Mike Rogers, the former Republican congressman who lost his Michigan Senate bid against Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) in the 2024 election, has announced he is running again in 2026.
Rogers narrowly lost to Slotkin last year, 48.3% to 48.64%, also trailing President Donald Trump in support by about a point and a half. Slotkin outpaced former Vice President Kamala Harris in the state.
“President Trump needs strong allies in the Senate to help him deliver on the mandate given by the American people,” Rogers captioned a video posted on X that highlighted his upbringing and his military and intelligence backgrounds.
“That means bringing manufacturing jobs back to Michigan, protecting seniors’ Social Security, lowering the costs of gas, groceries & prescription drugs, and setting our kids up for success by improving the quality of their education,” he wrote. “Michigan, let’s get to work.”
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who holds the seat, announced in January that he won’t run for reelection. Rogers suggested Peters, Slotkin, and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) were “two-faced politicians” who “vote as radicals” in the campaign video.
GOP Senate leadership swiftly backed Rogers’s Senate bid. “Mike Rogers is the conservative leader that Michigan needs in the U.S. Senate,” Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said in a statement. “As an Army veteran and former special agent, Mike understands the importance of putting service before self. We need him in the U.S. Senate to help achieve President Trump’s America First agenda and to bring manufacturing and good-paying jobs back to Michigan.”
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) added, “Michigan is a battleground state, and with Mike as our candidate, I know we will add this seat to President Trump’s Senate Majority in 2026.”
Rogers received an endorsement from Trump in 2024 but hasn’t received one yet for his 2026 bid, which keeps the door open to Republican challengers. He could see competition from Rep. John James (R-MI), former Attorney General Mike Cox, and Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt. It would require a change of course for Nesbitt and James, who are already running for governor in 2026.
The seat is projected to be highly competitive again. But while the Republican field has been simplified with Rogers announcing another bid, the Democratic field is less clear.
Few prominent Democrats have announced their Senate bids besides state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who vowed not to support Schumer if she wins. The other three Democrats whose names have been floated are Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), who is rumored to announce her campaign soon, former Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate, and former Detroit health director Abdul El-Sayed.
Democratic heavyweights like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg declined to run for the seat despite speculation.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee launched its opening salvos toward Rogers on Monday. “Michiganders have already rejected Mike Rogers and his record of abandoning them to walk through the revolving door and get rich, threatening Social Security and Medicare to pay for a tax giveaway for billionaires, and supporting the chaotic tariffs that will spike costs for families,” they said in a statement. “No Republican has won a Michigan Senate race for more than three decades and Democrats will hold this seat in 2026.”
Rogers said in a statement accompanying his campaign announcement that Democrats are “set to pour millions of dollars into Michigan” and that the “road to 2026 starts now.” The closing months of the 2024 campaign saw Slotkin with millions of more dollars in her war chest than Rogers.
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Slotkin blasted Rogers after he suggested that Democrats pulled into the lead in his race “with a “very unusual” truckload of ballots arriving in Detroit.
“That’s not what @MikeRogersForMI said when he called me to concede last November,” she said last week.
