LANSING, Mich. — President Donald Trump took his final pitch to Michigan voters by telephone over the weekend, telling listeners on a roughly 12-minute tele-rally Saturday that no Michigan election has ever mattered more than this year’s Senate matchup of Republican Mike Rogers against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
The president gave Michigan supporters less than an hour’s notice on social media, telling them to pick up when their phones rang. How many people joined the call is unknown. The Republican National Committee said the late telephone push covered 19 states, among them Texas, Alaska, Florida and New Mexico.
Trump vouched for Rogers and for U.S. Rep. John James, the Republican nominee for governor, and repeated a line from his Oct. 25 rally in Port Huron, asking voters to act as though his own name were on the ballot. He also singled out three U.S. House seats now held by Republicans but rated toss-ups, the 4th, 7th and 10th districts, naming Bill Huizenga, Mike Bouchard and Tom Barrett. Those contests rank among the most expensive House races on record.
He is not expected to return to Michigan before Tuesday. Vice President JD Vance campaigned in Howell last week for many of the same candidates, and former President Barack Obama rallied with Democrats in Detroit the weekend before, backing El-Sayed, gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson and the rest of the ticket.
Michigan voters were already turning out in large numbers before the final weekend. One week before Election Day, the Michigan Department of State counted 1,392,170 ballots already cast, an 18.8% turnout rate among active registered voters, with more than 1.1 million mailed absentee ballots and over 215,000 votes at early voting sites. By Nov. 1, the total had climbed to just under 2.2 million, about 29% of active registered voters.
Early in-person voting ended Sunday. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
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