Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers told a Fox News town hall audience Monday night that his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, is vulnerable with two voting blocs that have traditionally backed Democrats: Black voters in Detroit and Jewish voters across Michigan.
The event, hosted by Sean Hannity, also featured Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. John James and House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain, as the party made its closing arguments two weeks before the Nov. 3 election.
Rogers pointed to past comments from El-Sayed criticizing former President Barack Obama, whom El-Sayed once called “not the right choice” to carry forward a progressive agenda after Obama’s 2012 re-election. Obama is scheduled to campaign with El-Sayed in Detroit on Oct. 24 and has released a video backing his candidacy.
“He is dismissive in Detroit. We have just dozens of black pastors that we have talked to, neighborhood leaders in the city of Detroit that we’ve talked to. They’re looking for a change,” Rogers said.
Rogers also argued El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel could cost him support among Jewish Democrats. El-Sayed recently declined to say whether he viewed Iran or Israel as a greater threat, saying in a debate: “I think both of them have proven dangerous in their own way. One, at risk of attacking us. One, getting us into wars we have no business fighting.”
Rogers estimated there are about 70,000 Jewish Democrats in Michigan and said he believes his campaign could win over roughly half of them.
“We’re fired up and excited and scared for their children, by the way. They’re afraid for their children. They’re with us, and they’re going to vote, we think, 35,000 votes out of the Jewish Democrat — these are normally solid Democratic votes,” Rogers said. “That’s changing the dynamic.”
James Targets State Spending
James, running against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, told the town hall he would focus on cutting government spending if elected. “Michigan is spending 50% more right now under Gretchen Whitmer than we spent under Rick Snyder’s administration, the last Republican, and $20 billion more per year than at the height of the pandemic,” James said. Snyder left office in 2019.
“Michigan does not have a taxation problem. Michigan has a spending problem,” James added.
James also raised the possibility of fraud in Michigan’s government programs, pointing to Minnesota as a cautionary example. “If a 19-year-old journalist named Nick Shirley can find $9 billion of fraud in Minnesota, a state with 50% of our population and 60% of our budget, what do you think he can find here?” James said.
Shirley, a videographer, drew national attention to suspected fraud among Minnesota childcare providers, but he did not uncover $9 billion in fraud himself. That figure came from an estimate by former federal prosecutor Joe Thompson, who said last year that fraud across 14 high-risk Medicaid programs in Minnesota could total $9 billion or more — an estimate state officials have disputed. Federal and state investigators in Minnesota have confirmed fraud involving taxpayer-funded childcare, food assistance and healthcare programs, including cases where defendants allegedly billed the government for services never provided.
McClain’s Closing Argument
McClain, the House GOP conference chair, closed out the town hall with sharp criticism of Michigan Democrats. “I don’t even call them Democrats anymore; it’s the Communist Party,” she said. “They want to pack the Supreme Court, they want to abolish the police, they want to let people out of prisons.”
Michigan voters head to the polls alongside the rest of the country on Nov. 3.
