El-Sayed Predicts Seven-Point Win Amid Michigan Outreach Doubts

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is predicting a seven-point victory over Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan, according to a New York Post opinion column published Oct. 7, 2026. The column, citing a CNN dispatch on the race, describes unresolved concerns among Black and Jewish community leaders about his campaign's outreach with Election Day less than a month away.

What margin is El-Sayed predicting?

El-Sayed has told reporters he expects to beat Rogers by seven points, the column reports, even as it characterizes the broader contest — citing unnamed campaign insiders — as hypercompetitive with outstanding questions still unresolved. Central among them, per the column: whether El-Sayed has done enough to satisfy Democratic-leaning groups who remain skeptical of his candidacy.

What happened with Detroit's Black community leaders?

CNN reported, as cited in the column, that "Black and Jewish leaders are warning that they and many in their communities need more outreach." In Detroit — a city El-Sayed needs to carry by a wide margin to defeat Rogers, the column notes — one Black community leader told CNN he came away believing El-Sayed's campaign thought "they don't necessarily need to work as hard to get the black vote." That leader said he was later excluded from a roundtable event the campaign had promised to include him in. He subsequently met with Rogers' campaign, then texted El-Sayed to say he "felt bad." El-Sayed did not respond, according to the column, prompting the leader's verdict: "F—k him."

What are Lansing Mayor Andy Schor's concerns?

Andy Schor, the Democratic mayor of Lansing — Michigan's sixth-largest city, per the column — said El-Sayed had not contacted him with Election Day under a month away. "If he doesn't need me, he doesn't need me. And that's their strategic decision," Schor said, according to the column. Schor added he will not vote for Rogers but said he cannot back El-Sayed until the two discuss the candidate's "attitude toward Jews and unhealthy obsession with the only nation in which they constitute a majority" — a characterization made by the column's author rather than a direct quote from Schor.

How does El-Sayed describe his own outreach?

El-Sayed, for his part, expressed confidence in his community engagement. "Every community that I've met with, I've said, 'Leading for and with your community is a concern and a key consideration for me,'" he said, as quoted in the column.

By the numbers

• 7 points: El-Sayed's predicted margin of victory over Rogers.
• Fewer than 30 days: Time remaining until Election Day as of the column's Oct. 7, 2026 publication.
• 6th: Lansing's rank among Michigan's largest cities, where Mayor Schor says he has not heard from El-Sayed.

What do "roundtable" and "outreach" mean here?

A campaign roundtable is a small, invitation-only discussion meant to let a candidate hear directly from community representatives. Outreach refers to a campaign's sustained effort — meetings, calls, events — to build trust with a specific voter bloc rather than assuming its support. Both terms recur in the column's account of friction between El-Sayed and Black and Jewish leaders in Michigan.