Mike Rogers Makes His Pitch For Dem Support In Michigan After El-Sayed’s ‘Divisive’ Victory

After Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed rode Michigan’s far-Left to a primary victory earlier this week, Republican nominee Mike Rogers released a video on Friday reaching out to the state’s moderate Democrats.

Rogers is attempting to capture some of the 728,000 voters who chose Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) over El-Sayed. El-Sayed squeaked out a victory over Stevens by less than 16,000 votes after polls suggested he would win in a landslide.

“If you are among the majority of Democratic voters who woke up on Wednesday feeling well, hopeless, because the person who won does not represent your values then just know there is still hope,” Rogers said. He then issued a message to voters from baby boomers to Gen Z. 

“To Grandparents across Michigan who are heartbroken from watching their kids and grandkids leave this state, you have a home with us,” he said. “To young people who are looking for real solutions to solve our housing affordability crisis, you have a home with us. To working families who don’t want higher taxes and lower paychecks, well you have a home with us. And to the vast majority of people across Michigan who do not want to throw their support behind a campaign filled with anger, divisiveness, calls for violence, and the views that are out of touch with your values, then you have a home with us.”

Rogers positioned his campaign as not just a fight between the Left and Right, but a “fight for the very soul of our nation.” 

Rogers pointed to the rift between establishment Democrats and the party’s new far-Left socialist movement. But the Democratic establishment, including Rep. Haley Stevens and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, endorsed El-Sayed after his primary victory. He even received Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) endorsement despite pushing for Schumer to be replaced. El-Sayed advocated for Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen to become the party’s new Senate leader. 

Rogers hopes to lure moderate Democratic voters who do not share the extremist viewpoints of the far-Left of the party, which calls for canceling all medical and student debt, abolishing ICE, and defunding the police.

While El-Sayed does not claim to be a democratic socialist, he was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America and holds many of the radical party’s viewpoints. El-Sayed has also campaigned with communist influencer Hasan Piker, who said, “America deserved 9/11.”

In an attempt to run from his past radicalism, El-Sayed wiped social media posts, including some he used to advocate for defunding the police. He also pushed to resume lockdowns over a year after COVID first began spreading in the United States.