknowledging a ballot-box vulnerability among younger voters against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed on college campuses.

“Unfortunately, they are doing a good job on campuses,” the former congressman told an attendee at a canvassing event in Grand Rapids. “It’s a little scary, but we’re working on it.”

With the Nov. 3 midterm election a month away, Rogers and El-Sayed are in a closely fought battle for Michigan’s open Senate seat that has attracted tens of millions of dollars in spending by outside groups trying to influence the outcome.

El-Sayed, 41, has spent time stumping for votes on college campuses, including a Friday night town hall event last month on the campus of Michigan State University. He’s planning a stop on the campus of Central Michigan University on Oct. 9, the day after Rogers and El-Sayed will square off in their first televised debate.

Rogers, 63, has been trying to persuade independent swing voters and moderate Democrats to vote for him following El-Sayed’s highly contested Aug. 4 primary victory over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham.

“Because of all of you, we’re going to flip this thing around,” Rogers told campaign volunteers with the conservative group Americans for Prosperity.

On Oct. 3, Americans for Prosperity said it’s spending another $5.78 million on new digital, television and radio ads supporting Rogers’ Senate bid, bringing the group’s investment in the Michigan Senate race to more than $20 million.

Rogers currently has an advantage over El-Sayed in outside spending, with nearly $89 million spent on the GOP nominee, according to the Federal Election Commission. El-Sayed has had roughly $46 million spent in his favor, according to a Detroit News analysis of campaign finance data.

“We will be the envy of the country … I’m excited about this. I hope you are. Thirty days away, let’s get this done,” Rogers told supporters.

El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health official from Ann Arbor, has had a strained relationship with some Jewish Democrats because of his pro-Palestinian stance on the Israel-Hamas war and fervent criticism of the Israeli government.

Some Jewish Democrats in Michigan have signed a petition urging the candidate to change his view on U.S. policy to Israel. El-Sayed has opposed selling more U.S. weaponry to the Israeli military.

Mark Bernstein, a lifelong Democrat, prominent personal injury attorney and two-term regent at the University of Michigan, recently joined the petition alongside state Rep. Noah Arbit, D-West Bloomfield, and nine members of the board of the Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus.

Rogers is trying to capitalize on the minority group of voters.

“Jewish Democrats for Rogers, huge, it’s taken off like crazy,” he said.

El-Sayed’s campaign downplayed Rogers’ efforts to poach voters who historically side with Democrats in midterm elections.

“Abdul is proud to have built a broad coalition of Michiganders across demographics and party lines,” El-Sayed spokeswoman Roxie Richner said Oct. 3 in a statement. “Unlike Mike Rogers, Abdul goes everywhere and talks to everyone, with regular public events to take questions from voters.”

Rogers supporters express concerns about gas prices, cost of living

In interviews with supporters of Rogers canvassing Grand Rapids neighborhoods for votes on Oct. 3, they said they hope the cost of living will go down and that the war in Iran, which President Donald Trump started in February, will soon end.

The Iran war is widely blamed for high fuel prices Americans are paying at the pump; the average cost of unleaded gasoline in Michigan on Oct. 3 was $4.48 a gallon, nearly 43% higher than a year ago, according to AAA Michigan’s fuel price tracking data.

Rogers was set to walk with canvassers from Americans for Prosperity around Widdicombe Avenue in Grand Rapids but couldn’t stay after his speech, according to campaign staff.

“Sometimes things just happen and pop up, and we still knock doors,” said Billie Rajzer, the deputy state director for Americans for Prosperity.

Rajzer said the organization has knocked on around 700,000 doors in Michigan this election cycle and hopes to reach one million by November.

James Bullaro, a pre-law student at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, was canvassing for Americans for Prosperity. He said he wants an end to the war in Iran and lower gas prices.

“I would just like it to be over,” Bullaro said of the war. “I’d like gas to come back down. I’d like the American interest to be prioritized.”

In a recent TV ad, Rogers said that “the war with Iran needs to end and end quickly.” Rogers is following a recent trend of Republicans who are breaking with Trump on the Iran war, campaigning against the conflict weeks before Election Day.

Canvasser and Muskegon native Daniel Friedman said he wants housing prices to come down and the cost of living to become more affordable.

“We have a lot of really hard-working people in this country,” he said. “Young people who have never owned a home, a lot of people who want to start a family.

Over the past week, more than 122,000 Michiganders have already submitted their votes via absentee ballots, according to Michigan’s Secretary of State.

Rogers and El-Sayed are scheduled to have their first televised debate at 7 p.m. on Oct. 8 on WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids. The one-hour debate will be carried live in the Detroit TV market on WWJ-TV (CBS, Channel 62).

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Rogers acknowledges college vote weakness against El-Sayed

Reporting by Blace Carpenter, Special to The Detroit News / The Detroit News

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