Mike Rogers gets big boost from business community with new slate of endorsements

Michigan’s business leaders are going all in on support for the U.S. Senate bid of Republican nominee Mike Rogers.

On Thursday, both the Detroit Regional Chamber and the National Federation of Independent Business announced that they would be backing Rogers in the fall against Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

The Detroit Regional Chamber PAC nod, in particular, is a big pickup for Rogers, but it was not a necessarily unexpected endorsement. As the premier business group in Detroit, the chamber also organizes the state’s annual Mackinac Policy Conference, of which El-Sayed has been hypercritical of during his current bid and also during his 2018 gubernatorial run.

In its endorsement of Rogers, the chamber noted that El-Sayed did not respond to an invitation for an endorsement interview. In May, when El-Sayed attended the chamber’s policy conference for its Democratic primary debate, the candidate told Michigan Advance that the policy conference represented everything that was wrong with Michigan’s political culture.

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“Mike Rogers is a proven public servant with a deep background in federal policy who will represent Michigan well in the U.S. Senate as our state and nation faces major economic headwinds,” said Sandy Baruah, president and CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, in a statement. “Over the years, he’s been willing to defend our state’s industrial base while drawing on tremendous foreign policy experience to understand the global forces challenging our top industries.”

Rogers said he was grateful for the Detroit Regional Chamber’s support.

“The Detroit Regional Chamber is right: The house is on fire. And we can’t sit back as it rages on,” Rogers said in a statement, referring to the Chamber’s main theme of the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference. “We need leaders who build our state back, not ones who continue to manage its decline — and I’ll work with anyone to get it done. We will get kids reading at grade level again. I have released plans to make housing and healthcare more affordable. And we’re going to re-attract good-paying jobs in the skilled trades.”

Rogers’ communications team also noted that this was the first time in more than 30 years that the Detroit Regional Chamber has endorsed a Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. The last Republican candidate to earn that distinction was former U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2001.

A message seeking comment from El-Sayed was not returned at the time of publication. A comment will be added to this story once one is received.

The chamber’s PAC said that it did have concerns about Rogers’ previous comments on election integrity, the federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which calls for documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to vote. The chamber also pointed to what it called a major “misalignment with the candidate on tariffs.”

That said, the chamber noted that it “welcomed many of Rogers’ other views on how to make housing more affordable, grow the economy and empower employers to create good-paying jobs in Michigan.”

“No candidate is perfect, and we won’t agree on every issue,” Baruah added. “But Mike Rogers impressively shared his vision for a stronger Michigan. We believe he will put the needs of Michigan and Michiganders above partisan politics and political rhetoric as he did in his previous service in Congress.”

NFIB similarly chose Rogers for his commitment to the business community in the race.

“Michigan small business owners are resilient, often having to navigate harmful policies at the state level,” said Amanda Fisher, NFIB Michigan State Director. “Having a pro-small business delegation in Washington is necessary for Main Street to be able to thrive in our state. The candidates we have endorsed for Congress have a proven record of backing legislation that benefits small firms and supports economic growth. We are eager to work with these leaders to ensure that Michigan owners are able to successfully operate their businesses.”