Former President Donald Trump endorsed former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) on Monday in the crowded primary for retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D-MI) seat.
Rogers and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have been working together to try and clear the field well before the August primary, allowing the GOP candidate more time to work on appealing to the general electorate. Trump opted to back Rogers, whom he called “highly respected,” over businessman Sandy Pensler, who has the support of former 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Mike has served his Country during a career loaded up with accolades and wins, from the Army to Congress, and now, hopefully, the U.S. Senate,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Mike will work closely with me to enact our America First Policies. He will tirelessly fight to Secure the Border, Stop Inflation, Grow the Economy, Strengthen our Military / Veteran Support, and Protect and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment.”
Rogers, who served in the House from 2001 to 2015 and chaired the House Intelligence Committee, faces a crowded primary field, which saw the surprise addition of former Rep. Justin Amash in late February. Amash retired from the House in 2021 after disavowing Trump and leaving the GOP, becoming an independent and later a libertarian. His entry into the race complicated Rogers’s path to the nomination.
He is also facing former Rep. Peter Meijer, who lost his 2022 House primary to a challenger backed by Trump. Meijer is the great-grandson of the founder of the Meijer supermarket chain, a mainstay in Michigan that grew his family’s net worth to an estimated $6 billion. Despite those attributes, Meijer faces an uphill climb in winning Michigan’s GOP primary, where the state GOP has fully embraced Trump since his 2016 win and remained loyal despite 2020 and 2022 losses.
Then, there is Pensler, who came in second in the state’s 2018 GOP Senate primary. Pensler, like Meijer, has the appealing ability to self-fund his campaign, which gives both men the ability to prolong their bids for the vacant Senate seat. Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig dropped out of the race amid dismal fundraising numbers and is looking into running for mayor of Detroit. He has since endorsed Rogers.
Rogers and Amash do not have that same self-funding ability, and will need endorsements like Trump’s to finish this primary race in first place.
Democrats have Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and progressive actor Hill Harper in their primary contest. Slotkin, a former CIA agent, is viewed as a competitive candidate because of her success in holding on to her swing district in the House for three consecutive cycles and her impressive fundraising network. Harper, known for his role on ABC’s The Good Doctor, is running to Slotkin’s left.
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The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, typically doesn’t get involved in primaries when not protecting incumbents. Regardless, Slotkin is viewed as the front-runner in the primary and general elections.
Still, a Democratic Party victory is no guarantee for the vacant seat in Michigan, a state won by Trump in 2016 before going to President Joe Biden in 2020.