Republican candidate for the Michigan Senate Mike Rogers is courting moderate Democrats for his campaign following the narrow victory by Abdul El-Sayed in Tuesday's Democrat primary.
On X Friday morning, Rogers posted several examples of individual Democrat voters who have decided to cross over and support him over concerns about El-Sayed’s extremist positions. In one of these, he agreed with a Democrat voter that “in the extremes lie trouble” and categorized El-Sayed as too radical for Michigan. In another, Rogers highlighted El-Sayed’s narrow victory:
“The majority of Michigan Democrats did not vote for their Senate nominee, because they too think he is too dangerous for our state.”
Rogers also reached out to moderate Democrats as a whole, welcoming them into his campaign in another X post:
“If you are among the majority of Democratic voters that woke up Wednesday feeling hopeless — you deserve a Senator who is ready to sit with you, hear from you, and represent you.”
El-Sayed has garnered criticism from both parties over his association with Hasan Piker, who is widely criticized for having said that America deserved 9/11. CNSNews also reported on research that found that El Sayed had accepted as much as $115,000 from key figures in the Council on American Islamic Relations, which is condemned as a terrorist organization in Texas and abroad.
On Friday, past comments El-Sayed made about his disdain for Mackinac Island, one of Michigan’s most iconic landmarks, resurfaced on X. The Midwesterner uncovered the clip from a 2020 documentary about El-Sayed, in which he was on the island:
‘I hate Mackinac so much’
…
“Every time I have ever come here I have hated it.”
In response, Rogers posted photos of himself on the island with the caption, "There's no place like Mackinac.”
