Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers drew backlash after releasing ads calling for an end to President Donald Trump's tariff war with Canada, a fight he had long defended.
The 30-second spot, which the former congressman posted to X and Facebook on Wednesday, opens with Rogers sitting at a bar beside a bottle of Labatt, a Canadian beer.
Rogers faces Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed in November for Michigan's open Senate seat, according to Fox News.
"Drinking a Labatt and watching the Red Wings, man, it just doesn't get any more Michigan than that," Rogers says in the ad. "And here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war now!"
The ad promises that Rogers will "bring both parties together to lower your prices" and accuses El-Sayed of wanting "to hit Michigan families with a $3,000 tax increase, the biggest in history." It never mentions Trump.
"[E]verything about this is phony, from the jacket he's never worn to the tariff policy he backed 100%," Danny Kazin, congressional director at the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge, wrote on X.
"Mike Rogers has supported Trump's reckless tariffs from the start, is backing legislation that would give Trump more tariff powers, and defended his trade war with Canada JUST LAST MONTH by saying 'the Canadians have not been good partners,'" Michigan Democratic Party senior communications adviser Joey Hannum wrote on X. "Do not trust this liar for a second."
Economics journalist Catherine Rampell wrote that the ad "oddly does not mention who started the tariff war with Canada," and Georgia politics writer Niles Francis asked who "exactly is to blame."
Bloomberg White House reporter Josh Wingrove wrote that Rogers "distances himself from President Trump's tariff war with Canada," and CNN's Alayna Treene described him as "Trump's endorsed GOP candidate in the Michigan Senate race." Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell replied, "lol."
"Look at him trying to win," Reason's Robby Soave wrote on X.
Politico's Adam Wren pointed back to an August 2025 interview in which Rogers said that on tariffs "[the] shoe is going to pinch every once in a while" and that the White House is "at least open to a conversation," according to the Michigan Advance.
Rogers went further in February, backing Trump's threat to keep the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, from opening because he wanted the president "to have some leverage," the Michigan Advance reported.
"I give him all the leash he needs," Rogers said at the time. "I think we're going to get a good deal at the end of the day, and American workers are going to have the benefit."
As recently as Sept. 17, Reuters reported that Rogers "has criticized Canada" and argued his close relationship with Trump would help blunt the trade war's impact. The outlet contrasted him with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who has called the trade war a "mistake."
"You can send somebody back [to Washington] who gets up every day and tries to gouge the president's eyes out or you can send somebody back who's going to walk in and say, 'Hey, can we work on this part of the trade deal,'" Rogers said, according to Reuters.
The tariffs were hurting Rogers and Republicans in must-win House races across Michigan, Politico reported Sept. 22.
"Everywhere we go, we are getting hammered on it. It's crushing us," one Michigan Republican told the outlet.
Rogers trails El-Sayed 47.3% to 43.9% in the Pollsmax polling average, and he has led in only two of the 15 polls it lists from Sept. 3 to Oct. 4. Reuters reported that the Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up.
"He's caught between knowing full well that these tariffs are bad for Michiganders and having to appeal to Daddy Trump every single time he opens his mouth," El-Sayed told CNN, according to Reuters.