LANSING, Mich. — Michigan voters are already casting ballots in large numbers, and both major parties spent the weekend trying to make sure their own supporters follow. As of Sunday, 679,316 people, or 9.2% of the state’s registered voters, had returned a ballot for the Nov. 3 general election, based on state election figures released by Benson’s office.
Republicans opened the weekend in Birch Run, where roughly 100 party faithful gathered at a race track on Saturday. U.S. Rep. John James, the GOP nominee for governor, told the crowd the outcome would shape Michigan for a generation and pressed them to chase down every vote before Election Day.
Democrats answered on Sunday with a union-heavy rally at a carpenters and millwrights training center in Detroit, organized jointly by the Democratic Party and a regional carpenters union council. About 300 people turned out.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee for governor, centered her pitch on jobs and blamed tariffs and the war with Iran for higher prices on gas and groceries. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed cast himself as the pro-labor choice in his race against Republican Mike Rogers, who once served in Congress, and promised to back union organizing across every industry.
Down-ballot Democrats shared the stage, among them Eli Savit, who is running for attorney general, Garlin Gilchrist, now lieutenant governor and seeking Benson’s current job, and Donavan McKinney, a Detroit state lawmaker running for Congress in the 13th District. Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield urged city voters not to take the race for granted.
Detroit is shaping up as a key battleground in the Senate contest. Rogers opened a field office in the city over the weekend as he courts Black voters who backed U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens in the August primary and others with doubts about El-Sayed.
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