Mike Rogers makes antisemitism central to Michigan Senate campaign, vows tougher university programs

Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers has made antisemitism and support for Israel a central part of his closing campaign message, arguing that anti-Jewish hostility has become increasingly normalized among younger Americans and on college campuses.

Rogers said Jewish students at the University of Michigan had told him they hid Stars of David and covered yarmulkes because they feared harassment.

“This sounds like 1933. It doesn’t sound like today,” Rogers said in a recent interview, warning that antisemitic rhetoric was producing real-world consequences.

He said that if elected, he would press universities to adopt stronger antisemitism policies and enforcement mechanisms.

“We’re going to make sure we start at our universities,” Rogers said. “They’re going to have real antisemitism programs with teeth.”

Rogers has also repeatedly invoked Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel while campaigning against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. In an October debate, he accused El-Sayed of failing to adequately acknowledge the attack and referred to killings, sexual violence and mutilation.

In other campaign appearances, Rogers has compared the scale of October 7 to a hypothetical mass-casualty attack on the United States and emphasized Iran’s longstanding financial and military support for Hamas.

Some of Rogers’ descriptions of specific October 7 atrocities have gone beyond what has been independently established. Claims that babies were placed in ovens, for example, have not been substantiated by credible forensic evidence, although killings, hostage-taking and conflict-related sexual violence during the attack have been documented.