LANSING — As more Michiganders speak out against Mike Rogers and “point to the money that [he] … has taken from the pharmaceutical industry,” Republicans are facing questions over whether Rogers is “losing this race.” Meanwhile Rogers is (unsuccessfully) trying to hide from his toxic record on abortion and IVF, and his spin through the revolving door.
Rogers is attacking the media for… *checks notes* asking him questions about his anti-IVF record. Makes sense, given he co-sponsored four bills that attempted to ban IVF. Rogers isn’t mad, don’t put in the newspaper he’s mad. He just can’t find a single “honest journalist” and has “lost faith in the journalistic integrity across America.”
Here’s the latest on Revolving Door Rogers’ rough week:
- WLNS highlighted how more Michiganders are speaking up as they “point to the money that the Republican candidate for Michigan U.S. Senate seat has taken from the pharmaceutical industry.”
- Rogers’ team faces some tough questions after a week of bad news: “Will you concede that your candidate for the U.S. Senate by the name of Rogers is losing this race today as we sit here? Will you concede that point?”
- Valerie Johnson, a veteran, called out Rogers’ opioids record, sharing that “many of my fellow veterans struggled with opioid use because of … these companies and the politicians who helped them. Mike Rogers is one of those politicians.”
- Care Free Medical CEO Dr. Farhan Bhatti slammed “the inability of Mike Rogers and other members of Congress to take a more nuanced position that was evidence-based, Rogers and others instead parroted talking points provided by drug companies.”
- Rep. Julie Brixie pointed out that one of her fears is Rogers’ “ties to big pharma will get in the way of some of the really important work that Elissa Slotkin has been doing to help working families, lowering the drug prices, capping insulin prices.”
- He’s not mad, please don’t put in the newspaper that he got mad. Rogers resorted to attacking the media for asking him about his anti-IVF record, saying he can’t find an “honest journalist” and he’s “lost faith in the journalistic integrity across America.”
- Another day, another report of Rogers selling out Michiganders to enrich himself. American Journal News details another example of Rogers “using his political connections to advance the interests of private companies” and more “questionable financial ties that have dogged [his] campaign.”
- Let the (toxic anti-abortion) record show. Rogers “repeatedly pushed to ban abortion nationwide” and in Congress, he “routinely opposed reproductive rights 100% of the time.”
See for yourself:
Off the Record: Tim Skubick: “Will you concede that your candidate for the U.S. Senate by the name of Rogers is losing this race today as we sit here? Will you concede that point?” Jamie Roe: “I will not concede that point. I think momentum is with Mike Rogers.” Skubick: “I’m not talking about momentum, I’m talking about who’s ahead. We’re not doing big mo, we’re doing big lead.”
Gongwer: Dems Continue Attacking Rogers’ Record On Opioids While In Congress
- Democrats and officials on Wednesday continued their push to highlight what they called a poor legislative record in Congress by former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who they said was one of many members who exacerbated the nation’s opioid crisis.
- Following a story from Bridge Michigan last month highlighting Rogers’ time in Congress, Democrats have been attacking him for leading on legislation making access to opioids easier. Democrats have also latched onto 2006 comments from Rogers saying pharmaceutical companies considered him a champion of their industry.
- Speaking at a Wednesday press conference at Michigan Democratic Party headquarters in Lansing, Care Free Medical CEO Dr. Farhan Bhatti acknowledged Rogers’ comments about his brother and reasoning behind pushing past legislation.
- “However, the inability of Mike Rogers and other members of Congress to take a more nuanced position that was evidence-based, Rogers and others instead parroted talking points provided by drug companies,” Bhatti said.
- Valerie Johnson, a veteran from Lansing, said the veteran community has been hit particularly hard by opioid addiction.
- “Many of my fellow veterans struggled with opioid use because of … these companies and the politicians who helped them,” Johnson said. “Mike Rogers is one of those politicians.”
- Rep. Julie Brixie (D-Okemos) said she supports Slotkin’s work in Congress, including backing the FEND off Fentanyl Act signed into law earlier this year, a law that seeks to reduce the flow of fentanyl into the country by disrupting the drug’s supply chain.
- “One of my fears is that his ties to big pharma will get in the way of some of the really important work that Elissa Slotkin has been doing to help working families, lowering the drug prices, capping insulin prices,” Brixie said. “These are all things that impact the big pharmaceutical companies.”
Brian Kilmeade Show: Mike Rogers: “Oh, if you can find me an honest journalist that’s in journalism, please let me know. Send me.” Kilmeade: “Give me an example.” Rogers: “We just can’t get, let me give you just to how we had Mike Pompeo come in to talk about the China issue. We had a press round table. This is all our local press cross Michigan. Do you know he didn’t get one question. They started talking about all of the Democrat attacks on IVF and all of the other things that the Democrats are trying to push. So here we have a guy that’s been Secretary of state, CIA director and you make him available to local press. You would think this would be a great opportunity for them to talk about why China in Michigan is bad. Not one question. I mean it was really incredible. They wanted to talk about some press release the Democrats sent out the day before attacking us on one thing or another.”
Brian Kilmeade Show: Rogers: “It just worries me. I really have lost faith in the journalistic integrity across America. I don’t care if you’re a local paper or you are ABC national news. It worries me a lot.”
American Journal News: Republican Mike Rogers used campaign cash to promote defense contractor interests
- U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers funneled political donations to a national security group that wants more American intervention abroad. The revelation adds to a growing list of questionable financial ties that have dogged Rogers’ campaign.
- Rogers served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015.
- Every candidate for federal office has a principal campaign committee responsible for managing campaign finances. In January 2015, immediately after leaving office, Rogers converted his committee into a PAC called Securing America’s Future. This allowed Rogers to use funds he raised as a candidate for broader political purposes.
- In February 2015, Rogers started a group called Americans for Peace, Prosperity and Security (APPS). The group was financed by a $200,000 donation from Securing America’s Future.
- In May 2015, The Intercept reported the APPS was staffed by a cadre of defense contractors who would benefit from increased militarism. This included Stephen Hadley, who served on the board of directors of Raytheon, and John Engler, who ran a lobbying group that represented Lockheed Martin.
- The Intercept identified six other APPS staffers with ties to the defense industry.
- Securing America’s Future transferred an additional $660,000 to APPS between 2015 and 2016. Andy Keiser, who served as Rogers chief of staff in Congress, was listed as APPS’s director. Keiser was paid $116,333 in this same period.
- This is not the first time Rogers has been accused of using his political connections to advance the interests of private companies. In 2016, he became an advisor for IP3, a nuclear technology company. IP3 unsuccessfully lobbied the Trump administration to relax regulations on nuclear power in the Middle East. Rogers was also a security advisor for AT&T.
- Since leaving office, Rogers’ net worth has ballooned from $655,000 to $13 million.
Michigan Independent: Mike Rogers wants voters to forget his record of backing abortion bans
- During his 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Michigan Republican Mike Rogers repeatedly pushed to ban abortion nationwide. Now, as he runs for election to the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Rogers is telling voters that he will protect reproductive rights.
- In 2022, Michigan voters approved a state constitutional amendment by a margin of 57%-43%, codifying reproductive freedom, including the right to abortion and to contraception. Rogers was a Florida resident at the time, but said during a March 2023 discussion on Michigan Public Television’s “Off the Record” that he was unfamiliar with the ballot proposition’s wording, but would probably not have voted for it. He falsely claimed it allowed abortion “right up to the day of birth,” and said, “I’m a pro-life guy, I’ve voted pro-life, and I don’t walk away from that.”
- During a May 2023 town hall in New Hampshire, as a potential presidential candidate, Rogers was asked about his abortion position. “I’ve been a pro-life candidate my entire career,” he answered…
- Rogers served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2015, where he routinely opposed reproductive rights 100% of the time, according to scorecards issued by the group NARAL Pro-Choice America, now known as Reproductive Freedom for All.
- During his 2000 campaign, Rogers said on a candidate questionnaire that he backed a constitutional amendment to ban abortion and give legal rights to fetuses from the moment of conception, according to an August 2024 Jezebel report.
- “I believe that federal and state governments were established to protect our lives and the lives of the unborn. I believe abortions should be legal only to prevent the death of the mother,” he told the Associated Press in 2010.
- Rogers co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act and other proposals intended to give full legal rights to embryos and fetuses; had they become law, experts say, they could have been used to prohibit in vitro fertilization. He also voted for a 20-week national abortion ban in 2013.
- In 2003 and again in 2005, Rogers co-sponsored legislation to require withdrawal of the Food and Drug Administration’s September 2000 approval of mifepristone, a drug used for medication abortions. He endorsed the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned Roe.
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