Vance makes final push for Rogers, James and Barrett in Michigan with continued attacks on El-Sayed

HOWELL — Vice President JD Vance was deployed once again to Michigan on Tuesday in a final push to boost the Republican Party ticket and to attack the Democratic ticket head-on, ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.

Both Vance and President Donald Trump have been barnstorming the state to shore up voter enthusiasm, with Trump pleading with his base to show up to the polls en masse and to vote as though he were on the ballot this year.

Vance continued that push for GOP enthusiasm in Howell during a rally at CHI Aviation, seeking to elevate the prospects of U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers, gubernatorial nominee John James of Shelby Township and U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte).

“In one week, we have an opportunity to vote for three Michigan patriots who are fighting for you,” Vance said of the GOP candidates. “Next Tuesday, we’re going to remind the entire country exactly who it is that loves America.”

 Vance, like Trump did in Port Huron on Sunday, dedicated most of his address to attacking Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, but steered away from the same type of anti-Muslim rhetoric that Republicans have used to argue that voters should reject the former Wayne County health director. 

Vance did, however, claim that El-Sayed wanted to defund the police, cited his association with podcaster Hasan Piker, and invoked the scenes of violent protests coming out of France, which Vance has claimed had been brought on by that nation’s immigration policies, which the vice president believed El-Sayed would also advocate for.

“If sovereignty means anything to us, it means that the nation belongs to the people of America,” Vance said. “When you forget that, it’s how you get Paris. And unfortunately, it’s exactly what El-Sayed wants to bring to the shores of the United States of America.”

A fact-check by the Associated Press determined that there was no evidence immigration policies were behind the unrest in France.

On Rogers, Vance said he believed the GOP candidate had shown courage in calling out El-Sayed’s alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and not letting up.

“One of the most important jobs of a United States Senator, who gets to spend their lives around a bunch of politicians, is that you have to be able to fully and carefully deal with bulls**t,” Vance said. “That’s exactly what Mike showed you he was able to do. As much as the media and the El-Sayed campaign lied about Mike Rogers, he was born and bred in Michigan, who is a son of the state of Michigan.”

Michigan Public’s fact check of allegations that El-Sayed’s mother had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which have formed the basis of Rogers’ attacks, found that “those claims don’t match the evidence.”

The president and vice president’s campaign stops in Michigan followed a Saturday rally in Detroit featuring former President Barack Obama and the Democratic slate up for election in 2026, with a heavy emphasis on boosting the prospects of El-Sayed and gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state. El-Sayed has been working to shore up the Democratic coalition following struggles with Jewish and Black voters, and Obama’s visit aimed to bridge some of the lingering divisions within the party.

Trump and Vance’s visits also acted as a hedge against whatever boost Obama might have given them, with Vance working Tuesday to try and deflate the momentum the Democrats have running in the final leg of the 2026 race.

Vance said that the current Republican platform, and the “Make America Great Again” movement it is based on, was about returning power to the people, again invoking American “sovereignty” and how that might be under attack from Democrats this cycle.

Vance claimed he and Trump have been delivering on that promise, helping to rein in inflation and high prices and have formed a government that has focused on cutting taxes, not raising them.

Trump’s war in Iran and his tariffs on U.S. trading partners, especially Canada, have nullified those assertions, with gas prices soaring and inflation hitting 3.7%.

Still, Vance spoke as if the economy under the Trump administration was the fault of Democrats who have not controlled the White House or Congress for nearly two years.

Rogers and James both spoke prior to Vance taking the stage, as did other key members of the Michigan Republican Party, including attorney general nominee Doug Lloyd, secretary of state nominee Anthony Forlini and U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte), the latter of which is in a tough reelection battle against challenger Will Lawrence in the 7th Congressional District.

Rogers said that through his own campaign outreach, it was his opinion that many Democrats have decided to vote against El-Sayed, which could give him a boost if stories about Democratic defections become a reality on election night.

“How many people is it going to take for us to start listening that this guy should never see through the threshold of the United States government?” Rogers said of El-Sayed. “If you can’t condemn terrorism you can’t be in the United States Senate. … Are we going to fall asleep at the switch over the next few days and allow someone who could not get a security clearance for any organization in the U.S. government to walk into the Senate representing us?

James said that all eyes appeared to be on Michigan, not just because of its contentious U.S. Senate race between Rogers and El-Sayed, but also key congressional races and his own race for governor.

“What happens here in one week will send shock rings around the world because of your effort, because you never quit,” James said in a pitch for Republicans to not sit the election out. “This will be a test of common sense versus crazy, and common sense will prevail. … There’s no such thing as patio patriots.”

Just after Vance’s remarks, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel released a statement scorning the vice president’s message.

“Today, JD Vance came back to Michigan to brag about the very policies that have driven up costs and left Michigan families worse off. Mike Rogers, John James, Tom Barrett, and Michigan Republicans have fully enabled and endorsed Trump and Vance’s corrupt, cost-raising agenda—from reckless tariffs and the Iran war to devastating healthcare cuts that funded billionaire tax breaks,” Hertel said. “Michiganders are fed up with the higher costs and rampant corruption fueled by this administration, and a week from now, they will reject Trump and the Michigan Republicans who enabled him at the ballot box.”