Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, former Detroit health director and the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, leads former Republican congressman Mike Rogers by seven points, according to a Marist College poll released on Wednesday.
The race could determine which party controls the Senate in January.
El-Sayed, who has a history of anti-Israel comments and whom the Republican Jewish Coalition has called “the most antisemitic U.S. Senate candidate in America,” led Rogers, 51% to 44%, among registered voters, according to the poll.
Democrats need to win four Senate seats now held by Republicans and retain the ones they hold to win a majority in November. A loss in Michigan, where Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is retiring, would make that task much harder.
Alongside El-Sayed, Democratic nominee Jocelyn Benson has a 12-point lead, 53% to 41%, over Republican John James in the state’s race for governor, per the poll.
Some 42% said that they were going to the polls to vote against U.S. President Donald Trump, whose approval rating in the state sat at 41%, with 57% disapproving. Only 20% said their vote was to support Trump, and 37% said Trump was not much of a factor.
El-Sayed has drawn widespread criticism for campaigning with the antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker.
In an open letter, Jewish clergy in Michigan demanded that any candidate seeking their support agree to support policies that protect Jews from attacks, recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and welcome full Jewish participation in Democratic Party politics.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America is not endorsing El-Sayed, even as its CEO Halie Soifer wrote that “Democrats are really the only choice for Jewish voters, because a vote for any Republican is a vote for Donald Trump, and we normalize his presidency to the detriment and peril of our community, country and values.”
Another group, Michigan Jews for Democracy, is backing El-Sayed. It said that “we understand that a vote is not a valentine. It’s a strategic chess move.”
Rogers is pulling in support from some Jewish Democrats in the state. Hundreds of Michigan Jews have signed a petition in support of the Republican candidate.
The poll of 1,235 Michigan registered voters was conducted Sept. 24 to 27 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
