Just a week ago, Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Elissa Slotkin were selected as their parties’ U.S. Senate candidates in Michigan’s primary election.
In that short time, the primary race has already taken an ugly turn.
Rogers sent cease-and-desist letters to many local broadcast stations over the weekend, demanding that they stop airing an attack ad by his Republican opponent that claims the candidate is a trafficker and has made his fortune by aiding and abetting Chinese tech companies.
This advertisement was sponsored, endorsed and funded by Senator Slotkin’s campaign.
“It’s a whole bunch of lies,” Rogers spokesman Chris Gustafson said of the ad, which claims that Rogers, a current candidate, “left Michigan for good” after leaving Congress in 2015 and then ran a photo of Rogers’ Florida home.
“He still lives in Michigan and has lived in Michigan longer than Ms. Slotkin,” Gustafson told The Post, noting that the Florida home depicted in the ad is occupied by Rogers’ daughter, who lives alone.
“I find this completely inappropriate after the Swat attacks on both Ms. Slotkin and Mr. Rogers,” Gustafson said, referring to two incidents last week in which both candidates were victims of hoax 911 calls.
Politicians are increasingly being targeted in these swatting cases, with Michigan’s Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson being the latest victim.
Given rising political tensions and the escalating swatting scandal, Rogers’ campaign is particularly concerned that his daughter’s home is depicted in the ad.
In letters to broadcasters, they assert their legal right not to air misleading political ads and urge the networks to block the ads from their airwaves.
“You do not need to provide Elissa Slotkin absolute and unlimited access to your airtime so that she can sponsor advertisements that contain false statements about her opponent,” the letter read.
Further citing Supreme Court precedent. CBS v. FCCThe court ruled that broadcasters have the right to consider requests for political ads on an individual basis.
The race isn’t likely to cool off anytime soon: The normally demure Mr. Rogers channeled his inner Rambo on Sunday, tweeting a photo of himself holding a shotgun.
“I know very well who is waiting for me and how to confront them. I have done it before and I will do it again,” he tweeted.
Rogers will need to pull out all the stops to challenge Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is leading the race. Public opinion poll This summer.
A New York Times-Siena poll of likely voters conducted last week showed the Democratic candidate leading Rogers, 46 percent to 43 percent.
