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Michigan voters explain switching sides in El-Sayed-Rogers contest

USA TODAY hears from a Democrat backing Rogers and farmers reconsidering Republican support as rising costs shape their choices.

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USA TODAY Story of November 3, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of USA TODAY's most watched videos since yesterday, with 71,143 views.

Abdul El-Sayed or Mike Rogers? In Michigan election, voters flip Democrat, Republican allegiances

Things we can learn from the video

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0:00Lifelong Democrat Chelsea Rebeck says she will vote for Rogers to avoid political extremes.
2:15Julio Borquez explains how economic pressures can turn midterms into a referendum on the administration.
3:21Mike Kassab favors Rogers over ideological concerns; Tammi Farmer backs El-Sayed as the candidate she expects to act.
6:38Jason DeLille and Russell Ketchum describe financial pressure on farms, including fuel and fertilizer costs.
9:36Winery operator Maxx Eichberg says tariffs and high costs could push farmers toward Democrats.

Chelsea Rebeck describes herself as a lifelong Democrat, but her Senate vote is going to Republican Mike Rogers. In USA TODAY's Michigan report, she says she wants to avoid political extremes and sees Rogers as someone who could work across party lines.

Other interviewees are moving in the opposite direction. Farmer Jason DeLille voices disillusionment with Donald Trump, while winery operator Maxx Eichberg says tariffs and high costs are hurting his business. Eichberg expects several farmers to switch to voting Democratic.

Those accounts add a different perspective to a Senate contest often discussed through campaign endorsements: voters explaining why their previous party loyalties no longer settle the choice. Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Rogers are competing for the seat being vacated by Gary Peters, with control of the Senate among the stakes.

Economic frustration runs through the interviews. Leonard McLaughlin backs El-Sayed and describes a middle class squeezed between wealth and poverty. Farmers DeLille and Russell Ketchum discuss expensive fuel and fertilizer. Political scientist Julio Borquez connects those pressures to the familiar role of midterms as a judgment on the administration.

The disagreements extend beyond household bills. Mike Kassab says concerns about El-Sayed's ideology lead him to Rogers. Faye Nemer supports El-Sayed and criticizes rhetoric from Rogers and Trump that she considers alienating to Arab and Muslim Americans.

These interviews are individual accounts, not a measure of how Michigan will vote. Their distinctive contribution is the detail behind the decisions: for Eichberg, the election reaches directly into the cost of running his winery.

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