Detroit / November 3–4, 2026
What Mike Rogers and Doug Lloyd told Michigan Republicans on election night
Just before 1 a.m., Rogers asked supporters to go home. An hour earlier, Lloyd had asked the same room to look away from the results screens.
U.S. Senate / Wednesday, 12:58 a.m.
Mike Rogers still saw a way to win
Mike Rogers thanked the people who had stayed past midnight at Detroit’s Westin Book Cadillac. Supporters held their phones above the crowd to record the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. It would be a long night, he told them, and they could go home.
“There is a path for us to win this thing right here,” Rogers said. He acknowledged that the returns had favored one side, then added: “But guess what’s left? It’s coming our way.”
Before Rogers took the microphone, Michigan Republican Primary publisher Stephen Schumacher had already given people in the ballroom his assessment: Rogers had lost. The ballroom screens still lacked Wayne County returns, including much of Detroit’s vote. Schumacher recalled that the Detroit returns he was tracking already showed about 170,000 votes for Abdul El-Sayed and 10,000 for Rogers. Comparing margins in city and county returns across Michigan, he saw too few votes left in Rogers’ strongest areas to close the statewide gap.
Rogers had reason to wait before conceding. Ballots were still being counted, and neither Decision Desk HQ nor the Associated Press had called the race.
Read the Rogers transcript
Thank you all very much. Listen, we're going to ask you all to go home. It's going to be a long night, but let me tell you this. There is a path for us to win this thing right here. We're pretty excited about what's left to come in. A lot of what's come in is favorable to one camp. But guess what's left? It's coming our way.
Seventeen minutes before Doug Lloyd spoke, the screen to the left of the lectern showed returns from the Texas U.S. Senate race.
Michigan attorney general / Tuesday, 11:51 p.m.
Doug Lloyd urged the ballroom to focus on Michigan
A little over an hour before Rogers spoke, Doug Lloyd stood at the same lectern. As he asked supporters to keep their heads up, Michigan’s Republican nominee for attorney general stretched out both arms and pointed toward the screens on either side of him.
“We don’t live in those other states. We live in Michigan,” Lloyd said. He brought his hands back toward the lectern. “Tonight is about us.”
Read the Lloyd transcript
We got to keep our heads up. I'm going to tell you, stop watching the screens. We don't live in those other states. We live in Michigan. Tonight is about us. When we're done, we're going to see a lot of positive things.
Wednesday, November 4
AP called the two Michigan races one minute apart
The television lights were still on at the back of the ballroom at 1:01 a.m., a few minutes after Rogers spoke. Decision Desk HQ called the Senate race for Democrat Abdul El-Sayed at 1:15 a.m. The Associated Press followed at 2:27 a.m. One minute later, AP called the attorney general’s race for Democrat Eli Savit.