Vance calls Michigan’s U.S. Senate race a ‘test’ of gratitude versus grievance in rally for Rogers

Shoring up support for former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake in Michigan’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race was the main mission for Vice President JD Vance as he visited a sports center in Monroe Thursday, all the while framing the race as a test for what he called “a battle between grievance and gratitude.”

Rogers is in a toss-up race against Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Both candidates have been barnstorming across the state, sometimes in unlikely places. Rogers spent much of the week in Detroit seeking support from Black voters while El-Sayed, on Thursday, was making a swing through northern Michigan, including stops in Escanaba and Iron Mountain with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York).

Like Ocasio-Cortez visiting rural Michigan for El-Sayed, Vance flying in to support Rogers was another show of significant support from both sides’ national parties. Although other candidates received shoutouts from Vance — including GOP gubernatorial nominee John James — Vance’s focus was squarely set on Rogers’ race against El-Sayed, and what it would mean for the nation if Michigan chose the progressive Democrat over Rogers.

“The far left, the radicals of the Democratic Party, they’re on the ascent,” Vance said. “These people are looking ahead to the future, and they’re plotting. ‘How do we seize complete control of one of America’s great political parties?’ And they’re testing with candidates like Abdul El-Sayed. They’re testing just how extreme, just how far can they go in a nice, common sense Midwestern state like this one. The people of Michigan. My message to you is: They’re not testing me. I don’t vote here. They’re testing you.”

Vance also accused El-Sayed of adopting what he called the grievance-based platforms of the far left, which the vice president described as designed to “fundamentally destroy America.” He also claimed that El-Sayed was “obsessed” with foreign nations and conflicts abroad, namely Israel and its ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza. El-Sayed has said that he supports the plight of the Palestinian people in the conflict and has called for a reexamination of America’s relationship with Israel in terms of military and defense funding.

“You listen to the man talk, and it’s clear, Abdul doesn’t love this community, Democrat or Republican,” Vance said. “He doesn’t love the people who live here. He hates the history of the United States of America. He calls our nation irredeemably racist. He calls the United States of America genocidal, and he hates the people who built it — people like my grandfather, who was for 40 years a union welder at the Middletown Works of Armco Steel in Ohio. Abdul says that men like this, men like you, men like your father and grandfather, and your son, were bigots.”

Vance also insinuated that El-Sayed wasn’t loyal to the U.S. because he alleged that El-Sayed falsely claimed he had dual-citizenship with Egypt and the U.S. “just to sound less American.”

“My friends, ask yourself this: What is it that animates Abdul El Sayed and drives him to seek public office? It is not the well-being of his fellow Americans. It’s not the hopes or aspirations of the amazing auto workers of Detroit, or the students of Ann Arbor, or families in Flint,” Vance said. “No. What excites him is this prospect of wielding the power of a country he hates. He wants to litigate ancient grievances with your tax dollars, and he wants to use the grievances of faraway lands to punish you. Well, I say on Nov. 3, send a message to Abdul El Sayed. Punish him. Don’t send him to Washington D.C.”

Instead, Vance urged his supporters at the Monroe rally to send Rogers to the U.S. Senate.

“I don’t know why he resents the things that he does. Perhaps it’s because he sees them as too white or too proud or too American,” Vance said. “But what I do know is this: that Michigan deserves better. You deserve better than a little weasel who should shut his mouth and show a little gratitude to the country that gave him everything. You deserve a senator who is grateful to this country. You deserve a senator who spent his life serving it in uniform and out. You deserve a senator who looks at this state and sees something to protect and to build upon, not something to apologize for.”

Vance said that man was Rogers, who earlier in the speaking order thanked Vance for his support just a few weeks removed from the November general election.

Rogers also framed El-Sayed as “the most extreme, dangerous candidate to ever run for the United States Senate in the history of our country.”
“We have to stop him right here in Michigan. He is lying about his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood,” Rogers said. “The IRGC, the Iranian Republican Guard — that is the enforcement mechanism for the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world — which he refuses to condemn, is telling Americans to vote for Democrats like El-Sayed. Think of it: the IRGC telling you to vote Democrat for guys like El-Sayed. Well, I know you won’t listen.”

Rogers, national Republicans and conservative media outlets have accused El-Sayed of either accepting money from members of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization or individuals associated with the movement. Bridge Michigan reported in September that there was no evidence that El-Sayed has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or issued support for their movement, but Rogers, who mentioned the Muslim Brotherhood eight times in his address in Monroe, has made it a primary concern.

Democrats accuse Vance of trying to bail out Rogers, James

Prior to the Vance and Rogers rally, former U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) state Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) and other state Democrats railed against the vice president and his boss, President Donald Trump, with Stabenow saying it was an attempt to parachute “into Michigan to try to bail out Mike Rogers and John James, two of the most loyal supporters of Trump’s failed agenda.”

“It’s crucial, really critical for everybody in Michigan, that we elect leaders that are going to fight back against the chaos and the corruption caused by Donald Trump and the Republicans,” Stabenow said.

Brinks is the running mate of Democratic Party gubernatorial nominee and current Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who faces James, a sitting congressman, and state Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay), James’ running mate. James and Benson are set to square off in a second televised debate Thursday evening.

Detroit City Councilmember Denzel McCampbell, who has endorsed El-Sayed, was also on the call.

“Whether it was Mike Rogers’ support for a reckless war in Iran, chaotic tariffs, or healthcare cuts, the Rogers-Trump agenda has made life more expensive for working families in our state,” McCampbell said. “Mike Rogers represents everything wrong with Washington. He’s running to serve himself, Donald Trump, and the corporate special interests bankrolling his campaigns. Michigan deserves better — and that is why I’m proud to support Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to be our next United States Senator.”