Farmington Hills residents will choose between two Oakland County figures this November after the Aug. 4 primary set the matchup for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat: Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who grew up in Bloomfield Hills, against Republican Mike Rogers of White Lake Township.
NBC News projected El-Sayed the winner the morning of Aug. 5 over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, the congresswoman who currently represents Farmington Hills in the 11th District. El-Sayed held a roughly one-point lead statewide with about 4% of ballots still uncounted. Rogers ran unopposed on the Republican side.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Stevens carried Oakland County, but it wasn't enough
Stevens won Oakland County, where one in seven statewide ballots is cast, along with Wayne, Macomb and Genesee counties, according to CBS News. El-Sayed built his margin in Kent, Washtenaw, Kalamazoo and Ingham counties. Precinct-level results for Farmington and Farmington Hills were not yet available as of Aug. 5.
The race was the third most expensive Senate primary in U.S. history. Stevens and her allied groups outspent El-Sayed's side nearly nine to one on advertising, with the United Democracy Project, a PAC affiliated with AIPAC, among the biggest outside spenders in the race, per Bridge Michigan.
"We didn't know they were going to spend $70 million of their money. We didn't know that they were going to outspend us $11 to $1. And yet we're still standing," El-Sayed told supporters at his watch party at the Majestic Theater in Detroit in the early hours of Aug. 5, according to Michigan Advance.
What's at stake locally
The seat opens because Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Bloomfield Township, is retiring. Republicans haven't won a Michigan Senate race since 1994. Rogers came within roughly 19,000 votes of beating now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin in 2024, according to certified state results, even as Trump carried Michigan at the top of the ticket.
Cook Political Report rates the November contest a toss-up, and outside groups have already booked tens of millions in ad time. The Republican Senate Leadership Fund reserved $27.8 million, while Democratic group WinSenate booked $17.4 million, according to AdImpact.
Oakland County sits at the center of that fight. Democrats have steadily expanded their margins in the county even as Trump won Michigan in 2016 and 2024, making Farmington Hills and its neighbors prime swing territory for both campaigns heading into the fall.
The candidates
El-Sayed, 41, is a physician and epidemiologist who served as Detroit's health department director and Wayne County's health director. He ran for governor in 2018, losing to Gretchen Whitmer by 22 points. He won endorsements from the United Auto Workers, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. If elected, he would be the first Muslim U.S. senator.
Rogers is a former FBI special agent and former congressman who represented Michigan's 8th District. He earned Trump's early endorsement, which cleared the GOP primary field.
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the Senate race July 5 but remained on the ballot, took about 4% of the Democratic vote and endorsed El-Sayed after the race was called.
What to watch
No general-election debate schedule or campaign-stop calendar has been announced. With both candidates rooted in Oakland County, Farmington-area voters can expect heavy outreach through November. Voter registration information and certified results will be posted here.
