LANSING — Michigan Advance reported today that Mike Rogers owns a $1.7 million, “4,751-square-foot home in Cape Coral valued at $1.7 million was his official residence until his decision to run for U.S. Senate.” Rogers received a $50,000 homestead tax exemption on the Florida mansion in 2022, indicating it’s his primary residence and a “renovation permit that same year worth $327,000, more than the cost of the entire Michigan house.” Rogers was living in Florida and registered to vote there before he decided to run for office in Michigan.
Rogers abandoned Michigan nearly a decade ago, but he moved back to the state in July 2023 ahead of his Senate campaign launch. He purchased a modest $295,000 one-bedroom, 728-square-foot home in White Lake Township. However Rogers is currently not living in that house, but with his sister-in-law “pending renovations on the White Lake property,” even though the house was completely remodeled by the previous owner right before its sale.
Michigan Democratic Party Spokesperson Sam Chan issued the following statement about the confusion around Mike Rogers’ neighborhood:
“Mike Rogers quit Michigan nearly a decade ago and claimed a million-dollar Florida mansion as his primary residence. Michigan families won’t be fooled by Rogers after he abandoned them for Florida and walked through the revolving door to enrich himself with cushy corporate gigs.”
Read Michigan Advance’s reporting on Mike Rogers’ huge million-dollar Florida mansion and moving back to Michigan after nine years solely to run for Senate:
Michigan Advance: Where is Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood?
- Where does former Michigan U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers live?
- Records show Rogers, 60, owns homes in Michigan and Florida, but is registered to vote at a different Michigan address.
- Rogers, who retired from a Michigan U.S. House seat in 2015, was living in Florida and was registered to vote there before deciding to run for office again in Michigan in 2023, per the Detroit News.
- But by June 30, 2023, that had changed with Politico first reporting Rogers was seriously considering a run for Stabenow’s seat.
- In July 2023, the Detroit News, reporting on Rogers’ possible interest in the U.S. Senate race, quoted Rogers adviser John Stineman that the former congressman and his wife, Kristi, had a sale agreement on a property in Michigan that they would be closing on soon.
- By the time Rogers officially announced two months later his pursuit of the GOP nomination, the exact location of that home remained unreported…
- Livingston County records show Rogers and his wife registered to vote at a Brighton address on Aug. 16, 2023. That same address is also listed in county property records as being owned by his sister-in-law, Deborah Miller.
- Oakland County tax records show Rogers and his wife purchased a one-bedroom, 728-square-foot home in White Lake Township for $295,000 on July 10, 2023.
- The Michigan Advance asked Rogers’ campaign to comment on his residency. A spokesperson confirmed Rogers is living at his sister-in-law’s Brighton house pending renovations on the White Lake property, but declined to comment further despite repeated requests.
- The real estate listing for the White Lake property shows the home was completely remodeled by the previous owner in 2022 just prior to its sale.
- “Chip and Joanna, literally, just left the building! (EVERYTHING REPLACED FROM THE STUDS TO THE ROOF! OVER $100,000 INTO THIS! This is a one-of-a-kind one-bedroom cottage stunner now available after much love!” states a Redfin listing.
- Rogers’ campaign did provide copies of Oakland County permits to plug an onsite well and install a new one, although they are from December, more than five months after the home was purchased.
- Rogers also owns a large home in Florida. The 4,751-square-foot home in Cape Coral valued at $1.7 million was his official residence until his decision to run for U.S. Senate. Public records show he received a $50,000 homestead tax exemption on the property for 2022, as well as pulled a renovation permit that same year worth $327,000, more than the cost of the entire Michigan house.
- Pollster Bernie Porn of the EPIC-MRA firm tells the Advance… there could be “enough info to label Rogers as a carpetbagger.
- “Today, ‘carpetbagger’ means someone who’s an opportunistic outsider, such as a political candidate who runs for office in a place where he has no deep ties or hasn’t lived in an area for a very long time,” Porn said.
- “… All you have to do is show the two houses next to each other and ask which state is more important to him based on the houses he owns in each state,” he added.
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