MI-Sen: Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who moved to Florida sometime after he retired from the House in 2015, on Wednesday became the first serious Republican to enter the race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow back in Michigan. NRSC chair Steve Daines responded with a supportive statement that, while not explicitly endorsing the former congressman, declared he was "pleased to see Mike stepping up to run."
Rogers, though, may not be the only Republican who steps up to run in a primary where, until now, the only remotely notable candidate has been Nikki Snyder, a state Board of Education member who has raised little money. Former Rep. Peter Meijer, who lost renomination last year after voting to impeach Donald Trump, formed an exploratory committee last week.
Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, who was thrown off the 2022 gubernatorial primary ballot over fraudulent signatures, had also pledged to decide by mid-October. New York Stock Exchange executive John Tuttle reportedly is also considering, but while an unnamed source previously told Time he could enter the GOP primary in mid-July, we still haven't heard from him two months later. On the Democratic side, Rep. Elissa Slotkin is the frontrunner in a field that includes actor Hill Harper.
Rogers, who is an Army veteran and former FBI agent, has experience winning and holding in competitive territory, though none of it recent. He was first elected to the state Senate in 1994, and he ran in 2000 to succeed none other than Stabenow when she gave up her Lansing-based U.S. House seat to successfully challenge GOP Sen. Spencer Abraham. Rogers ended up beating Democratic colleague Dianne Byrum by 111 votes even as, according to political analyst Kiernan Park-Egan, Al Gore was carrying what was then numbered the 8th District 50-47.
Republican mapmakers soon passed a new gerrymander to make Rogers more secure, and he always won reelection by double digits even in blue wave years like 2008, when Barack Obama won his seat 53-46. The congressman (who became one of two Mike Rogers in the House after the Alabama Republican won in 2002) became a popular presence on national TV news: Rogers during his final years in office even eclipsed John McCain to become the most frequent congressional guest of any on the Sunday talk shows. In 2013 the FBI Agents Association urged Obama to select Rogers, who was chair of the House Intelligence Committee, to lead the bureau, but the president instead made the fateful decision to pick James Comey.
Rogers ended up announcing in 2014 that he'd leave the House anyway to host a nationally syndicated show; Republican Mike Bishop decisively won the race to succeed him, but Slotkin unseated the new congressman in 2018. Rogers, for his part, continued his career in the media, including by hosting three seasons of the CNN show "Declassified," and also worked in cybersecurity and as a defense lobbyist.
The Republican at some point moved to Fort Myers, Florida and registered to vote in the Sunshine State, and he also mulled a longshot 2024 presidential bid before turning his attention to the Senate. Rogers' new campaign said Wednesday that he'd moved back to Michigan, though it wouldn't tell the Detroit Free Press where he'd moved to.