A variety of Republican U.S. Senate candidates this year have faced credible questions about their connections to the states they’re running in. In Wisconsin, for example, Eric Hovde has lived in California on-and-off since 2012. In Pennsylvania, hopeful David McCormick has been credibly accused of living in Connecticut. In Montana, Democrats have been eager to remind locals that Tim Sheehy is relatively new to the state, having moved there from Minnesota.
Politico, looking ahead to the 2024 cycle, wrote last year, “A number of 2024 Senate candidates in competitive races have a carpetbagger problem,” and there’s ample evidence to bolster the point.
But perhaps no one in Republican politics is struggling with the issue more than former Rep. Mike Rogers.
To be sure, the former congressman was definitely born in Michigan, went to school in Michigan, lived in Michigan, and represented a district in the central part of the state for several years before retiring from Capitol Hill a decade ago.
And then he did what a lot of retirees do: Rogers moved to Florida. We know this for certain, because he’s said so, out loud and on the record. In fact, the Republican, who reportedly purchased a very expensive home in the Sunshine State, was still registered to vote in Florida as recently as this year.
But, according to the former GOP lawmaker, Rogers has returned to the Wolverine State and is ready to serve Michigan as a U.S. senator.
At first blush, it’s reasonable to wonder whether, and to what extent, voters will care, but for now, that line of inquiry is secondary to a related and unexpected question: Where, exactly, does Rogers live?
The Detroit Free Press’ M.L. Elrick looked into the matter and explained in his latest column, “I don’t know where Mike Rogers lives, but it’s not where he’s registered to vote.” Rogers, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, changed his voter registration on July 2 to a home in White Lake Township that is under construction. A month later, he used the White Lake address to vote (presumably, for himself) in the four-way race for the GOP nomination to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow. There’s just one problem: The house did not — and still does not — have a certificate of occupancy. That means Rogers could not live there legally. And if he didn’t live there, he may have broken the law by using that address to vote.
Before changing his registration in July, Rogers apparently listed his brother’s address as his own, though locals suggested they never saw him and he never lived there. Elrick explored all of this in considerable detail — his column is well worth your time — and it’s worth noting that the candidate’s spokesperson appears to have confirmed that Rogers, as a result of construction delays, does not live in the house where he’s registered to vote. Time will tell what becomes of this story, though it’s probably fair to say the GOP nominee doesn’t need this headache with less than a month remaining before Election Day: Most recent polling has found Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin leading Rogers in a state that has elected a Republican senator only once in the past 50 years. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
