Nicki Minaj’s Senate Pick Loses Michigan Race

Nicki Minaj‘s Senate pick Mike Rogers fell short in Michigan, with Decision Desk HQ projecting Democrat Abdul El-Sayed as the winner.

The election forecaster called the race at 1:15 a.m. Eastern on November 4. The seat was held by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The projected victory would make El-Sayed the first Muslim U.S. senator.

Minaj had urged people to vote Republican and led chants for Rogers and Michigan gubernatorial candidate John James at Donald Trump’s October 25 rally. That event took place at McMorran Place Arena in Port Huron.

She also criticized El-Sayed over his October 28 appearance on “Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know.” El-Sayed had discussed the pressure he felt growing up brown, his parents missing basketball games and learning not to take himself so seriously. Minaj interpreted his account as jealousy toward white people.

“He needs to mend his heart before thinking about running for any office,” she wrote on October 31.

Common backed El-Sayed on the campaign trail, performing at his final Detroit rally on Monday, November 2. At least 650 people attended the event at the Majestic Theater, where Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Michigan Democratic leaders joined the candidate.

“And I know Michigan, and I know how big-hearted and open-minded and earnest and gritty, we in this state are,” El-Sayed told the crowd.

The campaign’s event listing advertised Common as a special guest and urged supporters to bring friends, contact family and knock on doors. El-Sayed’s final campaign video also used Eminem’s 2010 song “Not Afraid.”

El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, ran as a progressive who supported universal health care. He defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in the August 4 Democratic primary. Stevens then endorsed Rogers in the campaign’s final days.

Kamala Harris campaigned for El-Sayed in September, while Barack Obama joined him at a rally days before the election.

The contest drew well over $100 million in advertising after the August primary, according to The Associated Press.

Rogers, a former congressman who chaired the House Intelligence Committee, aligned himself with Trump in a state the president won in 2024. Rogers had also run for Michigan’s other Senate seat in 2024, losing to Democrat Elissa Slotkin by fewer than 20,000 votes.