Mike Rogers
R · U.S. Senate, Michigan · Tier 1/2
Tier 1/2, between “Firmly pro-Israel” and “Mainstream pro-Israel”
Former House Intelligence chair and the Republican nominee for the open Michigan Senate seat. An emphatic pro-Israel voice — he defends Israel’s right to defend itself and attacked his opponent for hosting a streamer he called an antisemite — but his leadership brand is intelligence and China, not Israel, with no authored Israel legislation of his own, though in the House he cosponsored and voted for the 2012 U.S.-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act and voted for the 2014 emergency Iron Dome funding. The New Republic, citing The New York Times, reported in August 2026 that Rogers had encouraged AIPAC’s super PAC to ease up on its media plan and “give more serious thought to whether the organization is the best messenger” against El-Sayed; his adviser Bobby Schostak said the campaign was “proud to have any and all support from the pro-Israel community and AIPAC community,” and Rogers attended AIPAC-hosted fundraisers in Los Angeles that month. At the October 8, 2026 debate he said he supports, “just staunchly,” Israel’s “right to exist for the Jewish state, and the right to defend itself in a very difficult neighborhood,” named Israeli talk of using nuclear weapons as the one thing that would cost it his support (“they would definitely lose my support”), and, asked about AIPAC, said he would welcome “anybody that wants to help my campaign stop a guy who can’t condemn terrorism in our own country,” as JTA reported (El-Sayed interjected, “Again, I’ve condemned them,” NBC News reported). The next night, as AIPAC’s super PAC began mailing Jewish voters against El-Sayed, he told reporters in Highland Township, “This tells you something that you need to know about my opponent: He is so anti-Jewish that one mail piece sends him into orbit” (NBC News). On October 13 he posted on X, as The National Desk reported, “Abdul El-Sayed can’t say if Israel or Iran is a greater threat to the United States,” adding, “Utterly disqualifying.” In an October 20, 2026 interview with JTA he called Israel “the best ally we have in the Middle East,” said of El-Sayed, “It’s pretty hard to say that this guy is anything but anti-Jew,” and said he “absolutely” approves of the Trump administration’s pressure on universities over campus antisemitism, including withholding federal funds, and would support it against the University of Michigan: “I wish there were a better way, but nothing else is working.” In the same interview he said the joint U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which he first supported, should be wrapped up (“I argue we met our objectives”), adding, “Every once in a while, we’re going to disagree with our allies.” At the final debate on October 21 he said El-Sayed “doesn’t believe Iran is any more dangerous than Israel. This is an absolute non-starter,” and closed with an appeal to “Jewish Democrats, who are afraid for their children when their daughters can’t wear their Star of David, walking across Michigan’s campus.” On Fox & Friends on October 27 he said, “I have an opponent who wants to represent Palestine. I want to represent Michigan” (campaign release). At a Republican Jewish Coalition event with Sen. Ted Cruz in Birmingham, Michigan, on October 28, he said of El-Sayed, “He’s beyond antisemitic. He hates Jews,” and took a harder line on the Iran war than in his JTA interview: “I’d love to see this wrapped up, but I don’t think we can leave it where they have any ability to hurt our friends and neighbors. So their army, navy, air force has to be as diminished as they can” (JTA). In a CBS News interview published October 28 he said, “If you think Iran is not an enemy and Israel is an enemy, man, your thinking is wrong,” and on October 30, after Haley Stevens said El-Sayed would condemn a Rebellion PAC ad tying grocery prices to aid to Israel, he posted on X, as Jewish Insider reported, “Condemn the ad, Abdul.”
A 1/2, not a clean Tier 1. He has not led on the issue in the usual ways — no authored Israel legislation, no caucus role, and a national-security brand built on China and intelligence — but he goes on the offensive for Israel, attacking a critic to strengthen his positioning, and does not break from the pro-Israel position: no humanitarian caveat is on record, and his one stated difference, wanting the Iran war wrapped up (“Every once in a while, we’re going to disagree with our allies”), is about U.S. strategy, not Israel’s conduct, and on October 28 he said it could not end while Iran had “any ability to hurt our friends and neighbors”; at the October 2026 debate the only thing he said would cost Israel his support was talk of using nuclear weapons. That proactive, offensive posture with no stated concern for Palestinian civilians puts him at the pro-Israel edge of 1/2 — but not at a clean Tier 1, because he has not led on the issue the way the members at 1 have, and a rhetorical posture is not leadership. Attacking a critic is positioning, not leadership.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).