Former Republican congressman Mike Rogers expected to run for US Senate in Michigan, sources say

Washington — Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, is expected to announce a bid for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat as early as next week, according to three people familiar with his plans.

Rogers would become the first well-known Republican in the state to launch a bid for seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Lansing, who announced in January that she would not seek a fifth term. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has encouraged Rogers to run, according to a source familiar with the talks.

Representatives for Rogers did not immediately comment Tuesday.

Rogers represented a swing district in mid-Michigan in the House for seven terms from 2001-2015 and chaired the influential Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Rogers, 60, hails from Howell but has recently resided in the Fort Myers area of Florida, where he's been registered to vote.

The Detroit News reported in July that Rogers and his wife had a sale agreement on a property in Michigan and would be closing soon.

Senate Republicans are targeting Michigan among the seats they hope to flip in 2024 as they aim to retake the majority from Democrats, who hold a 51-49 majority; however, the GOP has not won a Michigan U.S. Senate race since 1994 when former Michigan Republican Party Chairman Spence Abraham defeated former Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Carr.

Rogers graduated from Adrian College and served in the Army, the FBI and the state Senate, including as majority floor leader, before his election to Congress, where he also served on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. He left the House in 2015 and went into national security consulting and did commentary for CNN.

In 2017, Rogers was a candidate for FBI director under former President Donald Trump after Trump abruptly fired James Comey amid the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

Rogers has more recently called Trump's tactics "destructive," rejected claims that he won the 2020 election and said Trump's time "has passed."

That could potentially hurt Rogers in the GOP primary, but to what extent is uncertain, said U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, who heard from Rogers a month ago that he was going to run.

What's more important is Rogers' experience as a member of Congress who held onto what was "arguably" a Democratic district for many years while "still holding the conservative line," Walberg said.

"I think Mike understands priorities and what he needs to do to win. There are other candidates, maybe others joining the race who I think would be good people. But can they raise the money? And can can they also get the name ID that that Mike Rogers already has?" Walberg said.

"And anything that's negative from time after being in Congress and some statements back and forth between Trump and himself, I think can be recovered from, especially when people realize that we need to take the Senate back and putting it in the hands of the guy like Mike, would not be a bad deal."

And with his national security credentials, Rogers would potentially pose a competitive matchup against Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Holly, who has already been campaigning for Stabenow's seat for six months and has raised over $6 million. Slotkin is a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official who spent years in top national security posts during the Bush and Obama administrations.

"Mike at the very least goes head up with Elissa, her CIA-operative life and his with the FBI," Walberg said. "I'll be glad if he's the one who gets up against her. I'll be full-throated in my support for him and trying to bring home any who might consider him not to be a full-fledged conservative."

Rogers notably shifted his tone on Trump with an guest column in Fox News this month that criticized the Department of Justice and the FBI for "unprofessional conduct," saying that "Americans no longer believe in the fairness of our justice system" in the wake of Trump's recent indictments.

"For many Americans each indictment of President Trump is just further proof that the justice system is rigged," Rogers wrote. "A system where Democrats seem to have a different set of rules for them and another one for everyone else."

Other Republicans eyeing the Michigan U.S. Senate seat include former Detroit police Chief James Craig; John Tuttle, vice chair of the New York Stock Exchange; and former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, who lost his GOP primary last year after voting to impeach Trump.

Michigan Republican candidates already in the race include state Board of Education member Nikki Snyder, Romulus attorney Alexandria Taylor and first-time candidate Michael Hoover of Laingsburg, formerly of Dow Chemical Co.

Craig told The Detroit News this month his mind is 99% made up on launching a bid for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, and that he'll announce a decision within the next 60 days.

In addition to Slotkin, a number of other Democrats also have also jumped into the race, including State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh and the actor Hill Harper.

Rogers initially downplayed the possibility that he might run for Senate following Stabenow’s announcement as he pursued a longshot bid for president, spending time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. His thinking changed over the summer.

Republicans have taken just one of Michigan’s last 15 Senate races, but the margin of victory for Democrats has shrunk every election since Democratic Sen. Carl Levin won reelection in 2008 by 29 percentage points. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township won reelection over GOP challenger John James by less than 2 percentage points in 2020, the closest Senate race in over two decades.

The Associated Press contributed.

mburke@detroitnews.com