Scoop: Schumer's super PAC doubles down in Michigan
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer arrives for a news conference at the Capitol on Tuesday. Photo: Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
The Democrats' main Senate super PAC is pouring an additional $10 million into the Michigan Senate race to boost progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The Democratic establishment is coalescing around El-Sayed after a primary that was nasty, bruising — and late in the season.
- Republicans see Michigan as a top pickup opportunity and are flooding the airwaves to elect former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.).
- "All pathways to a Senate majority run through Michigan," El-Sayed said Wednesday after meeting with Democratic senators at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters.
Driving the news: The fresh $10 million from Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), brings the group's spending in Michigan to $30 million. The new TV ads will begin airing Tuesday.
- "Mike Rogers spent years building a fortune everywhere but Michigan. Now he wants Donald Trump and Elon Musk to hand him a Senate seat," said Lauren French, a spokesperson for SMP. "We're not letting that happen."
Between the lines: Ahead of a private meeting with Schumer on Wednesday, El-Sayed declined to say if he would support him for Democratic leader next year.
- "I'm looking forward to a productive meeting because we need to win in the state of Michigan," he told reporters.
What we're hearing: Senators from across the ideological spectrum dropped by his DSCC open house, with El-Sayed personally assuring them that he would work hard to join them in the Senate next year, according to people familiar with the gathering.
- The conversations were friendly and forward-looking, and senators posed for pictures with El-Sayed.
- "He's a great candidate. He's going to win, and we are all united," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the DSCC chair.
- Sen. Mark Kelly, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, announced he would campaign with El-Sayed next month.
The other side: Republican outside groups are also pouring tens of millions of dollars into Michigan.
- A MAGA-aligned super PAC is preparing to spend $18 million in the state.
- In August, shortly after El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary, Senate Leadership Fund — the GOP's main Senate super PAC — announced an additional $6 million for Michigan, bringing its total commitment in the state to $51 million.
- The pro-Rogers Great Lakes Conservatives Fund has already spent about $10 million in the race.
Zoom out: Since El-Sayed's Aug. 4 victory over Stevens, Democrats have been working to heal the raw divisions from the primary.
- But there are still some holdouts: Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) has declined to endorse El-Sayed.
- Michigan Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters, meanwhile, have been urging their colleagues to rally around the Democratic nominee. Stevens has offered her full support.
Zoom in: Republicans have attacked El-Sayed over his ties to Hasan Piker, a prominent left-wing streamer who campaigned with El-Sayed during the primary and whose comments about American Jews and Israel have been condemned as antisemitic by prominent Democrats.
- Last month, El-Sayed apologized for comments he made about a March attack on a suburban Detroit synagogue by a Lebanese-born man, in which he said that "hurt people hurt people."
- El-Sayed has since put distance between himself and Piker, telling Semafor last month that he has "no plans" to campaign with the streamer again.
