Republicans are seeking to retake their Senate majority in this fall’s elections, with their sights set on Michigan, where longtime Democratic senator Debbie Stabenow is not seeking reelection this year.
The state is also a key battleground state in presidential elections, with former President Trump winning narrowly in 2016 and President Biden winning narrowly four years later.
President Trump and his new running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, are scheduled to visit Michigan on Saturday for their first rally since the Republican National Convention concluded on Thursday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
See the latest Fox News coverage of the 2024 election campaign here
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump applauds a gesture by Republican vice presidential candidate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance during the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 16, 2024. (Reuters/Elisabeth Franz)
“Michigan is going to be crucial,” former Rep. Mike Rogers, a leading Republican Senate candidate, emphasized in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“The whole Democratic coalition is falling apart. Why? Because they’re not delivering,” Rogers, a former FBI special agent who later served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and who is scheduled to appear at the rally Saturday, said.
He also said Trump’s return to Michigan for the third time since April would give him and other lesser Republican candidates a boost by telling voters, “help is on the way. We’re rooting for you. Here are the policies that will make your lives better.”
Former President Donald Trump listens to Michigan Senate candidate and former Rep. Mike Rogers speak during a campaign rally in Freeland, Michigan, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancia)
Trump’s visit to Grand Rapids marks his second visit to the southwest Michigan city since April.
But in a statement on the eve of the Trump and Vance rally, President Biden’s campaign said the former president’s policies would “hurt working people, increase the burden on working families while giving bailouts to billionaires and destroying unions.”
Click here to get the FOX News app
Rogers, who will face off against Republican Senate candidates including wealthy investor and entrepreneur Sandy Pensler, former congressman Justin Amash and physician Shelley O’Donnell in Michigan’s Aug. 6 primary, is backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of Senate Republicans, and won Trump’s endorsement in March.
Former Rep. Mike Rogers, Republican candidate for the Senate from Michigan, gestures as he speaks during the second day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 16, 2024. (Reuters/Gina Moon)
“We’re doing very well in the primaries,” Rogers said in an interview in Milwaukee ahead of his convention speech that evening.
“He’ll win the primary, but he still needs people to come together and rally up,” he predicted.
The eventual Republican candidate will likely face off in November against Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat who is the front-runner for the party’s Senate nomination.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
