It was her son’s eighth birthday, but Dayna Broadnax could not afford a present.
Broadnax, a 42-year-old single mother of four in Detroit, said soaring gas and grocery prices left little money to pay the bills, let alone buy gifts or throw a birthday party.
“It’s hard to tell your kids that you don't have the funds right now to buy them a $3 bag of Skittles,” she said while watching her sons practice with a free basketball team at St. Suzanne Community Resource Center.
Ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, Broadnax’s concerns are widely shared in Detroit. Jewish, Muslim and Black voters interviewed by Reuters often put affordability ahead of disputes over Israel and Gaza, even as many expressed reservations about Democratic US Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
El-Sayed, who could make history as the first Muslim US senator, faces former congressman Mike Rogers in a competitive race that could help determine control of the Senate. A RealClearPolitics average gives El-Sayed a two-point lead - 48% to 46%.
Broadnax has yet to decide who to support, saying she will vote for the candidate most focused on lowering costs.
She sometimes skips meals so her children can eat and chooses which bills to pay after gas eats up at least $50 of the $150 she makes on a typical day driving for Lyft.
“Being a single mom, trying to take care of four boys out here in America now is too hard,” she said. “Whatever candidate whose main focus is affordability - that’s who I’m going with.”
But El-Sayed faces resistance from some voters who would ordinarily be inclined to support a Democrat, particularly over Israel.
“Both of the candidates have decided that this election is about Abdul,” said Matt Grossmann, a political science professor at Michigan State University. “He needs to win over voters that would normally support the Democratic candidate and are upset with President Trump but might have reservations about him - personal or policy reservations.”
El-Sayed’s challenge is not only keeping uneasy Democrats from voting for Rogers, but getting them to vote at all. Some voters told Reuters that opposing Trump made backing Rogers difficult, while concerns about El-Sayed led others to consider sitting out the race.
Jewish voters have reservations about El-Sayed
Most Jewish voters in Detroit traditionally vote Democratic, but some have deep reservations about El-Sayed over his views on Israel, particularly his response to a March attack on a suburban synagogue. After a man rammed his truck into Temple Israel while more than 100 children were inside, El-Sayed drew backlash when he said “hurt people hurt people" in reference to the attacker.
Though El-Sayed later apologized for the comment, he has continued to draw heavy criticism from a community shaken by the attack.
Rabbi Aaron Starr of Congregation Shaarey Zedek said some Jewish men now cover their heads with baseball caps instead of yarmulkes because they fear being targeted if identified as Jews. Starr's synagogue spends twice as much on security measures for its sprawling campus following the attack.
Starr and a group of Jewish clergy launched a petition calling for the Democratic Party to agree to a set of “non-negotiable” principles, including acknowledging Israel’s right to exist and Jewish sovereignty in Israel. El-Sayed has not signed the petition or communicated with the group, Starr said. He said he would not vote for the Democratic nominee.
“He is hyper-focused on Israel and American supporters of the state of Israel and seemed to be placing an awful lot of blame on Israel for America's problems,” Starr said in his study, where “hurt people help people” yard signs leaned against a wall beside shelves of religious texts.
El-Sayed briefly campaigned with Hasan Piker, a left-wing streamer who has drawn criticism over comments about Israel and American Jews. The association has troubled some voters, while others remain more focused on the cost of living.
“I don't love the fact that he campaigned with Hasan Piker during the primary,” said Alicia Chandler, a 47-year-old Jewish Detroit resident and former supporter of El-Sayed's Democratic primary opponent Haley Stevens. “But it cost me almost $100 to fill my car with gas yesterday.”
El-Sayed has repeatedly pledged to protect Jewish people from antisemitism, saying in an August speech after winning the Democratic primary that his commitment to Jewish safety was “the same commitment that I have to the safety of my own daughters.”
Concerns about Gaza vs cost of living
In 2024, frustration with the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza drove many Arab American and Muslim voters in Michigan away from the Democratic ticket, with some backing the Republican Trump or third-party candidates and others choosing not to vote.
At Shibam Coffee, a Yemeni coffeehouse in the Arab-majority city of Dearborn, volunteers wearing “Abdul for Senate” shirts gathered over cardamom coffee, honeycomb bread and sambusas before heading out to canvass. The cafe is popular with young Arab Americans, many of whom now support El-Sayed.
Sumayah Dhalai, a 22-year-old senior at Wayne State University who plans to vote for El-Sayed, liked his policy position opposing funding for the Israeli government but said her fears about finding a job and affording rent and groceries were a bigger factor in deciding who to vote for.
“The overwhelming majority of us are very scared about graduating because everybody’s telling us that everything sucks,” Dhalai said. “As much as I want to say I'm out here fighting for world peace, I have to ensure my own ability to succeed before I can then turn to focus on everybody else's.”
While parts of Detroit have benefited from new investment, others have not, including the neighborhood housing St. Suzanne Community Resource Center, where the median household income is just $36,525 and roughly half the children live in poverty, according to US Census data.
“The financial stress is continual,” said Steve Wasko, the director of the center where Broadnax's sons play basketball. “Being able to pay your rent, afford your light bill, pay your mortgage, or pay to have your furnace working sufficiently - these are the most common requests that come through the door."