Here we go.
The final debate for the United States Senate seat being vacated by retiring Michigan Democrat senior Senator Gary Peters is tonight, and to say I'm stoked is an understatement.
Quite frankly, the start time is a bit too late for me (7 PM ET), but I'm taking all the necessary precautions to overcome it by staying up later than I normally would, being that I'm getting old.
Even writing that I'm getting old to you fine RedState readers is a bit too much for moi!
This race is critically important for the GOP not only to keep the Senate in Republican control but to pick up a seat that the GOP has not held for almost 32 years. Yes, that is over three decades, I know.
For a refresher on what I wrote earlier this week, see: High-Ranking Republican Calls Out What She Sees As the Dems' New Base, and She Is Probably Right and Why Michigan's Senate Race Matters So Much to the GOP's Fight to Keep Its Majority.
Personally, I have concerns about whether the House of Representatives will stay in GOP control, but I sincerely hope the United States Senate will. If we get one of the two, that will be a win for me and for the country as a whole.
From Scripps:
Less than two weeks before what could be a pivotal U.S. Senate race, Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed will debate Wednesday, with polling showing a deadlocked contest.
El-Sayed is vying to become the first Muslim American elected to the U.S. Senate. Rogers is hoping to become the first Republican to represent Michigan in the Senate since Spencer Abraham, who lost his reelection bid in 2000. Democrats have won nine consecutive U.S. Senate races in Michigan.
Republican nominee Mike Rogers, a former congressman who represented the 8th Congressional District, has walked this tightrope before, serving 14 years in the House. And in 2024, he barely lost his Senate campaign to then-Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-07) by less than 20,000 votes.
Polling has tightened up before the election, as it usually does, and that is a good sign for Rogers.
A Marist poll released Wednesday showed El-Sayed leading Rogers 50% to 48%, a difference within the poll’s margin of error. The poll also found both candidates had high unfavorable ratings. Forty-eight percent of likely voters viewed El-Sayed unfavorably, while 52% had an unfavorable view of Rogers.
Now you might think that being down in a poll by these percentages this close to an election is not great, yet for a lifelong resident of the Mitten State, I think that is better than the five- to seven-point alleged lead Democrat nominee Abdul El-Sayed supposedly held over a month ago.
That is a great sign with less than two weeks to go.
Now you may detect I'm just a tad bit angsty about this election since it has been a while since Michigan has actually sent a Republican to the upper chamber of Congress, and you would be right, since it has been almost 32 years.
I am indeed angsty about it.
Rogers seems to be an incredibly decent fella, and against El-Sayed, he should be a no-brainer and win.
Easily.
Yet President Donald Trump barely won here in 2016 by around 11,000 votes and in 2024 by almost 80,000 votes. Though the margins improved in 2024, it was still too close for my comfort.
El-Sayed has many issues that should really concern Michigan voters, like his chumminess with Hasan Piker, who has been criticized by other Democrats but not by El-Sayed.
Weird.
El-Sayed has trouble saying anything positive about one of America's oldest allies in the Middle East, Israel, yet it looks like he is being sympathetic to America's nemesis, Iran, which has been a thorn in our side since 1979.
Odd.
I could go on and on about other small things that El-Sayed says he wants, like universal healthcare and moving to a Canadian-type system, which, oddly enough, Canadians come here for and generally pay out of pocket for, according to the Canadian Medical Association:
While it’s not known exactly how many Canadians go to the U.S. for health care, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos in March 2024, 42% of Canadians would go to the U.S. and personally pay for routine health care if needed. That’s 10% more when compared to January 2023. Of those who responded, 38% said that they would travel to the U.S. for emergency care, a number that's up 9% from the previous year.
Canadians would rather pay over and above what they do in taxes to come here and not wait as long for care.
Yet El-Sayed wants that for here?
Why? For kicks?
The idea of him becoming a senator is simply depressing, and Michigan can avoid it in less than two weeks.
Let's pray that we do.