Rogers, El-Sayed face off in Michigan

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Rogers, El-Sayed debate

Rogers, El-Sayed debate

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Programming note: We’re Claire Leibowitz and Abigail Walker, filling in for Cate today. Please send your tips, comments and story ideas to cleibowitz@thehill.com or awalker@thehill.com.   

💥 ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL 

Major Michigan match-up: 

Paul Sancya, Associated Press

Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and his Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed are facing off in their first Senate debate Thursday night.

The tightly contested race has shined a spotlight on Michigan, which President Trump won in 2024, and former President Biden took in 2020.

This is not the first planned debate between the two. They were set to face off last month, but Rogers skipped out because he said the moderator showed “favoritism” toward his Democratic opponent. 

Talking points: Rogers, who has championed most of Trump’s policies on the campaign trail, broke with the president on Wednesday after calling for an end to the U.S.’s trade war with Canada.

Tonight, he will likely have to defend his stance, in addition to the war in Iran and affordability. The GOP is navigating a difficult midterm landscape, especially as Trump’s approval rating continues to plummet.

El-Sayed, who beat the more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) in the Democratic primary, will likely field debate questions that focus on his more leftist policies, including past calls to defund the police and connections to left-wing streamer Hasan Piker.

Big figures in the fray: Trump called El-Sayed “terrible” and said he “goes back to the days of the Jihad” on Truth Social on Wednesday. He also said Rogers is an “extremely good candidate.”

El-Sayed has been endorsed by former Vice President Harris, who campaigned alongside him last month. And former President Obama is set to rally with him later this month.

What, when, where: Rogers and El-Sayed are facing off in Grand Rapids. The debate will be televised at 7 p.m. EDT by WOOD TV8, a news station owned by The Hill’s parent company, Nexstar Media.

Scott Tranter, Decision Desk HQ’s (DDHQ) director of data science, on Sunday said that “time is running out” for Rogers to close the gap between him and........

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