Key Points
- Six candidates are printed on Michigan’s U.S. Senate ballot for the open seat, led by Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers, according to an official sample ballot.
- Statewide early in-person voting ends Sunday, Nov. 1. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
- Absentee ballots must reach the voter’s city or township clerk by 8 p.m. on Election Day, the Michigan Department of State says.
- A statewide recount is automatic if the margin is 0.1% of the votes cast or less, and state canvassers have until Nov. 23 to certify.
Status as of 6:45 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 31. Candidate names, dates and voting rules come from official Michigan state and local election sources. No votes have been counted.
The Michigan Senate race 2026 is a contest for an open seat, with Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers competing to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. This guide lists the candidates from official ballot records, explains the final voting deadlines, and sets out how Michigan counts, reports and certifies its results.
What happened
Peters is retiring after two terms, The Associated Press reported, and Michigan remains one of the nation’s most competitive battlegrounds. El-Sayed is a former Detroit public health official. Rogers is a former congressman.
Who is on the ballot
The official City of Livonia sample ballots for the Nov. 3 state general election print six names for U.S. Senate, listed here in the order they appear on the ballot:
- Abdul El-Sayed, Democrat
- Mike Rogers, Republican
- Lydia Christensen, Libertarian
- Tim Long, U.S. Taxpayers
- Douglas P. Marsh, Green
- Walter P. Kristy, Natural Law
Sample ballots published by Tuscola and Arenac counties list the same six candidates.
How the nominees got here
El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination in August, defeating Rep. Haley Stevens in the primary, the AP reported. Rogers was unopposed for the Republican nomination. He ran for Michigan’s other Senate seat in 2024 and narrowly lost to Democrat Elissa Slotkin, according to the AP.
Both campaigns have drawn national figures in the final days. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and former President Barack Obama each campaigned for their party’s candidates, the AP reported. El-Sayed has portrayed Rogers as a rubber stamp for Trump, while Rogers has said El-Sayed is too extreme for the state, according to the AP. If elected, El-Sayed would become the Senate’s first Muslim member, the AP noted.
Latest development
Tension from the Democratic primary resurfaced in the campaign’s final weekend. El-Sayed’s campaign asked Stevens to skip his events through Election Day so as “not to distract from the central issues of the campaign,” a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Stevens has endorsed El-Sayed but has called on him to condemn an outside group’s ad and to apologize for past remarks about Israel, Reuters reported. CBS News reported the same request, citing two sources. El-Sayed’s campaign has said it has no affiliation with the outside group, and in a Friday statement El-Sayed said Stevens “seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago,” CBS News reported.
What the polls show
Polls are snapshots, not forecasts, and LiveNewsWorld reports only surveys with published methods. A statewide poll by Mitchell Research & Communications for CBS Detroit and other Michigan television stations found 51% of likely voters backing El-Sayed and 44% backing Rogers, with 3% undecided and each third-party candidate at 1% or less. The poll of 636 likely voters was conducted Oct. 26 to 27, 2026, using online panels and survey links sent by text to randomly selected registered voters’ cell phones, and was weighted by demographics and past election results. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points, CBS Detroit reported. Other polls may differ. Our 2026 midterm election polls tracker explains how to read surveys like this one.
Why it matters
Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win control of the Senate, the AP reported, and Republicans hope that flipping the Michigan seat would block that path. Michigan is also electing a governor and voting in several competitive U.S. House districts on the same ballot. The six most populous counties, Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Kent, Genesee and Washtenaw, are key counties to watch, according to the AP. LiveNewsWorld does not publish predictions or win probabilities for this race.
What happens next
How to vote on Election Day
- Early voting: Statewide early in-person voting began Saturday, Oct. 24, and ends Sunday, Nov. 1, with sites open at least eight hours a day, according to the Michigan Department of State.
- Hours: Polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Voters in line at 8 p.m. can still vote.
- ID: Voters who have a photo ID must show it, but photo ID is not required. A voter without one can sign an affidavit and receive a regular ballot, the state’s Election Day guide says.
- Registration: Eligible residents who are not registered at their current address can register at their city or township clerk’s office with proof of residency until 8 p.m. on Election Day and vote there.
- Absentee ballots: Ballots must be received by the local clerk, including at an official drop box, by 8 p.m. on Election Day, according to the state’s absentee voting page. Registered voters can still request an absentee ballot in person at their clerk’s office until 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2. Military and overseas ballots postmarked by Election Day count if they arrive within six days.
How results are reported
A 2023 state law gives election officials more time to process mail ballots than they had in 2020, the AP reported. Cities and towns with at least 5,000 people may begin processing and tabulating absentee ballots up to eight days before Election Day, while smaller jurisdictions may begin the morning before. Detroit voters cannot feed absentee ballots into tabulators at their polling place, the Department of State says.
Most of Michigan is in the Eastern time zone, so most polls close at 8 p.m. ET. Some Upper Peninsula areas along the Wisconsin border use Central time and close at 9 p.m. ET, and the AP will not declare a statewide winner before then. The first updates are expected to mix mail, early in-person and Election Day votes, and the largest counties tend to release relatively few results at first, the AP reported. In the 2024 general election, the AP first reported Michigan results at 8:06 p.m. ET, the count reached the halfway mark at 12:12 a.m. ET, and the last update of the night came at 4:40 a.m. ET with about 99% counted.
The AP declares a winner only when there is no scenario in which a trailing candidate could close the gap. For the national picture, see our guide to when 2026 midterm results will be known.
Certification and recounts
According to a Brennan Center for Justice summary of Michigan election law, which a Protect Democracy guide matches, the deadlines are:
- Nov. 5: County boards of canvassers must meet by 9 a.m. to begin the official canvass.
- Nov. 17: Deadline for county boards to finish the canvass, 14 days after the election.
- Nov. 23: Deadline for the Board of State Canvassers to certify statewide and federal races, 20 days after the election.
Michigan’s constitution and election law describe certification as a ministerial, nondiscretionary duty of canvassing boards, the Brennan Center notes. A recount is automatic in a statewide race decided by 0.1% of the total votes or less, unless the losing candidate files a written request to override it within 48 hours after certification. Candidates may also request and pay for a recount if they have a “good-faith belief” that a counting error changed the outcome, the AP reported.
LiveNewsWorld will report Michigan returns as they are posted and will name the outlet behind any race call. No winner will be reported before one is declared by a named source.
Related live coverage
Follow every contested seat on our US Senate elections 2026 results page, find every guide in the US Midterm Elections 2026 hub, and get the latest Washington news on US Politics Live.
Sources
- City of Livonia (Wayne County), Mich.: Official sample ballots, Nov. 3, 2026 state general election; Tuscola and Arenac county sample ballots
- Michigan Department of State: Early in-person voting release (Oct. 23, 2026), absentee voting page and Election Day voting guide
- The Associated Press: Michigan election-night guide (Oct. 30, 2026); Reuters and CBS News (Oct. 31, 2026)
- CBS Detroit and Mitchell Research & Communications poll, conducted Oct. 26 to 27, 2026 (updated Oct. 28, 2026)
- Brennan Center for Justice and Protect Democracy summaries of Michigan certification law. Sources last updated 6:45 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026.
