LANSING — The Michigan GOP Senate Showdown is quite the “doozy,” and this week was no exception. Mike Rogers’ cozy relationship with big corporations was exposed. James Craig called it quits and left some parting words bashing the Republicans for not “let[ting] the voters decide” who wins the primary and being rich, “self-funded candidate[s].” But wait, there’s more!
Here’s the latest on the “clash” between Michigan Republicans:
- Business Insider reported that Rogers abandoned Michigan to make millions from cushy corporate gigs. In the nine years since he left Congress, Rogers walked through the revolving door, multiplied his net worth, and bought a mansion in Florida.
- Weird flex but go off… Rogers is bragging that the DeVos family and other wealthy donors are funding his campaign. Rogers has made it clear – again – that wealthy donors and big corporations are his priority, not hardworking Michigan families.
- Rogers faced more scrutiny for abandoning Michigan nearly a decade ago and moving to Florida. He owns a $1.7 million Cape Coral mansion that he claimed a $50,000 homestead exemption on in 2022.
- Craig left the race with a bang, taking shots at Rogers and the “political donor class, both here in Michigan and D.C., made a decision to really put their support behind one candidate.”
- Craig slammed Rogers and said that the party putting its money into Rogers’ campaign was “dangerous.” Craig went on to say that it took the matter “out of the people who vote” as the “political donor class essentially decide[s] who gets to be the nominee” and we should “let the voters decide.”
- Craig also hit Meijer and Pensler on his way out, saying “I am not a self-funded candidate, so that certainly makes a difference.”
- Rogers attacked his opponents who are “looking for their 15 minutes of fame” and “looking to clench on to power.”
- Love is in the air this week. Whether it’s Florida, big corporations, a dangerous abortion ban, or repealing the Affordable Care Act, there’s plenty of love to go around for Rogers, Meijer, and Pensler.
- Trump is headed to Michigan tomorrow, and he brings along more chaos and infighting in the Michigan GOP Senate Showdown. Rogers, Meijer, and Pensler have all “piled on” each other over their stances on Trump.
See for yourself:
Business Insider: 9 years through the revolving door: How the GOP’s top Senate recruit in Michigan got rich after leaving Congress
- Financial docs show that [Rogers] has multiplied his wealth since he left Congress in 2015.
- He passed through the “revolving door,” advising companies on issues he dealt with in Congress.
- That includes more than $32,000 from paid speeches in 2022, nearly $2 million in income from board positions at tech companies and cybersecurity firms in the last two years, and assets totaling as high as $17.5 million.
- And Rogers added one more key asset to his portfolio in July, just three months before launching his Senate bid: a modest $295,000 house in exurban Detroit. Before that, he was living over 1,000 miles away in sunny Cape Coral, Florida, where he purchased a more than $1.5 million home in 2022.
- It’s a stark example of how the so-called “revolving door” — where lawmakers, staffers, and other officials capitalize on their experience as they move between the public and private sectors — can fuel the explosion of immense wealth after years in public service.
- As he prepared to exit Congress, he sold his home in Howell, Michigan for $137,500 in October 2014, property records show, leaving him without a Michigan residence.
- In December, Rogers disclosed payments totaling roughly $1,975,000 since January 2022, including $724,887 from IronNet, which recently went bankrupt; $191,000 from MITRE; nearly $160,00 from D-Wave; and over $20,000 from Telefonica Ingenieria, a Spanish telecommunications company.
- Rogers also received $460,000 from Nokia in the last two years, despite little public information existing about his affiliation with the Finnish tech company.
- In sum, Rogers appears to have multiplied his net worth, disclosing between $5.5 and $14.5 million in various other investments, mostly mutual funds, along with over $3 million in real estate.
- But it’s relatively uncommon for politicians to run for office again once they’ve become ensconced in the ritzy life that awaits them after their service, and when they do, it’s often controversial.
NBC News: Democrats are trying to turn the GOP’s 2024 Senate contenders into Dr. Oz
- In Michigan, Democrats have pushed an unflattering narrative about former Rep. Mike Rogers, who returned… to run for Senate after relocating to Florida.
- …A recent article from Michigan Advance headlined, “Where is Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood?”— a report that highlighted the home that Mike Rogers and his wife own in Cape Coral, Florida. The home is valued at nearly $1.7 million, and the couple claimed a $50,000 homestead exemption on their last property tax bill, records show.
- “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,” said Sam Chan, a spokesperson for the Michigan Democratic Party.
WJR All Talk: Craig: “It’s no secret that the political donor class, both here in Michigan and in D.C., made a decision to really put their support behind one candidate… I am not a self-funded candidate, so that certainly makes a difference.”
WJR All Talk: Kevin Dietz: “You made a comment about the party throwing all its money at one candidate. I’m going to assume you’re talking about Mike Rogers. Is, is that a dangerous thing for a party to do? Is there a reason they would support one candidate when you would be the most popular candidate, why they would support a different candidate?” … Craig: “I will tell you it is dangerous. What it does, in essence, is take it out of the hands of the people who vote. I think everyone who wants to serve should be allowed to serve and let the voters decide… Why should a political donor class essentially decide who gets to be the nominee?”
Detroit News: Anti-Trump baggage could dog some Republican Senate candidates in Michigan
- As the Michigan Republican primary for U.S. Senate gets cranking, so are the attacks on candidates who have been critical of former President Donald Trump…
- Top contenders for the nomination bashing one another over their Trump stances was inevitable… that could complicate their campaigns for the party’s nomination in the Aug. 6 primary election.
- In that sense, a new TV ad bashing former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, for his past criticism of Trump is likely just the beginning.
- The ad is from businessman Sandy Pensler of Grosse Pointe Park, who in his 2018 Senate campaign said he didn’t like Trump’s personal style and that he speaks “at a fourth-grade level,” calling it a “remarkable” talent that can sometimes backfire.
- Former U.S. Reps. Peter Meijer… elicited Trump’s wrath…
- Democrats argue that the Trumpy discord in the Senate GOP contest could help them by producing a weaker candidate in the general election who will be linked to Trump’s record on everything from abortion to the “big lie” claiming he won the 2020 election.
- “As the primary gets more divisive by the day, it’s clear that their brutal infighting will leave them with a badly damaged nominee who is out-of-step with Michigan families,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said.
- Rogers said [Meijer,] the one-term congressman got “snookered…”
- “You don’t respect somebody who is just kind of willing to debase themselves,” Meijer said of those who twist into knots to win the former president’s support.
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