Former Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Michigan, campaigned at the local KGOP headquarters in Portage on Wednesday.
Rogers told dozens of volunteers and supporters that bolstering the economy in Michigan is a priority for his campaign.
“We're getting hit a lot harder than the rest of the country. I always say when the rest of the country catches a cold, here in Michigan, we get pneumonia. And so, we've got a lot of work to do in a short period of time.”
Rogers is in a close race against Democratic congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, who currently serves in the U.S. House of Representatives. A recent Detroit News and WDIV-TV poll shows Slotkin with a narrow lead.
Rogers said he came to Kalamazoo County to encourage volunteers to keep knocking on doors and working the phones this weekend, in a final push to get remaining voters out to the polls on Nov. 5.
“We're going to have to call you and text you and bug you and say, would you please go vote? Right? This is the only way we're going to win,” Rogers said, before adding that “this thing is as tight as a tick.”
The former Michigan congressman spoke to reporters after the event. He said he doesn’t believe the voter gender gap is as wide as Democrats, pollsters and the media claim. Roger said that he believes most women aren’t single-issue voters, who are only focused on reproductive rights.
“We've taken a different tack. One of the things that we know that women are concerned about is literacy. My wife and I have been really engaged in literacy programs,” Rogers said.
Rogers moved back to his home state of Michigan from Florida last summer to run for Debbie Stabenow’s senate seat. Stabenow announced early last year that she planned to retire when her term ends.
