That could be good news for Congressman Mike Rogers, who polls say is slightly behind Democrat Elissa Slotkin, another challenger for the seat vacated by incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow, who chose not to run for reelection.
The good news for Rogers is Republicans are hopeful with what they’re seeing on early voting.
In recent times Republican presidential hopefuls have had to count on heavy turnout on the first Tuesday in November to make up for the deficit Democrats build up with early voting.
Jenny Korn served as Deputy Director and Special Assistant to the President at The White House during all four years of Trump's term.
Good news in early voting
"What I'm hearing is that there's record number of mail in and early voting and requests by Republicans. And so like in Nevada and Pennsylvania and Georgia, those numbers by Republicans are higher than they were for Democrats. Democrats already had large numbers voting early and doing mail in ballots. So you see a lot of increases for Republicans,” she said.
Almost 2.2 million ballots have been cast in Michigan so far, according to reports.
Republicans learned some lessons in 2020, and that’s made them more watchful of voting in 2024. That’s also a plus, Korn said.
"The RNC and the campaign have an eagle eye on anything nefarious happening. For instance, what happened in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where they tried to shut down the line at 2:30, and they were all over that. So, they had to open those lines back up until 5 on Friday. It’s very different than 2020. Their legal team, they're on it to prevent things from happening before the election and not waiting till after the election."
Rogers has the full endorsement of Trump. That has undoubtedly contributed to the recent tightening of the race. In fact, the Cook Political Report has moved the Michigan race into the tossup column.
Ron Armstrong is president of Stand-Up Michigan.
"He started out in probably a minus 8 or 9, a very, very difficult hill to climb. But I do think that he will benefit greatly from President Trump. If Trump does win Michigan, then I believe that he probably will also prevail. If it's hair thin, he may not, but I do believe that if Trump wins by one or two or three points. If that happens in Michigan, then he absolutely will win."
Still a long shot for Armstrong
But Armstrong still believes that Rogers' race is more of a long shot than other contested Senate contests.
"I think that he though is probably our sixth or seventh likely pickup in the Senate, if you were to put these numbers to it. Now, why do I say that? Because I also think Michigan is the sixth or seventh likely win among our battleground states come that day.”
Armstrong thinks if Trump does well, the GOP could have as much as 54-46 advantage in the next Senate.
