If Republicans win the Michigan Senate race, they will keep the majority.
The stakes are as simple as that.
But now Republicans just made one massive concession that Abdul El-Sayed never saw coming.
Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic primary because of his opposition to aid to Israel.
El-Sayed called for ending all arms shipments to Israel and cutting off all American money flowing into Israel.
Chuck Schumer and the American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC) poured $60 million into the primary to defeat El-Sayed.
When El-Sayed defeated Schumer and AIPAC’s handpicked candidate, AIPAC, a powerful political lobby, immediately moved into general election mode and made plans to pump tens of millions of dollars into TV ads to support El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers.
Rogers was one of the most pro-Israel members in his time in the House.
But stunned everyone by rejecting AIPAC’s support against El-Sayed, leading AIPAC to shelve planned commercials.
“Rogers spoke with AIPAC chair Michael Tuchin in Los Angeles last week. The next day, AIPAC shelved an already-cut video ad targeting Rogers’ Democratic rival, outspoken Israel critic Abdul El-Sayed,” Axios reported.
Rogers offered AIPAC two other paths to helping him: having its donors contribute to a pro-Rogers Super PAC or hiring AIPAC’s political strategists.
“One option: Directing AIPAC donors to a pro-Rogers super PAC instead of the group running its own ads, or a joint fundraising group the Rogers campaign has established with the national GOP,” Axios reported, adding that “Rogers’ team also proposed hiring AIPAC’s political strategists to help guide its effort.”
AIPAC rejected both of those offers as it wanted to be seen as publicly supporting the effort to beat El-Sayed since being forced to work behind the scenes to defeat El-Sayed was just as much an admission of its diminished political clout as Rogers declining its help outright,
“But AIPAC officials weren’t satisfied: The group wanted a visible role in defeating El-Sayed and argued that because Rogers is strongly pro-Israel, El-Sayed would tie him to the pro-Israel lobbying group regardless,” Axios also reported.
Rogers didn’t want AIPAC front and center in the campaign because it served as a driving issue in the Democratic primary, and Israel is unpopular in Michigan.
“A recent Fox News poll found 55% of Michigan voters oppose continued U.S. aid to Israel,” Axios added.
Both Rogers and AIPAC acted like this was no big deal.
“I welcome any and all support from the pro-Israel community, and I’m proud to have their involvement,” Rogers said to Axios.
“We appreciate [former] Rep. Mike Rogers’ welcoming of pro-Israel support. Our members are highly motivated to be involved in this race, and we will be looking at every option to make the case that El-Sayed’s policies are bad for Michigan and bad for America,” AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa told Axios.
But Israel is seeing declining popularity across the United States and among younger Republicans.
An AP/NORC poll found that the number of Republicans who said America isn’t supportive enough of Israel dropped from 39 to 15 percent since 2024.
Pew found that 57 percent of Republicans under the age of 50 have a negative view of Israel.
Michigan is central to the GOP’s chances of holding the Senate, and Rogers is taking the unprecedented step of sidelining AIPAC, an unheard-of move as recently as 2024.
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