By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Republican Mike Rogers is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, facing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the 2026 race. Rogers, a former chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, appeared in recorded clips from a debate aired during the broadcast, delivering a closing argument aimed at Democratic crossover voters and challenging El-Sayed’s record.
Rogers served as a U.S. Army officer from 1985 to 1989 and as an FBI special agent from 1989 to 1994, investigating organized crime and public corruption cases in Chicago. He represented Michigan’s 8th Congressional District for seven terms, from 2001 to 2015, and chaired the House Intelligence Committee during the 112th and 113th Congresses, experience he has leaned on in a campaign focused partly on national security.
Rogers pitched his candidacy directly to Democratic voters willing to cross party lines during the debate and called on El-Sayed to return campaign donations he said were connected to groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the clips aired on the broadcast. He also questioned El-Sayed’s broader donor ties. Those claims were presented as Rogers’s allegations in the debate and were not independently substantiated in the clips reviewed.
Rogers previously ran for Michigan’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2024, losing to Democrat Elissa Slotkin. He has since opened a campaign office in Detroit and Wayne County, El-Sayed’s home base, a move his campaign has framed as a sign the 2026 race is competitive across the state.
Rogers earned a bachelor’s degree from Adrian College in 1985 and entered Michigan politics as a state senator in 1995 before winning election to Congress in 2000.
Mike Rogers is represented through recorded clips played on air during the broadcast — from the Michigan U.S. Senate debate.
