Michigan's Statewide Elections and New Canvassing Operations

Digital Ground Game August Midterms Report

This August, Digital Ground Game is using our monthly Midterms Report to bolster enthusiasm for the elections that our canvassing teams will be working on in Michigan. Given Michigan’s position as a key seat that Democrats need to defend to retake the Senate and our organization’s plans to work on the race, we decided covering the state was worthwhile despite the national attention it’s already gotten. Hopefully we can offer more insight into the candidates than just what gets pumped up into the national news.

State Highlight: Michigan

Michigan has no shortage of reasons to keep a close eye on it; the state has long been considered a political bellwether, having backed the winning presidential candidate all but six times since 1920. Following 2016, Michigan solidified itself as a swing state, leading to nearly any statewide election coming in on a razor's edge ^[1]. Considering the state’s tight partisan split, it’s no mystery that such a fiery primary has stirred up to determine who is best suited to win the U.S. Senate’s general election.

Senate

Following incumbent Senator Gary Peters’ January 2025 announcement that he wouldn't be running for reelection, challengers scrambled to fill the now open seat. With the state going for Trump in the 2024 presidential election and the last Senate race going to Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin by only 0.3% the same year, Democrats are sweating at the prospect of defending the office without an incumbent advantage ^[2]. While Republicans landed soundly on the same Mike Rogers who narrowly lost to Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic Party ticket has been hotly contested. Polling for the Democratic nominee was locked in a three-way tie until June this year when state Senator Mallory McMorrow’s numbers suddenly began dropping, leading to her withdrawal in early July ^[3]. Given that, we’ll be focusing on the two remaining Democratic candidates, Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed.

Haley Stevens - D

Representative for Michigan’s 11th district in the U.S. House of Representatives and former chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Auto Task Force in the Obama administration, Haley Stevens is the more moderate of the two remaining democratic candidates. Her master’s degree in social policy and extensive history, while in office,  working with the manufacturing industry make her eminently qualified to legislate for a highly industrialized economy like Michigan ^[4]. Stevens’ record is bolstered by her role helping to write the CHIPs and Science Act, a key piece of legislation in the Biden administration’s agenda meant to insulate America’s economy from China’s influence and onshore technological manufacturing. The Haley Stevens campaign site has a somewhat abnormal format, opting for a drop-down menu at the top left of the screen that reveals the section tabs. Her policy tab labeled “Hope Agenda” goes for more of a “short and sweet” approach, but it left me somewhat wanting; her policies have a strong focus on bolstering industry but don't stray much outside of that. I’ve seen Stevens discuss national security outside of my research here, and I know she's well informed and opinionated about it. Hence, it was disappointing that she didn’t touch on the subject on her policy page ^[5]. Other than that, her policies were fine. It can be difficult to present a new policy platform when you’ve already been in office legislating for seven years; I would advise incumbents to provide a section parallel to a policy tab that covers the legislation they've worked on in office to avoid this issue.

Abdul El-Sayed - D

Former Executive Director of the Detroit Health Department and author, Abdul El-Sayed is running from the populist left flank of the party ^[6]. El-Sayed uses his background in public health to center much of his policy platform, largely focusing on expansion of government services like Medicare for All and insulating public health agencies from politics. He uses a heavily populist messaging style which can certainly be an effective campaign strategy, but in this case, I can't help but feel like valuable information about Abdul’s background that would appeal to voters is being lost in that oversimplification. El-Sayed’s record genuinely stands on its own as impressive, but his tendency to exaggerate accomplishments, such as his claim that he “erased” medical debt ^[7], cheapens his real successes. The Abdul for Senate campaign website is quite well designed; it’s easy to navigate and fairly thorough, if a bit wordy. El-Sayed’s populist frame leads to some silly economic proposals, and at times vague planning, but his policies are well written and easy to understand. I was pleasantly surprised to see his section on foreign policy was largely moderate and grounded; populist candidates often lean toward a reclusive international stance, so it’s good to see Abdul isn't falling into that trend. One concern I had with the section was that the policy writing was incredibly long-winded. I have difficulty imagining the average voter being willing to read through all of it ^[8].

Mike Rogers - R

Regardless of which Democrat prevails, they’ll be facing Mike Rogers, the Army veteran and former U.S. Representative who only narrowly failed to secure a Senate seat two years ago. With his 30 year career in various public service roles, Rogers is no slouch as far as candidates go ^[9]. Following his time in the U.S. Army, he worked as a special agent at the FBI’s Chicago office until 1994 when he was elected to the Michigan State Senate. Mike closed his time in the State Senate with a two-year stint as the body’s majority leader before transitioning to his 14-year career in the U.S. House of Representatives ^[10]. Although his pre-Trump record is impressive, in recent years Mike has gotten into election conspiracies and even has two people who were pardoned for their role in Trump’s fake electors scheme working as county co-chairs in his 2026 campaign ^[11]. The Mike Rogers campaign website seems almost like it’s unfinished. The style and some of the features on the site are elements I’d like to see more candidates adopt, like short-form videos explaining each policy. Still, Rogers only displays a small collection of housing policy proposals. The policy vision he’s delivering to voters is that of marginally reduced housing costs and the possibility of tax cuts for construction company owners ^[12].

Strategy

Because this report will be published ahead of the primary election in this race, my goal is to be as truthful and upfront as possible about the pros and cons of each candidate as I see them. I want to stress that regardless of whether they improve before the nominee is decided, either of the Democratic candidates would be an infinitely better choice than Mike Rogers, and it's imperative that we defend this Senate seat no matter what. Even so, I see the overarching theme between the Democratic candidates in this race as wasted potential, so I’ll offer suggestions based on that. Haley Stevens has a strong track record; she's been a public servant for most of her adult life and has a history of doing work that directly benefits Michiganders and the industries they rely on. The issue is: you wouldn't know that by her media footprint unless you really put effort into finding it. Stevens needs to massively increase the number of interviews and digital literature she puts out. One simple and easy action she could take immediately is to add a tab to her campaign website that talks in detail about the work she's done in government with a promise to continue that work if elected. Abdul El-Sayed has a similar but harder-to-fix issue, in my opinion. His habit of exaggerating elements of his history takes attention away from his real accomplishments and saps time in interviews he could otherwise use to highlight his qualifications to be a legislator. His work running the Detroit Health Department gave him a first-hand look at where public health policies succeed or fail because it was his job to administer them; this much better prepares him for work as a Senator than his claimed history as a physician. This exact argument is being made by one of the possible replacements for Graham Platner in Maine, Nirav Shah, who oversaw Maine’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and served as Principal Deputy Director of the CDC from 2023 to 2025 ^[13]. Some of these issues are not fixable because El-Sayed has already publicly doubled down on them. Still, he might be able to somewhat right the ship by emphasizing the relevance of his work in public health more going forward and allowing his accomplishments to stand on their own. A smaller, more immediate action Abdul could take is to add sub-sections to his campaign site’s policy pages that offer a shorter summarized version for constituents who don't want to read the extensive policy proposals.

Governor

With incumbent Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer term-limited, the gubernatorial race opened with a broad field of challengers vying for the seat. As primaries approached, many candidates dropped out, and the parties began circling favored candidates, leaving only a handful with any real viability. Given Whitmer’s above-average polling for a second-term governor ^[14], it’s no surprise that the Democratic nominee holds a healthy lead in the polls ^[15]. Despite the relative safety of the race, given Digital Ground Game’s canvassing operations in the state, our team wanted both of the major statewide races covered this month.

Jocelyn Benson - D

Leading the Democratic primary ticket by far is Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State and the developer of the DNC’s first nationwide Election Protection program in 2004 aimed at protecting access to free and fair elections across the country. Prior to her public service, Benson also worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the SPLC, and even as a legal assistant to one of NPR’s American legal affairs correspondents ^[16]. Given her history, she’s more than qualified for the role of governor; as it is, the Secretary of State is third in the line of succession and operates as acting governor in the event that the governor and lieutenant governor are both out of state. The Jocelyn Benson for governor campaign site uses its bio tab to detail the successes she’s had in her tenure as Michigan Secretary of State, something I’d like to see more from candidates who previously held public office. Her policy section is well organized: she first provides an overarching narrative laying out her view of the policy field, then links to a list of specific policies that would address the issues she’s identified. Benson’s policy strategy seems to strike a happy medium, using more populist messaging to promote a technocratic, data-driven approach to the state’s problems. This approach sounds good in theory, but seemingly fell short in the case of Mallory McMorrow’s Senate campaign; it’s possible the strategy will be more effective in a gubernatorial race ^[17].

John James - R

Of the three remaining Republican candidates, the one seemingly leading the pack is Army veteran and U.S. Representative for Michigan’s 10th District, John James. John’s background is a mixed bag; his master’s degree in supply chain management could be useful in managing the state, but outside of his military service and recent stint in Congress, his work history appears to largely consist of working for his father’s company ^[18]. Having previously lost two statewide bids for the Senate in 2018 and 2020, narrowly winning the seat in his own house district, and consistently polling below his contemporaries when placed against Benson ^[15], James appears to be a somewhat ill-advised choice to be the nominee here ^[19]. The biggest advantage for Republicans I can see to James being the nominee is his name recognition over the other options. The John James for Michigan campaign website immediately makes clear the message James wants his voters to hear by opening to a portrait of him and the president and a screenshot of Trump’s social media endorsement of the campaign. His policy page is extensive, but a bit disorganized and peppered with right-wing conspiracy dog whistles — this is especially pronounced in the section proposing reparations for people supposedly wronged by 2020 quarantine protocols. Even some of his more mundane policies, like those aimed at improving government transparency, notably lack any stated intention to instate nonpartisan boards to run them, which leaves them vulnerable to corruption and government overreach ^[20]. Given Michigan’s close partisan split, my intuition would be that a more moderate campaign would perform better in a statewide election, but John appears to be doing the opposite.

Strategy

Given Benson’s record and credentials, the best suggestion I can offer is to improve communications so that as many constituents as possible know about her accomplishments. One of the simplest actions she could take would be to add short-form vertical videos featuring her explaining the motivation behind and the planned execution of each of the policy proposals on her campaign website. Using embedded YouTube shorts to accomplish this would have the dual benefit of easy sharing for constituents and the potential for cross-pollination between the campaign site and Benson’s YouTube page. Using attack ads to highlight the more radical elements of James’s policy platform could also help to pull swing voters away from him.

Canvassing Operation Announcement

To close out this month’s report, we want to highlight Digital Ground Game’s canvassing operations that have been ramping up. Currently, we have two canvassing houses in operation: one in Michigan District 7, East Lansing, and one in Ohio District 9, Toledo. Our canvassers will be continuing to door knock all the way to Election Day this November. In Michigan, our team will be supporting whichever candidate wins the Democratic primary, so be aware of that if you are considering signing up. Canvassers participating will receive a monthly stipend, and the essentials like food, gas, and rent will be provided by Digital Ground Game. Those participating will be connecting with local politicians and their staffers as well as speaking to voters directly via door knocking. This is a great opportunity for those looking to build experience in field organizing. For those interested, please fill out the interest form linked here.

Closer

We encourage anyone interested in canvassing work to fill out the interest form above! Our team is constantly working to expand and improve the functions on our website, so we encourage readers to check back regularly so they don't miss any new tools added by our dev team. If you want more immediate, real time updates on Digital Ground Game, be sure to keep an eye on our website or join our Discord, where you can talk to our staff directly about news and upcoming projects.