DETROIT, MI – The first question in Michigan’s Senate debate between Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Republican rival Mike Rogers was about the issue that seems most important to voters: the economy.
El-Sayed was quick to draw a contrast between himself and Rogers, who is supported by US President Donald Trump. It wasn’t about interest rates, taxes, or trade policy. It was about the US-Israel war against Iran.
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“The current price of gas, the price of food, everything goes back to this war in Iran,” the progressive Democrat said Wednesday.
“We need a War Powers Resolution, not senators trying to rub elbows with Donald Trump on this war that didn’t make sense when it started and definitely doesn’t make sense now.”
El-Sayed was referring to legislative efforts to curb President Trump’s ability to continue the eight-month conflict.
Across Michigan, Democrats are emphasizing their opposition to the war in a bid to woo voters suffering from soaring gas and food prices.
“The war in Iran is a table issue,” said Jonathan Geyer, program director at the Institute of International Affairs (IGA).
“Voters don’t often list foreign policy as a top priority, but foreign policy is now so intertwined with the economy that I think foreign policy is essentially the economy.”
Last month, the IGA released a survey suggesting that 60% of potential voters disapproved of President Trump’s handling of the war. Even more worrying for Republicans, an overwhelming majority of respondents (81%) agreed that the cost of living has increased due to the conflict.
high cost of living
Immediately after Israel and the United States launched attacks on Iran on February 28, the Iranian government began cutting off the flow of energy products through the Strait of Hormuz, causing oil and gas prices to soar.
In the United States, the price of diesel, which is used to power large trucks and other heavy equipment that transports consumer goods across the country, has reached record highs in the past few weeks.
Similarly, gasoline has become more affordable. The average American feels that increase firsthand at the gas station almost every day.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline (3.8 liters) has risen from less than $3 before the war to more than $4.27 as of Thursday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).
Rising energy and transportation costs rippled through the economy, fueling inflation at a time when affordability was a key issue in American electoral politics.
President Trump and his allies say the war was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
However, President Trump himself repeatedly stated before the war that Iran’s nuclear program had been “annihilated” by the U.S. attack on the country’s uranium enrichment facility in June 2025.
And U.S. intelligence officials have testified before Congress that there is no evidence that Iran is building a nuclear bomb.
Mr. Rogers, a candidate for the Michigan Senate, spoke out in defense of the war during Wednesday’s debate.
“For $8 a gallon (of gas), you can give Iran a nuclear weapon and lose control of the entire region,” he said.
At the same time, Mr. Rogers called for an end to the conflict.
In a recent campaign commercial filmed at a grocery store, the Republican candidate said, “The war with Iran needs to end, and it needs to end quickly.”
This position is also shared by other Republicans facing tough House and Senate races.
In neighboring Ohio, Sen. Jon Husted called for a “quick” end to the war. In Iowa, Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for the U.S. Senate, told President Trump that the conflict should be “immediately and successfully brought to an end.” In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins highlighted her vote in favor of several war powers resolutions.
Still, Republican leader Trump has threatened to resume full-scale hostilities with Iran after next month’s midterm votes, touting the war as a historic success.
“I think this is one of the greatest things we’ve ever done. We stopped Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters Wednesday.
“This is one of the best things we’ve ever done, and it took a lot of courage to do it because no other president would do it.”
“A death sentence for the American economy”
Despite the war’s overall unpopularity, most Republicans continue to support it.
A Pew Research Center poll released earlier this month found that 63% of Republican respondents approved of President Trump’s handling of the conflict.
In an IGA survey conducted in August, that figure was 74 percent. However, only 34% of Republicans said they “strongly approve” of President Trump’s handling of the war, down from 40% in April.
Geyer suggested that the lack of enthusiastic support for the war among the Republican base could hurt the party in the next election.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that the Republican Party is moving away from the president, but it does mean that their confidence in supporting the president has gone down considerably,” he told Al Jazeera.
“This could have an impact if they actually show up to vote and if they participate in election campaigns.”
With less than two weeks until the election, it’s clear that Democrats see the war as an Achilles heel for the Republican Party, inciting constant conflict to undermine pro-Trump candidates across the country.
On Wednesday, at a Senate debate observation party attended by dozens of El-Sayed supporters in Detroit, Al Jazeera asked Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who recently returned from a trip to the Middle East, about the war. His answers were all about the U.S. economy, not regional geopolitics.
“Well, diesel prices here in Detroit are already over $6 a gallon, and if this war resumes, prices will go up even more. Mike Rogers just said in a debate that he supports the war, which is basically a death sentence for the American economy,” Murphy told Al Jazeera.
“Michigan voters have a big choice to make here. If you want this war to last another year, if you want gas prices to go up to $8 a gallon, vote for Mike Rogers. If you want to end the war, if you want prices to go down, vote for Abdul El-Sayed.”
