Mike Rogers has an ad out, where he's wearing one of those tech-guy fleece vests, strolling through a factory, posing next to a drill press, and drinking a beer in a bar. Because I guess all of that is supposed to say I’m a working Michigander?
You may remember his previous ad, where he wore a brand-new Carhartt jacket and pretended to be an expert in Michigan manufacturing. Well, now it’s the fleece vest, and he’s pretending to be middle class. The ad even says that’s “who we are.”
Respectfully, I disagree.
Let me tell you who Mike Rogers is: Mike Rogers is a super-rich Florida man with a giant waterfront mansion. In the winter, when Michiganders are scraping ice off their windshields in the cold, Mike Rogers is enjoying the palm trees at his mansion in Cape Coral and his two luxury yachts. (No joke, Google it.)
That’s Mike Rogers. There’s nothing wrong with relaxing on the beach, but there’s something deeply wrong with being a carpetbagger millionaire who films himself at a factory and tells Michigan he’s one of us.
Rogers doesn’t know anything about Michigan grit. Most Florida millionaires don’t.
But I know who we are. The Michigan way is folks busting their tails – it’s calloused hands, shop floors, union halls. It’s pride. It’s building things that last. It’s standing up for your neighbor. It’s having the backs of your fellow workers. It’s about looking out for community. It’s not about hightailing it to your Florida mansion.
So here’s what I want to say to Mike Rogers directly: Standing next to a drill press doesn’t make you a fighter for the people who run it. Chatting with workers for a camera crew before flying home to Florida is not the same as working like hell to keep their factory open. And having a beer with some folks in a Michigan bar doesn’t change your values. It doesn’t suddenly give you credit. Working families shouldn’t trust you, despite your (literal) costume changes.
I’ve actually done the work. I served as Chief of Staff on President Obama’s auto rescue when the whole world was ready to write off Michigan, and we helped save 200,000 jobs here. I helped write and pass the CHIPS and Science Act to bring manufacturing back to American soil, and to Michigan.
I didn’t stop to shoot a commercial to make sure everybody saw how working-class I was. I was too busy busting my tail for the people who actually run those factories.
So let’s be honest about what Mike Rogers would actually do for Michigan’s working families: exactly what Donald Trump has done. That’s who he answers to. Trump endorsed him (twice), MAGA billionaires fund him, and if he ever made it to the Senate, he’d vote however they tell him to. Rogers doesn’t care if your grocery bill goes up, if gas prices skyrocket again, or if you lose your health insurance. He cares about looking like he cares.
This ad just started running, and there is a heap of money behind it. Last cycle, Mike Rogers had $82.3 million in ad support from Republicans for his Senate campaign. He lost anyway, because Michiganders know B.S. when they see it.
But the out-of-state far-right billionaires funding him are going to run it back, bigger. The fleece vest is going to be in your living room, on your phone, and in the middle of your Tigers games – then your Lions and Red Wings and Pistons games – from now until November.
It’s going to be exhausting.
So here's the plainest thing I can tell you about how we fight back: We keep our TV ads on the air.
Their MAGA Trump consultants think a guy who walks around factories talking about being middle class is going to win votes here. They think Michiganders can’t tell the difference. But Rogers is a fake. He wouldn’t know the Michigan way if it bit him on the keester.
Our ads tell the truth: about my record, about fighting for working families, about who actually shows up for Michigan. Keeping them running is the single most strategic thing this campaign can do right now, and I truly can’t do it without you.
So if you’re able, will you chip in today, drown out Mike Rogers’ ads, and help us keep telling Michiganders the truth before the primary in three days?
We have to win this primary, beat Mike Rogers, flip the Senate, and stop Donald Trump – and all of it starts with fighting back against this ad. It’s simple, but it’s true. That’s where your $20 donation goes. Telling the world who Mike Rogers really is.
Mike Rogers can keep the vest. He can keep the Florida mansion and the luxury yachts, too.
But Michigan is ours.
With grit,
Haley
A personal note from Haley 👋
I’m a lifelong Michigander and the daughter of small-business owners. I’ve spent my career fighting for Michigan’s working families – and now I’m running for the U.S. Senate to keep standing up for the people I love.
But here’s the truth: Senate control could come down to Michigan. And Trump and his megadonors know it. That’s why they’re gearing up to spend tens of millions to defeat me and hand this seat to a MAGA Republican.
I need your help to fight back. This race will be one of the most competitive – and expensive – in the country, and I’m counting on grassroots support to win.
If you’re with me, will you chip in today?