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This is part of a Front Office Sports series about sports spending in the 2026 midterm elections.
With control of the U.S. Senate on the line in Tuesday’s midterm elections, the eyes of the nation have been fixed on Michigan, where Democratic former public health administrator Abdul El-Sayed faces Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers. Sports figures who took interest in the race donated almost exclusively in support of Rogers.
Rogers and supportive PACs received donations from at least 10 principal owners of major American sports teams, according to a Front Office Sports analysis of FEC records. El-Sayed’s campaign received little support from owners, but it did earn contributions from two notable sports figures: San Diego Padres pitcher Lucas Giolito and Chicago Stars minority owner Jennifer Pritzker.
The campaigns for El-Sayed and Rogers did not immediately respond to FOS requests for comment.
Among sports owners who donated to Rogers’s campaign: Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt; Orlando Magic owners Dick and Dan DeVos; Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Browns, and Columbus Crew owner Jimmy Haslam; Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell; Denver Broncos owner Rob Walton; Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick; Cincinnati Reds owner Robert Castellini; Atlanta Hawks owner Tony Ressler; and Los Angeles Kings owner Philip Anschutz.
Meanwhile, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft donated $100,000 to the Great Lakes Conservatives Fund (GLCF), a Super PAC formed to support Rogers. GLCF has spent over $20 million in advertising buys this cycle, exclusively on the Michigan Senate race. Kraft previously donated $3,500 to the principal committee for Rep. Haley Stevens, El-Sayed’s Democratic primary opponent who he narrowly defeated in August. A representative for Kraft did not immediately respond to a comment request.
Other sports kingmakers also heavily backed Rogers. Ben Navarro, who owns the Cincinnati and Charleston tennis tournaments and is the father of WTA top-30 player Emma Navarro, donated $500,000 to GLCF. Casey Wasserman, the chairperson and president of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics organizing committee, donated $25,000 to Team Rogers.
El-Sayed received almost no support from major sports owners.
Pritzker, whose cousin is Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, donated $7,000 to El-Sayed’s campaign. She also donated $565 to Rebellion PAC, founded by leftist political activist Cenk Uygur, which supports multiple progressive candidates, including El-Sayed. The PAC drew criticism for re-running a campaign ad featuring a couple in a grocery store blaming the rising cost of eggs on U.S. military aid to Israel.
El-Sayed did also receive support from at least one athlete: Giolito, who has been a prominent supporter of progressive causes, donated $1,250 to El-Sayed’s principal campaign committee.
Giolito and a representative for Pritzker did not immediately respond to a comment request.
However, local team owners appeared to stay out of the race altogether. Current majority owners for the Detroit Lions (Sheila Ford Hamp), Red Wings and Tigers (Chris Ilitch), and Pistons (Tom Gores) did not donate to either campaign or related PACs, according to an FOS analysis.
A Pivotal Race
Republicans currently hold a 53–47 majority in the Senate, with Democrats trying to flip the chamber by targeting several seats currently occupied by Republicans, including in North Carolina, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and Alaska.
Michigan is likely Republicans’ strongest chance to flip a seat currently held by a Democrat, after Sen. Gary Peters left the seat open when he announced his retirement last year. However, with surveys suggesting a national environment that heavily favors Democrats, El-Sayed currently leads by 4.9 percentage points in Silver Bulletin’s latest polling average.
A Detroit News analysis found that, as of last week, El-Sayed, Rogers, and their allies have poured more than $400 million into the race. El-Sayed’s campaign has comfortably outraised Rogers’s, but Rogers has a sizable advantage in outside spending.
El-Sayed came through a bitterly contested Democratic primary by only 1 percentage point against Stevens, which has continued to bring discord right up to the eve of the election. While Stevens initially endorsed El-Sayed the day after her defeat, she endorsed Rogers on Sunday after feuding with El-Sayed over the Rebellion PAC ad, which his campaign distanced itself from but did not initially condemn.
Polls in Michigan close at 9 p.m. EST Tuesday night.
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