Michigan Democrats packed a Detroit union hall Sunday to make their closing pitch to organized labor, with gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson and U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed headlining a get-out-the-vote rally just six days before the state's early voting window opens. The event unfolded at the Detroit Union Carpenters and Millwrights Skilled Training Center, with Michigan's November 3 general election bearing down fast.
The rally was hosted jointly by the Michigan Democratic Party and the Northern Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters, according to Michigan Advance. Benson, who serves as Michigan's secretary of state, told the crowd she felt optimistic about Democratic chances and pledged to keep fighting for workers' rights if elected governor. She faces Republican nominee John James, a U.S. representative from Shelby Township, in Michigan's first open-seat gubernatorial race in eight years.
Benson argued that tariffs and the war in Iran are cutting jobs and driving up prices, and she vowed to protect jobs and lower costs if she wins the governor's office, per the same report. Her remarks came just three days after she and James met for their second and final debate at WDIV studios in Detroit, where the two sparred over economic affordability, corporate tax incentives and public school funding, according to WDIV Local 4.
El-Sayed Leans Into Pro-Union Message Against Rogers
El-Sayed positioned himself as the pro-union candidate in his Senate race against Mike Rogers, a former U.S. representative and Republican candidate from White Lake. El-Sayed said he would seek conditions that allow union organizing in every sector of American life and pledged to stand with workers against corporations that try to dictate terms, the Michigan Advance report states.
He also pushed back on the idea that the race is about him personally, saying he has focused on issues affecting working people rather than his own candidacy, and that he plans to keep campaigning for the next 16 days and beyond. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both opposed El-Sayed's candidacy, according to the article, with Vance delivering remarks in Michigan that focused on El-Sayed, his platform and his comments on his Muslim faith.
The Sunday rally arrived nine days after El-Sayed and Rogers clashed in their first televised debate at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, where the candidates sparred intensely over tariffs, corporate influence and personal credentials, as reported by PBS News. Rogers had skipped an earlier Detroit debate over moderator objections, making Grand Rapids their first face-to-face matchup.
Detroit Emerges as a Battleground Within the Battleground
Detroit, a majority-Black city that has consistently backed Democratic candidates, is a major battleground for both parties this cycle. Rogers is working to cut into El-Sayed's support there, courting Black voters who favored Haley Stevens — who performed strongest against El-Sayed in the Democratic primary — along with voters who have reservations about El-Sayed and members of Detroit's Jewish community, per Michigan Advance. Rogers opened a field office in Detroit on Saturday.
Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield spoke at Sunday's rally and urged Detroiters to vote for the Democratic ticket, saying that voter participation helps determine outcomes for families, communities and the state. Her appearance followed an October 14 press conference where Detroit civic, union and educational leaders criticized Rogers' outreach to Black voters, pointing to his 1999 vote for Public Act 10, which dissolved Detroit's elected school board under then-Gov. John Engler, according to Hoodline's earlier coverage.
Also on hand Sunday were Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, the Democratic secretary of state nominee; Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, running for attorney general; state Rep. Donavan McKinney, the Democratic nominee in the 13th Congressional District; and House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri. Each emphasized union support and the stakes of the November election alongside Benson and El-Sayed, the Michigan Advance account notes.
Labor's Outsized Role in a Post-Right-to-Work Michigan
The rally's union-hall setting underscores how central organized labor has become to Michigan Democrats' strategy since the state repealed its right-to-work law, a change that took effect on February 13, 2024, after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the repeal in March 2023, according to SHRM. Michigan was the first state in nearly six decades to reverse such a law, restoring the ability of unionized workplaces to negotiate mandatory-dues clauses.
That shift comes as Michigan's union membership remains well above the national average. The state counted 566,000 union members in 2025, or 13.0% of its workforce, down slightly from 13.4% the year before but still 14th highest nationwide, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The United Auw Workers, under President Shawn Fain, formally endorsed Benson for governor and El-Sayed for Senate in June, later featuring El-Sayed at its Michigan Community Action Program conference in Lansing in September.
Clock Ticking Toward Early Voting and a Flood of Surrogates
Sunday's rally came six days ahead of the opening of Michigan's nine-day early in-person voting window, which launches October 24 under Proposal 2, the 2022 constitutional amendment approved by nearly 60% of voters. Both parties are rushing high-profile surrogates into the state before then: former President Barack Obama is set to campaign with El-Sayed in Detroit on the same day early voting opens, while U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently transferred $1 million to the Abdul Michigan Victory Fund and joined El-Sayed on an Upper Peninsula bus tour through conservative-leaning counties like Delta County.
Republicans have their own closing push planned. Rogers and James are set to appear together at a Fox News town hall taped in St. Clair Shores on Monday, moderated by Sean Hannity, in a Macomb County swing area where Trump won 55.9% of the vote in 2024. With both parties converging on Detroit, Macomb and the Upper Peninsula in the campaign's final stretch, Sunday's union hall gathering offered an early glimpse of how Democrats intend to close the gap before ballots start being cast.
