El-Sayed projected to win Michigan Senate seat

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has been projected to win Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, defeating Republican Mike Rogers and positioning himself to become the first Muslim elected to the chamber. The result was called by multiple election desks and news organizations after voting in the November 3 midterm elections. Certified final totals were not provided in the reported results. The seat is being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. El-Sayed, a former public health official, is expected to take office when the new Congress convenes in January. His victory preserves the Democratic-held Michigan seat, although Democrats had already secured control of the Senate by the time the race was called, according to one report. Early vote counts varied as ballots were tallied. Decision Desk HQ reported El-Sayed with 1,897,833 votes, or 50.88%, and Rogers with 1,758,007 votes, or 47.14%, when 77% of expected votes had been counted. Another report, citing an 80% count, put El-Sayed at 51.8% and Rogers at 46.2%. Those figures describe different stages of the count, not certified final totals. At a Detroit election-night gathering, El-Sayed celebrated with supporters and referred to...