Mike Rogers opened Michigan’s Senate general election with a sledgehammer.
Hours after far-left progressive Abdul El-Sayed defeated establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens for the Democratic nomination, Rogers cast the November contest as a fight between ordinary Michigan voters and the most radical edge of the Democratic Party.
“The choice this November is simple: common sense or complete insanity,” Rogers said in a campaign statement Wednesday.
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El-Sayed emerged from one of the country’s ugliest Democratic primaries after defeating Stevens, who had the backing of retiring Sen. Gary Peters and much of the party establishment.
Rogers, a former Republican congressman, ran unopposed in the GOP primary. The two will now battle for Peters’ open seat in a contest expected to help decide control of the narrowly divided Senate.
Rogers immediately framed the race around the economy, public safety and El-Sayed’s socialist associations.
“And now the same failed politicians are asking us to send Abdul El-Sayed to Washington,” Rogers said. “Abdul isn’t just another liberal. He’s an extremist.”
Rogers claimed Democratic leadership has driven 200,000 manufacturing jobs out of Michigan, dropped the state’s schools to 45th nationally and left families paying the Midwest’s highest utility rates.
Those figures were assertions in Rogers’ campaign statement and were not accompanied by sourcing in the material provided.
The Republican also alleged that El-Sayed supports policies that would release violent offenders, expressed support for the Muslim Brotherhood and campaigned with figures who refuse to condemn terrorism.
“He wants to empty prisons and put murderers and sex offenders back on our streets,” Rogers charged. “He pledged his support to the Muslim Brotherhood and campaigns with people who refuse to condemn terrorism.”
Rogers further accused El-Sayed of supporting “the largest tax hike in American history,” which he said would cost struggling families more than $3,000 annually.
The statement did not provide documentation for those allegations, and they should be understood as campaign attacks rather than established findings.
Rogers’ sharpest line invoked the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“I spent years hunting terrorists and bringing Osama bin Laden to justice,” Rogers said. “Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11.”
That attack appears to reference El-Sayed’s campaigning with far-left streamer Hasan Piker, not a statement made by El-Sayed himself.
Piker said during a 2019 stream that “America deserved 9/11.” He later said he “obviously” did not mean Americans deserved the terrorist attacks and described the remark as criticism of US foreign policy.
The material provided does not establish that El-Sayed personally said or believes America deserved 9/11.
Rogers nevertheless made clear that Piker and the socialist movement surrounding El-Sayed will remain central to the Republican campaign.
“Abdul doesn’t represent a vision for the future,” Rogers said. “He’s leading a movement grounded in ideological fanaticism. His agenda would make our communities less safe and our state less affordable.”
El-Sayed has made “Medicare for All” a defining issue and entered the general election after defeating the Democratic old guard in a bruising ideological primary. If elected, the epidemiologist and former Wayne County health director would become the country’s first Muslim senator.
Rogers closed his opening salvo by promising to bring jobs back to Michigan, lower costs, protect families and put workers ahead of “radical activists.”
“This election isn’t just about choosing a Senator,” Rogers said. “It’s about deciding whether Michigan has a future built on common sense, or whether we hand the keys to the most fringe extremists in the nation.”
El-Sayed won the Democratic civil war.
Rogers is betting Michigan has no interest in joining his revolution.
My statement on Michigan’s Democrat Nominee for U.S. Senate: pic.twitter.com/LJ4pohiVA9
— Mike Rogers (@MikeRogersForMI) August 5, 2026
