LANSING — One year ago today, Revolving Door Mike Rogers launched his “jumbled” campaign. Rogers had to leave his beloved “4,751-square-foot,” $1.7 million mansion in Cape Coral, Florida to campaign in Michigan where he has not had a house for the majority of his campaign. And it’s only gone downhill since then…
Rogers has found himself in a “sticky wicket” pretty much every week since then, as he faces heat for “cash[ing] in on his ties to Capitol Hill for foreign governments,” being a “leading advocate for expansion of opioid prescriptions,” and “consistently vot[ing]” for dangerous abortion bans.
Veterans, union leaders, OB-GYNs, and even Republicans are slamming Rogers over his record of selling out Michigan which “directly speaks to his willingness to answer whatever call has the most dollar signs in it.”
Here’s what you need to know about Revolving Door Rogers’ rough year:
Where exactly is Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood? Florida is a long way away from Michigan…
- Rogers “became a snowbird permanently” after he abandoned Michigan for Florida where he owns a 4,751-square-foot, $1.7 million Cape Coral mansion that “was his official residence until his decision to run for U.S. Senate.” Rogers received a “$50,000 homestead tax exemption on the [Florida] property for 2022,” and he has not had a house in Michigan for the majority of his campaign.
Take a look:
- Michigan Advance: Where is Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood?
- Michigan Advance: A new house is being built for Mr. Rogers in his not-yet-neighborhood
- Newsweek: Michigan Republican Candidate Caught Living in Florida
- MSNBC: In Senate races, GOP haunted anew with ‘candidate quality’ issues
Anyone have any Dramamine? Rogers’ spin through the revolving door is making us dizzy.
- After Congress, Rogers walked through the “revolving door” to make an “explosion of wealth” “advising companies on issues he dealt with in Congress.” Rogers “multiplied his net worth, disclosing between $5.5 and $14.5 million in various other investments.”
Take a look:
- Business Insider: 9 years through the revolving door: How the GOP’s top Senate recruit in Michigan got rich after leaving Congress
Rogers sold out our national security, working for companies tied to China and Saudi Arabia.
- Rogers worked for companies with ties to American adversaries that threaten our national security. These foreign ties helped increase Rogers’ personal wealth up to twenty times.
- Rogers has “gained hundreds of thousands of dollars in wealth through companies that have partnered with Chinese firms” and “personally benefited from his connections to China in opposition to U.S. national security interests.”
- Rogers worked for AT&T while “the company was trying to broker a deal to sell Huawei products in the United States” which “the U.S. House of Representatives, citing Rogers’ investigation, urged AT&T to abandon.”
- Rogers has “been linked to several Saudi companies” “in which he has personally gained from, including one with questionable nuclear ambitions.”
Take a look:
- Detroit News: Mike Rogers targets China in Senate campaign, but his own connections draw criticism
- Heartland Signal: Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers connected to Saudi companies, including one with nuclear ambitions
- Heartland Signal: Michigan Senate candidate spews anti-China rhetoric despite working to expand Chinese companies and personal wealth
- The Gander: Mike Rogers voted against reining in special interests. Now he’s running for US Senate
- American Journal News: Mike Rogers’ ties to Chinese telecom giants fuel hypocrisy scandal
- American Journal News: Michigan Republican Mike Rogers has repeatedly dodged questions about his work at AT&T
- American Journal News: Michigan Republican Mike Rogers worked for organization that threatened privacy rights
Rogers, a self-professed “champion” of drug companies, cozied up to Big Pharma, and spent a “decade of advocacy” to “boost opioid prescriptions” as “the nation tumbled into a crushing epidemic it is still battling today.”
- In Congress, Rogers was a “leading advocate for greater access to pain medications, which are typically variations of opioids,” as “prescriptions soared during that decade, but so did addiction and deaths, as the nation tumbled into a crushing epidemic it is still battling today.”
- Rogers bragged that “drug companies considered him ‘a champion’ of their industry,” and he “received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the same drug companies that now are paying billions of dollars in national opioid settlements for their roles in causing the epidemic.”
- Rogers is “bankrolled” and “received more than $1 million” from Big Pharma as he “helped block Medicare price negotiation.”
Take a look:
- Bridge Michigan: Mike Rogers vows to fight drug war, but urged opioid access in Congress
- Michigan Independent: Bankrolled by pharmaceuticals, Mike Rogers helped block Medicare price negotiation
Rogers has an extensive anti-abortion record and wants to rip women’s rights to make their own personal medical decisions away from them.
- Rogers backed a federal abortion ban and wanted to “enshrine fetal personhood in the Constitution.”
- Rogers “consistently voted” for abortion bans and celebrated the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Rogers co-sponsored and voted for bills that would have criminalized and banned abortion – and even jeopardized access to IVF.
- If Rogers had “lived in Michigan instead of Florida” in 2022, he would have voted against Proposal 3.
Take a look:
- Jezebel: Michigan Republican in Tight Senate Race Says He’d Respect Abortion Rights. His Record Suggests Otherwise.
- The Gander: Mike Rogers tries to distance Senate campaign from his anti-abortion record
- CNN: Republican candidates downplay past anti-abortion stances ahead of 2024 election
- The Gander: Republican Senate candidates face backlash over anti-abortion records in Michigan
Rogers supports policies that would spike costs for working Michiganders, and he is not someone “that working families can afford to have on our side.”
- Rogers has attacked workers and “voted consistently against the interests of workers.”
- Rogers voted to slash taxes for billionaires, and he supports passing tax giveaways that slash taxes for the wealthiest few but do nothing for Michigan families.
- Rogers voted against the Affordable Care Act, and he has vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. A repeal of the ACA would result in millions of Michiganders being denied health care access and spike costs for families.
- Rogers wants to slash Social Security and transform Medicare into a voucher program which would rip away Michiganders’ benefits that they worked a lifetime to earn and raise health care costs.
- Rogers has voted against measures to lower the cost of prescription drugs.
- Union leaders and veterans have “raised concerns” about Rogers, saying he “isn’t fit to represent Michigan” with his record showing “he’s more interested in enriching himself and big corporations than he is working for Michiganders.”
Take a look:
- Fox 17: Union members throw support behind Slotkin in Grand Rapids
- The Gander: Michigan leaders say Mike Rogers represents ‘everything people hate’ about politics
- Michigan Independent: Mike Rogers says he supports UAW strike but fought against union consistently in Congress
- The Gander: GOP Senate candidates’ records suggest they’d back cuts to Social Security and Medicare
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