Author: sisaacson@michigandems.com

LANSING — Following the first U.S. Senate debate between Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and Revolving Door Mike Rogers, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes issued the following statement:

“Tonight’s debate showed Michiganders the clear difference between Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin’s service to country versus Mike Rogers’ service to self. Rogers can’t run away from his toxic record of supporting dangerous abortion bans, abandoning Michigan for a million-dollar mansion in Florida, voting to gut Social Security and Medicare, and enriching himself through companies tied to China. It’s clear that Michigan families can’t trust Rogers – who is only in this race to benefit himself and his wealthy special interest backers.”

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LANSING — Mike Rogers won’t be able to hide from his toxic record at tonight’s U.S. Senate debate. Rogers backed abortion bans, bragged about being a “champion” of Big Pharma, “does not live in the house” in White Lake Township, spread dangerous election conspiracy theories, and enriched himself and sold out Michiganders.

Five questions Mike Rogers refuses to answer:

• Why are you lying about your abortion record when you have “consistently voted” for abortion bans, wanted to “enshrine fetal personhood in the Constitution,” co-sponsored four bills that could’ve banned IVF, and said that you wouldn’t have voted for Proposal 3?

• Why are you refusing to take any responsibility when experts say you directly “contributed to the crisis” of the opioid epidemic?

• In August 2024, your campaign told the Detroit News that you “now reside in White Lake Township” and referred to the Genoa Township home as somewhere you “previously resided.” If you were no longer living in Genoa Township in August, and you were not living in the unfinished White Lake Township house – as your campaign confirmed – where are you living? 

• You’ve spread election conspiracy theories and you’re “avoiding discussion about the 2020 vote.” Do you think Joe Biden won the 2020 election? 

• How do you deny that you’re bought and paid for by special interests when you went through the “revolving door” to make an “explosion of wealth” after saying you were leaving Congress to “pursue something more lucrative?”

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Just days after refusing to commit to protecting hundreds of jobs, Vance is coming back to Michigan to disappoint once again

LANSING — This afternoon, Trump’s vice presidential candidate and overall MAGA lackey J.D. Vance will come to Detroit to speak at Eastern Market, not even a week after he failed to commit to honoring the $500 million dollar grant to keep the GM Lansing plant open. Before he can come to pander to Michiganders once again, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Lavora Barnes released the following statement: 

“J.D. Vance showing his face in Detroit after refusing to commit to protecting hundreds of good-paying jobs in Lansing is shameful. Like he has at every visit, Vance will offer Michiganders nothing but platitudes and misinformation in a city that Trump systematically undermined and disparaged while spreading election misinformation during the 2020 election. 

“Donald Trump and Vance don’t care about Michigan, our auto industry, our workers, or our jobs — their record makes that clear. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have a plan to keep Michigan at the forefront of the auto industry, protect our good-paying, union jobs, and lower costs for working families. As absentee voting is underway, Michiganders will once again reject the two charlatans who only want to help themselves.”

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LANSING — Ahead of the Senate debate tonight, state Representative Carol Glanville, Reproductive Freedom for All Senior Organizing State Campaigns Manager Tessa Gawrylowicz, and Grand Rapids mom Rae Westerhof sounded the alarm on Mike Rogers’ extensive anti-abortion record at a press conference in Grand Rapids.

“Michigan women should have the freedom to make the best decision for their family, along with their doctors. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ extensive anti-abortion record makes it clear that we can’t trust him to represent us,” said state Representative Carol Glanville.

“Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin has always defended reproductive rights, so Michiganders have the right to decide when and how to have a family. She has fought back against Republicans’ attempts to limit reproductive rights and has pledged to fight back against threats to IVF access. I know firsthand how critical it is that we have leaders who fight for reproductive rights, and that’s one of the many reasons why Elissa has my vote,” said Tessa Gawrylowicz, Senior Organizing State Campaigns Manager of Reproductive Freedom for All. 

“It’s critical that we ensure women have the freedom to make their own personal medical decisions. We can’t afford to have Mike Rogers, who will rip away reproductive rights, in office,” said Rae Westerhof, a Grand Rapids mom.

Rogers “supported a national abortion ban” and he “consistently voted” for abortion bans, and he co-sponsored four bills that “could restrict or effectively ban IVF.” Rogers twice “co-sponsored legislation to withdraw federal approval of the abortion-inducing medication Mifepristone.” 

Rogers wanted to “enshrine fetal personhood in the Constitution,” and he celebrated the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. If Rogers had “lived in Michigan instead of Florida” in 2022, he would have voted against Proposal 3.

See also: Jezebel: Michigan Republican in Tight Senate Race Says He’d Respect Abortion Rights. His Record Suggests Otherwise, Bridge Michigan: On abortion, some Michigan candidate claims conflict with records, Michigan Independent: Mike Rogers wants voters to forget his record of backing abortion bans, The Gander: Mike Rogers tries to distance Senate campaign from his anti-abortion record, CNN: Republican candidates downplay past anti-abortion stances ahead of 2024 election, The Gander: Republican Senate candidates face backlash over anti-abortion records in Michigan, Business Insider: GOP politicians are saying they’ve always cared about IVF. Bills they’ve supported indicate otherwise, Michigan Advance: Republicans have put the rights of a fertilized egg over the rights of the woman,’ Michigan Independent: Mike Rogers’ support for ‘fetal personhood’ could threaten access to IVF and contraception. 

Note: Contact Sam Chan at schan@michigandems.com for a recording of the press conference. 

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“It’s a question that’s been asked since January. And apparently remains unanswered.”

LANSING — Following the Detroit Free Press bombshell news report that “Mike Rogers does not live in the house” in White Lake Township, “questions have surfaced about the residency of U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers.” 

The Rogers campaign is “mighty cagey” about where Rogers lives and “refused multiple requests to discuss the matter” while neighbors in the house he claims to live in with his brother confirmed “he doesn’t live [there]” and said they had “never seen Mike around.”  

WATCH:

MSNBC Rachel Maddow Show: Not Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, It Turns Out

LISTEN:
 

WJR Radio: 

• ML Elrick: There’s been a lot of questions about where Mike Rogers lives, and for folks who haven’t made up their mind yet he is a candidate for U.S. Senate. He won the Republican nomination. He’s a former Republican congressman from Michigan, very well regarded when he was in Congress. Retired on his own, left for a while, apparently got into some consulting, and last year he decided he was going to run for the U.S. Senate. 
• Now at the time he was living in Florida and he’s been out of the state of Michigan for quite a while, but he returned to Michigan. He registered to vote at his brother’s house in Genoa Township, and since then has changed his voter registration to a home that he is building in White Lake Township. The problem is the House isn’t completed. It doesn’t have a certificate of occupancy, so he can’t legally live there, which raises some questions about whether he can legally vote from there. 
• WJR radio host: So he’s building a house that he plans to live in White Lake. It’s just not done yet, and he says he’s living at his brother’s house, but you’re, you’re not so sure he’s actually living at his brother’s house either.
• Elrick: The problem is his campaign says he is living in White Lake Township now, but they won’t say where, and that raises some real questions about his eligibility to vote in an election as a resident of White Lake Township registered at this place that he can’t legally live at. 
• And I did talk to some people in his brother’s neighborhood and just asked them, “Hey, did you ever see Mike Rogers around?” And I talk to three people, there’s 7 different residences. I didn’t bother talking to his brother’s house because I figured they’d tell me that he did live there, but three people I talked to the neighborhood either wouldn’t answer my questions or said “We’ve never seen him.” 
• WJR radio host: So what do you think, he’s living in a hotel or something while he’s waiting for the paperwork to get done in White Lake?
• Elrick: Well, I think there’s a suspicion that Mike Rogers is living out of his suitcase while he’s running for Senate. Because if you are running for Senate and you’re a challenger or you’re running for an open seat, you should rarely sleep in your bed. You should be traversing the 83 counties, meet as many people as you can. So I’m not surprised that he’s not a regular in his brother’s neighborhood. But I am surprised that for somebody who has lived there for a year, nobody’s seen him, because I would think the first of people you would meet, is your neighbors and say “Hey, I’m Mike Rogers. I’m living at my brother’s house. I hope I can get your vote.” So you know this would be easily cleared up if his campaign would tell us where he’s been staying. 

WJR Radio: ML Elrick Interview  

• ML Elrick: It’s a beautiful place. I mean it’s 4,700 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 4 baths. It’s got an indoor pool and spa. It’s right on a canal. From what I understand, he likes the boat, so you can get right out there on the water. It’s a pretty nice place. 
• WJR radio host: That’s what I expect of all my elected officials these days, ML. They all seem to be doing quite well. 
• Elrick: They do seem to do pretty well in their post-political career, don’t they? But he was willing to give all of this up for a, basically, what looks like a really big shed in White Lake Township, 780 sq ft. I think once he got a real good look at it, he said “this ain’t going to work,” so he knocked it down, and started building this house where he does plan to live. That’s what we’re told. I think a question I’ve heard from a lot of readers, which is a fair one, which is “If he loses the Senate race, will he move back into that house? Or will he go back to Florida because he hasn’t put that home up for sale?” 

Read more:

• MSNBC: “But perhaps no one in Republican politics is struggling with the [carpetbagger] issue more than former Rep. Mike Rogers… Where, exactly, does Rogers live?”

• MLive: “Questions have surfaced about the residency of U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers.”

• Jon King, Michigan Advance reporter: “It’s a question that’s been asked since January. And apparently remains unanswered.”

• Senator Jeremy Moss: “You would think after being exposed as a Florida voter back in April, Mike Rogers would have found a legit place to live and vote in Michigan. But apparently not?”

• Senator Dayna Polehanki: “‘I asked everyone I met if they had ever seen Mike Rogers in the neighborhood. ‘He doesn’t live here, that’s his brother,” said the first gentleman I encountered.’”

See also: Detroit Free Press: Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ neighborhoods have everything but Mr. Rogers, Michigan Advance: Where is Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood?, Michigan Advance: A new house is being built for Mr. Rogers in his not-yet-neighborhood, Newsweek: Michigan Republican Candidate Caught Living in Florida, MSNBC: In Senate races, GOP haunted anew with ‘candidate quality’ issues

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The post What They’re Saying: “Questions Have Surfaced” About Mike Rogers’ Residency as He’s “Exposed” and “Faces New ‘Carpetbagger’ Accusations” appeared first on Michigan Democratic Party.

Where is Mike Rogers living and what is he hiding?

LANSING — A bombshell new report from Detroit Free Press has raised questions about “where Mike Rogers lives” after reporting that “Mike Rogers does not live in the house” in White Lake Township as the house “did not — and still does not — have a certificate of occupancy.” 

The Detroit Free Press found that “Mike Rogers’ neighborhoods have everything but Mr. Rogers.” The Rogers campaign is “mighty cagey” about where Rogers lives and “refused multiple requests to discuss the matter.”

Neighbors in the Genoa Township house that Rogers claims to live in with his brother confirmed “he doesn’t live [there]” and said they had “never seen Mike around.” They were “surprised to learn a U.S. Senate candidate was living a few doors down,” including one man who said “I’ve never seen Mike around here. Not one time.”

Questions Mike Rogers must answer:

• In August 2024, your campaign told the Detroit News that you “now reside in White Lake Township” and referred to the Genoa Township home as somewhere you “previously resided.” If you were no longer living in Genoa Township in August, and you were not living in the unfinished White Lake Township house – as your campaign confirmed – where have you been living? 

• Your campaign told Detroit News, Bridge Michigan, and Michigan Advance that “Rogers is living at the Genoa Township home,” but neighbors say they have never seen you there. Where have you been living, and why did you lie to multiple reporters?

• Why is your campaign being “mighty cagey about the question of just where Rogers has been staying” and “refus[ing] multiple requests to discuss the matter?”

• How do you respond to Michiganders who say they “don’t like it… not one bit” about the fact that you are lying about living in Michigan?  

• Are you looking forward to the end of your campaign so you can go back to your “posh home in Cape Coral, Florida, worth $1.6 million” with “five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a formal dining room, 14-foot high ceilings, a tile roof, a balcony overlooking the water, and a ‘HUGE POOL with TWO SPAs?’”

See also: Michigan Advance: Where is Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood?, Michigan Advance: A new house is being built for Mr. Rogers in his not-yet-neighborhood, Newsweek: Michigan Republican Candidate Caught Living in Florida, MSNBC: In Senate races, GOP haunted anew with ‘candidate quality’ issues

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Speaking to Jen Psaki, Michigan Dems Chair speaks about the power of young Michiganders in the upcoming election

LANSING — In case you missed it, on MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Lavora Barnes highlighted the role of young voters in Michigan and across the country. Along with Oakland University student Marcus Johnson, Chair Barnes encouraged young Michiganders to get involved, speak to their friends, and make their voices heard this November. 

For the issues they care most about, like climate change and abortion access, young voters know that they have to show out and once again reject Trump’s MAGA Project 2025 agenda. With President Kamala Harris, Michiganders of all ages will have a champion in the Oval Office who will fight for them at every turn. 

When it comes to extremists like Trump and Vance, as Marcus knows, all young voters get is big talk and misinformation. Trump and Vance don’t have a single concrete solution to offer Michiganders — that’s why Michiganders are going to elect Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz this November. 

Watch more below: 

MSNBC – Inside with Jen Psaki: Young Michigan Voters Could Be Key to Election Outcome

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Detroit Free Press: “Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ neighborhoods have everything but Mr. Rogers.”

LANSING — A bombshell new report from Detroit Free Press exposed that “Mike Rogers does not live in the house” in White Lake Township as the house “did not — and still does not — have a certificate of occupancy.” 

The Rogers campaign is “mighty cagey” about where Rogers lives and “refused multiple requests to discuss the matter” while neighbors in the house he claims to live in with his brother confirmed “he doesn’t live [there]” and said they had “never seen Mike around.”  

“After he abandoned Michigan to walk through the revolving door at the expense of Michiganders, Mike Rogers is back to run for Senate but he has been lying about where he lives. Rogers is trying to fool voters, and his campaign owes Michiganders answers about where he actually lives,” said Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Sam Chan.

Read more:

Detroit Free Press: Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ neighborhoods have everything but Mr. Rogers

• I don’t know where Mike Rogers lives, but it’s not where he’s registered to vote.
• Rogers, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, changed his voter registration on July 2 to a home in White Lake Township that is under construction. A month later, he used the White Lake address to vote (presumably, for himself) in the four-way race for the GOP nomination to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
• There’s just one problem: The house did not — and still does not — have a certificate of occupancy.
• That means Rogers could not live there legally.
• And if he didn’t live there, he may have broken the law by using that address to vote.
• I say “may,” because while there’s no question you cannot live in a home without a certificate of occupancy, Michigan law is a little squishy when it comes to residency. (Get your galoshes out, because we’ll dive into that quagmire in a few minutes.)
• The Rogers campaign is mighty cagey about the question of just where Rogers has been staying, beyond saying it’s in White Lake Township. They refused multiple requests to discuss the matter, issuing only a carefully-worded statement blaming everyone from White Lake officials, to the housing crisis, to the media, but offering few concrete answers. (Campaign spokesman Chris Gustafson also faulted “constant bureaucratic delays during the construction,” but doesn’t blame Rogers’ brother and erstwhile landlord Bill, who was one of the contractors building the lakefront home and who, as Genoa Township supervisor, presumably knows his way around local government.)
• Gustafson’s blame-athon does confirm Mike Rogers does not live in the house, however.
• While that didn’t address any of my legal questions, I was relieved to learn the sexagenarian former congressman isn’t crabwalking his way over the unpaved driveway to cop a squat in the porta potty I saw a couple weeks ago out by the contractor’s trucks parked on the property.
• Rogers’ residency, and accusations of carpetbagging, have been an issue since he moved back to Michigan last summer after U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow announced her retirement on Jan. 5, 2023.
• Stabenow’s timing couldn’t have been worse for Rogers, who six months earlier bought a posh home in Cape Coral, Florida, worth $1.6 million.
• Online descriptions of the home call it an “estate” and say it offers “EXCEPTIONAL WATERFRONT LIVING!” The photos on Zillow.com justify the use of the braggadocious capital letters. For starters, it’s on a canal that gives access to the Caloosahatchee River. Its 4,700 square feet include five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a formal dining room, 14-foot high ceilings, a tile roof, a balcony overlooking the water, and a “HUGE POOL with TWO SPAs!” Rogers obtained a homestead property tax exemption on the spread, which you can only do for a primary residence.
• Nevertheless, on July 1, 2023, Rogers bought a 728-square-foot home with one bedroom and one bathroom in White Lake Township and, one month later, registered to vote using brother Bill’s address in Genoa Township. Instead of moving into the claustrophobic cabin, Rogers decided to knock it down and build the home currently under construction.
• The Rogers campaign says the former congressman and his wife moved into the 1,800-square-foot townhouse where Bill and his wife live. Now, I don’t know about you, but whenever I think about the brothers living together for nearly a year with their spouses — and sharing that crib’s one-and-a-half bathrooms — I conclude the Rogers boys and their wives must get along a helluva lot better than me and my siblings and their spouses, who would kill me long before Election Day if I moved in with them just to run for Senate.
• So, I paid a little visit to the Rogerses’ cozy street to chat with residents about their ambitious new neighbor.
• I spent two lovely afternoons knocking on six of the seven front doors along a short stretch of road tucked into a golf course. The only door I didn’t darken was at the end of a walkway blocked by a gate. The next door neighbor said the gate was there because the occupant didn’t want anyone — even curious reporters — knocking on his front door.
• I asked everyone I met if they had ever seen Mike Rogers in the neighborhood.
• “He doesn’t live here, that’s his brother,” said the first gentleman I encountered.
• He said he did not know Mike Rogers had been using Bill Rogers’ address as his Michigan residence. When I told him Mike Rogers is building a home in White Lake, he posited: “He’s on the campaign trail, so he could be living there temporarily ’til his house is built.”
• Next, I met a woman who seemed surprised to learn a U.S. Senate candidate was living a few doors down. When I asked whether she had seen Rogers in the neighborhood, she said: “I can’t comment,” and closed the door.
• On my next visit, I encountered a man who also told me: “I’ve never seen Mike around here. Not one time.”
• The friendly fellow expressed concern a candidate might use an address where he does not live to qualify to run for office.
• “I don’t like it,” he said. “Not one little bit.”
• Everyone I spoke to asked me not to publish their name. I’m honoring those requests because they want to avoid any potential tension in a neighborhood that is so small it has seven units split among three buildings, which means every resident shares a wall with at least one neighbor.
• I presume Gustafson sought to dispel any doubts that Mike Rogers didn’t actually live with his brother by writing in his statement: “When Mike announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate and qualified for the ballot, he was a registered voter in Genoa Township in Livingston County. As one would expect, Mike is constantly traveling across Michigan meeting with voters.”
• Of course, I could be wrong, but when I sent Gustafson some follow-up questions, he wrote back: “The answers to your questions are within the document, thanks.”
• Gustafson apparently believes registering to vote at a residence owned by a relative is OK only if the residence is owned by a brother who lives in a townhouse on a golf course in Genoa Township.
• Regardless of whether Mike Rogers ever lived with his brother in Genoa Township, there’s still the question of whether Rogers committed a misdemeanor by using a home he could not occupy to register to vote in White Lake; whether he committed a felony by voting in the Aug. 6 primary in White Lake; and whether he can even legally vote for himself in the Nov. 5 election.
• Steve Liedel, an attorney who specializes in election law, told me: “If Mr. Rogers never actually resided in White Lake Township or does not reside in White Lake Township, that could give rise to legal questions about whether he is a qualified voter and authorized to vote a ballot in White Lake Township.”
• The crucial question for Rogers may be whether he ever lived in the White Lake house where he registered to vote.
• “If he never actually resided at the address in White Lake Township, there could be legal questions about his qualification to vote in that township,” Liedel said. “If an individual has evidence indicating that he is not a resident of White Lake Township, he also could be subject to challenge when appearing to vote in White Lake Township.”
• Delta Township Clerk Mary Clark, who is past president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, said Rogers doesn’t qualify to vote in White Lake.
• “The only thing that would save him in that is if he has a camping trailer there,” she said, adding, “In a blanket sense, someone swears; they attest that they are a resident for 30 days prior to Election Day, they will not cast a ballot, they will not vote without being a resident of that municipality for 30 days. I don’t know how you do that when there’s no occupiable home on the property.”
• As anyone who has been paying attention to national politics for the last decade knows, even a whiff of possible voter fraud gets Republicans pretty excited.
• Rogers is no exception.
• “This questioning of the integrity of elections is a huge problem for the country, all of us,” Rogers said during a recent appearance on “The Hill Sunday” on NewsNation. “And my argument is they ought to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat. That’s not what the states have been doing — Democrat-controlled states — have been opening it up, making it a little bit less transparent if you will.”
• Michigan Republican Party Chairman Pete Hoekstra also recently expressed concerns Democrats “will steal some votes” to help Slotkin win what appears to be a very tight race with Rogers.
• Citing the razor-thin victory margin in Rogers’ first run for Congress — he won by 111 votes in 2000 — Hoekstra said: “If it gets that close, we are afraid that they will steal some votes to make sure that he doesn’t win.”
• Now, I’m not trying to release the kraken, or suggesting anyone is trying to steal an election, or alleging that the game is rigged. But if Rogers is elected to the U.S. Senate by one vote, I wonder how Republicans will feel if someone tries to overturn the results by challenging the validity of a ballot cast by a certain former member of Congress who registered to vote using a house he doesn’t live at in White Lake?

See also: Michigan Advance: Where is Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood?, Michigan Advance: A new house is being built for Mr. Rogers in his not-yet-neighborhood, Newsweek: Michigan Republican Candidate Caught Living in Florida, MSNBC: In Senate races, GOP haunted anew with ‘candidate quality’ issues

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LANSING — Mike Rogers is just going in circles (through the revolving door). From receiving “more than a half million dollars from two dark money groups” to being on IronNet’s board which “engaged in questionable business practices, produced subpar products and services, and entered into associations that could have left the firm vulnerable to meddling by the Kremlin,” it’s clear that Rogers will stop at nothing to enrich himself and his special interest backers.

Meanwhile, Michiganders across the state are sounding the alarm on Rogers for his “extensive anti-abortion record” and how he “will do anything to enrich himself even when it hurts working families.” 

Here’s the latest on Revolving Door Rogers’ rough week: 

• Sugar high… Rogers re-upped being “passionately against” allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, calling it “sugar high politics.” He is, after all, a self-professed “champion” for Big Pharma.

• …And a sugar crash. Rogers reiterates his opposition to “subsidizing” prescription drugs, instead urging that “we have got to get more free market efficiencies back into Medicare.”

• Another week, another report of Rogers selling out to boost himself. A bombshell new report from Politico Influence details how Rogers “received more than a half million dollars from two dark money groups” as he “advocated [for the company] in press hits and op-eds.” 

• AP notes that Rogers served on IronNet’s board which “engaged in questionable business practices, produced subpar products and services, and entered into associations that could have left the firm vulnerable to meddling by the Kremlin.”

• Even more election conspiracy theories? Just another day in the life of Rogers. “Rogers cast doubt on the legitimacy of elections in Southeast Michigan,” and claimed that “we have to over perform everywhere so when we get down to the Southeast, we can hopefully contain any shenanigans that they may be planning.”

• Anti-abortion extremist. Rogers “voted consistently for laws that would interfere with the bodily autonomy” of Michiganders, including “a national abortion ban” and bills that “could threaten access to IVF and contraception.” 

• And Michiganders are calling him out on it. On Wednesday, Flint doctors and leaders sounded the alarm on Rogers’ extensive anti-abortion record.

• Michiganders across the state “blast” Rogers who “will do anything to enrich himself even when it hurts working families,” as he “continually sidesteps questions,” “tries to shift the blame,” and “refus[es] any accountability.”

• Rogers can’t run away from his toxic plans to slash Social Security and Medicare. 

See for yourself: 

Michigan Advance: Rogers says Medicare negotiating drug price reductions is ‘sugar high politics’

• Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake)said he was “passionately against” allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, which he referred to as “sugar high politics.”
• The comments made by Rogers, who is running against U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, came during a senior town hall meeting held in Troy on Sept. 20. 
• According to audio obtained by the Michigan Advance, Rogers said that when it came to negotiating drug prices, it was his belief that the federal government “shouldn’t be engaged in that.” 
• He then went on to say that Democrats’ support for drug price negotiation was a campaign gimmick.
• “So this sugar high politics that you get, I’m going to throw it right at you and this is going to help you,” he said. “It’s going to take a hundred dollars off this month, but it’s going to cost you $10,000 in the next five years. We shouldn’t be engaged in that. I call ’em political cicadas. Everything that you see, the Democrats doing it now. They come out, they pop their head out of the hole. It’s election season, right? They’re going to throw money at you and tell you they’re going to stay here, save Medicare and Social Security, all of this stuff and then you don’t see ’em again for four years, right?”
• Rogers has come under fire for his links to the pharmaceutical industry after Bridge Michigan reported that while in Congress, Rogers was a “leading advocate for greater access to pain medications,” while receiving “hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the same drug companies that now are paying billions of dollars in national opioid settlements for their roles in causing the epidemic.”

Tom Jordan Live: Rogers: “We have got to get more free market efficiencies back into Medicare so that you get better care and it’s more affordable, and that’s just not happening. And the longer they’re playing this shell game, I mean they’re subsidizing now the subsidies in prescription drugs, that is just the most unsustainable thing.”

Politico Influence: 500K to Deregulate 5G

• Mike Rogers, the Republican running for Senate in Michigan, several years ago received more than a half million dollars from two dark money groups that were in favor of a deregulatory policy on 5G that he advocated in press hits and op-eds, Daniel reports.
• In 2020, the former representative was announced as the chair of 5G Action Now, a group that was urging the Federal Communications Commission to move faster on approving fifth-generation wireless technology. He warned that China was going to be the leader in 5G unless government agencies removed barriers to 5G implementation. Rogers was paid $225,000 by the coalition in 2020, according to a 990 form from the organization seen by POLITICO.
• 5G Action Now described itself as a “501(c)4 advocacy organization that works to educate members of Congress and the American people” about the issue but did not disclose its donors. Rogers declined to tell the Washington Post back in 2020 who was funding the effort but said he expected the group to release more details soon.
• Rogers wrote several op-eds about 5G policy during his time as chair of the coalition, although one he did for DefenseOne in 2020 didn’t disclose his connection with the group. 
• While the group never released its donors, Intelsat, a global satellite provider, was a primary backer of the group, a person directly familiar with the matter told PI. 5G Action Now was pushing for an outcome that Intelsat had a direct financial stake in, allowing a quick sale of its C-band spectrum for 5G. In 2020, Rogers also defended Intelsat’s financial status when asked how its bankruptcy affected the terms of any spectrum sale.
• He was also paid $380,000 by another dark-money group called Keeping America Safe, according to the organization’s 2021 and 2022 990s seen by POLITICO. 

AP: Collapse of national security elites’ cyber firm leaves bitter wake

• Last September the never-profitable company announced it was shutting down and firing its employees after running out of money, providing yet another example of a tech firm that faltered after failing to deliver on overhyped promises.
• IronNet’s rise and fall also raises questions about the judgment of its well-credentialed leaders, a who’s who of the national security establishment. National security experts, former employees and analysts told The Associated Press that the firm collapsed, in part, because it engaged in questionable business practices, produced subpar products and services, and entered into associations that could have left the firm vulnerable to meddling by the Kremlin.
• IronNet’s board has included Mike McConnell, a former director of both the NSA and national intelligence; Jack Keane, a retired four-star general and Army vice chief of staff, and Mike Rogers, the former Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who is running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.

Michigan Independent: Mike Rogers’ support for ‘fetal personhood’ could threaten access to IVF and contraception

• However, while serving in Congress from 2001 to 2015, Rogers voted consistently for laws that would interfere with the bodily autonomy of his constituents, including so-called “fetal personhood” laws.
• In 2003, Rogers co-sponsored legislation that would have withdrawn federal approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. He co-sponsored it again in 2005. 
• In 2012, Rogers voted for a national abortion ban, and in 2013 he co-sponsored a bill that would have made abortion illegal in all 50 states. 
• In 2013, Roger co-sponsored the “Life at Conception Act,” which if enacted would restrict access to IVF and birth control methods such as intrauterine devices (IUDs) or emergency contraception such as Plan B. The bill would “implement equal protection under the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution for the right to life of each born and preborn human person”. 
• If laws defining personhood as legally accruing to zygotes from the moment of fertilization are enacted, embryos or fertilized eggs created through IVF will be considered unborn children, and intentionally destroying or disposing of them will be considered murder. Those who support fetal personhood legislation say that life begins at fertilization and even contraception or emergency contraception will place that life in danger. 
• In 2022, voters in Michigan approved an amendment to the state constitution that affirmed the right to abortion without restrictions on gestational age. Rogers, who was living in Florida at the time, said during a March 2023 interview with the WKAR television show “Off the Record” that while he was not familiar with the text of the measure, he probably would not have voted for it. He said, “I’m a pro-life guy, I’ve voted pro-life, and I don’t walk away from that.”
• “Mike Rogers can’t hide from his extensive record backing abortion bans which would rip away Michiganders’ freedom to make their own personal medical decisions,” Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Sam Chan said in a statement posted on Sept. 17. “It’s clear that Rogers will say and do anything to benefit himself, and Michigan families can’t trust him to represent us.”

WEYI: Abortion rights are a focused topic of conversation on the Michigan campaign trail

• This week, State Representative Cynthia Neeley (Flint – D) was joined by two local doctors to discussRepublican candidate for U.S. Senate, Mike Rogers, and his stance on abortion.
• “Access to reproductive health care is an essential component of women’s health care, but Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers has an extensive anti-abortion record. Our next senator should be someone who will fight to protect reproductive rights, and that’s why I’m proud to support Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin,” said State Representative Cynthia Neeley.
• “Reproductive freedom is essential. It is not just abortion but broad access that impacts and saves lives. Mike Rogers has already shown us that he won’t fight to protect reproductive rights. Michiganders want to protect reproductive rights,” said Dr. Aisha Harris.
• “As a pediatrician, I see every day how important it is for families to have control over their reproductive health decisions. Protecting the right to safe and accessible abortion care is critical for the health of women, children, and families. Families, in consultation with their doctors, should be empowered to make these deeply personal decisions without political interference. We can’t afford to have politicians like Mike Rogers who want to ban abortion in the Senate,” said Dr. Brittany Tayler.

A2 Independent [LTE]: Republican Senate Candidate Mike Rogers Puts Michiganders Last

Oakland Press [LTE]: Letters to the Editor: Slotkin will fight the opioid crisis

Herald-Palladium [LTE]: Rogers’ record with drug industry alarming

Michigan Democratic Party: REMINDER: Mike Rogers Puts Seniors Last, Wants to Rip Away Michiganders’ Hard-Earned Benefits by Slashing Social Security and Medicare

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With the VP’s most recent visit to Michigan, Harris proves she is dedicated to earning every vote 

LANSING — Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting Flint in the most recent Michigan stops from the campaign. Ahead of her events, Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Lavora Barnes released the following statement: 

“Today, Michiganders will once again see Harris’s commitment to earning every vote and showing up for working families. With Trump and Vance making fools of themselves in Michigan this week, Vice President Harris will show Michiganders a better, brighter version of the future than the MAGA Project 2025 horrors that Trump and Vance offer. 

“A future with President Harris will bring more jobs, opportunities, and rights for workers and their families — just this week it became clear that Trump and Vance won’t commit to creating jobs or even protecting the ones we already have. As she always has been, Vice President Kamala Harris will continue to be a champion for middle-class Michigan families.”

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