Dem
51
Ties
1
GOP
48
Mike Rogers (R) finds himself in an odd situation in his contest with Abdul El-Sayed (D) for the open Senate seat in Michigan. He is—and has always been—very pro-Israel. AIPAC, the pro-Israel group, likes Rogers a lot and wants to spend big money to help him get elected. But in an odd turn of events, Rogers has turned down the help. AIPAC has become so toxic that even pro-Israel Republican candidates are now refusing to take the money it is offering. Rogers undoubtedly believes that it was AIPAC's support that helped doom Haley Stevens in the primary.
AIPAC officials were more than a little miffed when Rogers told them he didn't want their millions. They are not used to that. Since El-Sayed has called Israel a rogue state that is supporting apartheid and genocide, they expected Rogers to welcome them with open arms. Instead, he told them he is not interested in being associated with them.
Rogers' allies made a proposal to AIPAC: Have your donors give directly to Rogers' own super PAC. The AIPAC officials rejected that. They want to be seen as a key force that helped elect Rogers. Just diverting the money doesn't accomplish that. But Rogers doesn't want to be tied to AIPAC in public because El-Sayed made Stevens' support from AIPAC a major part of his primary campaign and would surely do that again if AIPAC backs Rogers.
National Republican politicians have a different take on the whole thing. They know from recent filings that AIPAC currently has $60 million in the bank, and they are afraid that it will simply skip the midterm general elections and start thinking about 2028 instead. They are hoping it will support various pro-Israel candidates in the midterms, and see Rogers' refusal to be associated with the organization potentially the first of many, leading AIPAC to take its marbles and go home.
However, Michigan is special in a way that other states are not. It has the largest concentration of Arab Americans of any state in the country, making Rogers nervous. That is not true elsewhere. Maine, for example, doesn't have many Arab Americans and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is very pro-Israel and has voted for many military aid packages for Israel. She is proud of that and might well welcome AIPAC's support. (V)