Are Michigan US senate campaign messages working for voters?

Good evening and welcome to The Pulse. I'm Rupert Arch. Thanks for joining us on this Friday. We have a lot to get to tonight. 60 days, the countdown is on to the midterm elections, the race for governor, senate, and more. We'll get into political ads, social media, and how the candidates are communicating with voters. Chris Moyer, a former political speech writer and public affairs guru, will break it all down for us. First time he's on The Pulse, we're excited about that. And we'll go further in-depth on these campaigns. Former Democratic State Representative Leslie Love and GOP strategist Jamie Rowe will join us. Not their first time on The Pulse, but we love them every time they come. And finally, what are the most AI-proof jobs? And brand new on the dark web, a service that's selling digital scans of some of your driver's licenses. More than 150 million people affected. The FBI looking into it. We'll look into the technology and what experts are saying about what can be done about this. But first, the Department of Labor announcing jobs numbers for August. And they're blowing away expectations. The U.S. gaining 162,000 jobs last month. Economists predicted only about 55,000. The unemployment rate remains at 4.1% right now. July numbers revised. We were initially told we lost 23,000 jobs. But now it's showing that we actually gained 21,000 jobs. And for August, food services, public education, and health care sectors all hiring. Manufacturing jobs are up 58,000 since hitting a low in December. This news couldn't come at a better time for the Trump administration as, of course, we close in on the midterms. If you go down into the details, you can see why. It's people, because of the tariffs, are on-shoring production. We have almost 90,000 people building factories right now, which is an unheard of number. So there's just lots and lots of good news in this report. And diesel prices, we should mention, obviously a big concern, hitting a record as the war in Iran drags on. One gallon of diesel now costs $5.85, according to AAA. That's up more than $2 in the past year. As you know, the price of diesel affects all of us, whether we drive a big truck or not. The price of food and many other products in our economy are all shipped on a vehicle that runs on diesel. Semis typically have two 150-gallon tanks. This means to fill up an empty semi, it costs more than $1,750. That's well over $600 more than last year. And you can bet that cost is passed on to you, the consumer. One election issue here in Michigan, Education, U.S. News & World Report, putting Michigan at 46th overall in the nation. Republicans repeatedly bringing this up during the campaign, and the new number is not good. The latest from MSTEP, the state assessment test, shows just 38% of third graders in Michigan are proficient in English language arts. It's the lowest in the 12-year history of the exam. The number is continuing to fall. Reading score is not good either. In fact, look, just 44% of students in grades 3 through 8 are proficient in reading. Math, even worse. Fewer than 36% of 3rd through 8th graders are actually proficient. But the big story affecting hundreds of thousands of people in Metro Detroit, power outages. This is sparking anger with customers directed at DTE, and of course, the politicians are weighing in. Jocelyn Benson, John James, Abdul Alsayed, and Mike Rogers all posting about it on social media. Alsayed pointing out that DTE has given $64,000 to Mike Rogers in the campaigns for office over the years. Now, through his political action committee, DTE donates to many Democrats and Republicans. The candidates all active, posting daily on social media. Rogers calling Alsayed a con man, linking him to the controversial Hassan Piker. Alsayed mocking Rogers for living in Florida and tying him to President Trump. The message for Democrats, affordability. For Republicans, education. So what's actually sticking with voters? Chris Moyer joins the pulse here tonight. He's actually a former speech writer for a U.S. congressman, senator, and also governor. He has firsthand knowledge of really what campaigns look like from the inside out. Chris Moyer from Trust Gut Rossman. Always good to see you. Thanks for joining us here tonight. It's great to be here tonight. Thank you so much for having me on. We're glad to have you. Let's talk about messaging. So there was a time when you were writing speeches for politicians that social media didn't have the front page ink, so to speak. Now it seems like the speech that you would have written for someone takes the back page, and what they tweet and what they post takes the front page. Is that a fair assessment? That's a fair assessment, and I think in the time that you have to compete for the campaign, that is the only irreplaceable resource, time. You can always raise a little bit more money, but you can't take more time. You have 60 days left. Now, digital, with social media, with streaming over the top, this happens in real time, and you can test messages, target, hyper-target specific audiences, and that allows you to play around with defining your opponent in a very negative light, trying to lift yourself up, but really, it hasn't changed what the overall strategy is. It just increases the speed with which everything is done. Chris, let's talk for a moment about what sticks and what doesn't. You know, you hear on one end, someone like Tom Leonard, who ran with his Republican colleagues for governor, and he eventually dropped out. He said, I'm not going to say a bad word about anyone. I'm going to run a clean campaign. I don't want to drag my kids into a world where their dad is acting like someone who's trolling someone else on social media. I'm not going to do it. He didn't end up making it. Perhaps not for that reason alone, but do negative ads actually work? There's no doubt that the biggest thing that any campaign needs to do is define themselves and define their opponent, and that definition is often most easily accomplished through negative ads, but I think we should applaud people, politicians like Tom Leonard, who work to say what they're about and not necessarily work to divide and say negative things about their opponents. You know, it's interesting. You hear now Michelle Obama on the speaking circuit, and she'll kind of echo the words that the Democrats had used in 2023 and 2024. When they go low, we go higher. We go high, and now they asked her, hey, would you still do that? And she goes, eh, you know, because of the environment. And so it's interesting. Perhaps it's a mix of negative ads and a little bit of positive. Well, that's the hope for the next 60 days, because otherwise it's going to be pretty bleak. You can see some of the things that Congressman Mike Rogers, former Congressman Mike Rogers, is doing. He's really working to define himself as a family man, an everyday Michigander. On the other hand, Abdul Al-Sayed is doing a really wonderful job connecting with millennial voters, Gen Z voters. His recent spot sort of mocking Love Island lovingly, calling it getting on to Senate Island. It shows a more human side of him. And so that mix of both the positive self-definition combined with trying to tie Mike Rogers to Donald Trump, not a particularly popular figure right now in the state of Michigan, Mike Rogers trying to define Abdul Al-Sayed as an out-of-touch Democratic Socialist. You need a little bit of both. Yeah, it is so interesting, because on one hand, I think a lot of the PACs that are putting together Mike Rogers ads are doing the otherization, the that guy, he's not like us kind of a deal, right? And there's a mix of a little bit, whether you like it or not, I want to say it, a little bit of xenophobia in there. There's a little bit of, you know, but that's unfortunately as old as politics. On the other hand, you have Al-Sayed. Instead of understanding that perhaps Mike Rogers' experience in Washington is a good thing, he's saying you're an establishment White House, you know, Washington guy. Is this messaging resonating, do you think? Well, this is going to be even more so than your typical election, a base turnout election. So really making sure that you fear the other side just a little bit more than you're disappointed with your own is a key to getting those voters out. And when you look back at the primaries just a month ago, there were 600,000 more Democrats that turned out. And so for Mike Rogers to make up that difference, he really does need to try to attempt to otherize. Now, doing that with Islamophobia, that's wrong. Mike Rogers so far has stayed away from that, but those super PACs that are pouring tens of millions of dollars into the campaign, they're not. Well, and the otherization when it comes to political views and policy, it should all be allowed. It's permissible. If you're talking about someone who's running a campaign further to the left than you think your voters would like, then you can talk about the otherization. But when you're talking about race and other things, it becomes a little sloppy. Talk for a moment, as someone who's done this for a long time, messaging, the sprint to the finish. What should both sides be doing, Republicans and Democrats? Well, we still haven't fully defined the other side yet. And so for those next 60 days, it is about, for the Democrats, whether you're Secretary Benson trying to become governor or Congressman James trying to become governor, they're trying to tie them to the slightly more high-profile race right now, which is the U.S. Senate race. There's going to be almost a billion dollars spent in this state over the entire election cycle, $11.6 billion spent nationally. Think about those staggering numbers. And so the amount of money, the amount of time spent on the airwaves, talking about the other side, and then sprinkling in, particularly on social media, who you are, what your story is, that's going to be the key that we're going to see here. We had a guest yesterday say, how many governor signs do you see in people's yards compared to the Senate signs? It's pretty incredible if you think about your neighborhood. It's an interesting time and one that we'll keep track of every single night on Detroit's only nightly political talk show. And, Chris, it's great to have you on. You did a great job. Come back again sometime. I look forward to it. We look forward to having you. Straight ahead, a deeper dive into the races for Senate and governor. Republican strategist Jamie Rowe and former Democratic state rep Leslie Love will join us. You're watching The Pulse on Fox 2. Welcome back to The Pulse. Voters have 60 days to make up their minds for the midterms. The fight for control of the U.S. Senate could come down to the race in Michigan. Of course, we're talking about Al Sayed and Rogers. We're also here to talk about the gubernatorial race. Joining us now, former Democratic state rep Leslie Love and Republican strategist Jamie Rowe. Great to have you both with us. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. All right. So let's talk about the governor's race here for a second. We had a guest here yesterday who essentially was saying, as far as Jocelyn Benson's concerned, she's like, you know what, you all keep fighting the Senate race because I'm sitting pretty with a big Democratic base ready to vote for her. Talk for a moment about where you think she stands and where you think her opponent, John James, stands. Right. I don't think she's taking this for granted or sitting back on her laurels. She's working hard. She was in Flint earlier in the day. And so she's still going across the state, making sure that vote comes out and getting the message out. So I think she has raised a lot of money is doing very well in that. And it has been over her race has been overshadowed a little bit more by the Senate race. But she's out there working. And I think she is in a really sweet spot because she's she's an exciting candidate. We know her as a secretary of state. And now she's running for governor. A lot of people felt they had great service under her as secretary of state. And she can transfer those skills into the gubernatorial seat. You know, it's a great thing for all Michiganders. John James isn't taking anything for granted. He's running across the state as well, not taking any breaks or breath. And in the process, with the breath he has with every ounce of it, trying to separate himself from Jocelyn Benson. What are his key messages right now, Jamie? I think the best one that I've seen in the last several weeks was today. As a matter of fact, when John James was down in Detroit, it's some of the devastation that we experienced from the storms and the power outages and so forth. And talking about the fact since Governor Whitmer passed the Green New Scam that they in 2023, we've seen over a billion dollars in rate increases for electricity in Michigan. Yet our power is less reliable because what they forced to do, DTE, consumers and others, is to spend on wind and solar and things like that that don't improve our grid. And he's talked about repealing that law and putting a focus back on reinforcing our grid, which will help every Michigander. But Jamie, we have to- People around here are sick of having their power in the law. Oh, absolutely. Look, my house, we're out without power. My dad, who is close to 80 years old, is sitting without power. We're all sitting without power. And as we are sitting without power, I don't think everyone's blaming just one bill. I think the Michigan Public Service Commission has a responsibility when they approve rate hikes to say that there's some responsibility these utilities have to show something substantive. Now, look, Joy Harris has been on the show with DTE, and she said, here's what we've done. Is it enough, and should politicians separate themselves, Leslie, from taking money from utilities? So this is a really interesting argument here, because whether you take the money or you don't take the money, they're still going to come before you. And receiving the money doesn't necessarily automatically incriminate you, like you are a bad person because you took the money. I think your vote has to be your vote, and your word needs to be your word. They're all going to come to the table and say, hey, we need policy. We need something from your elected officials. It does not mean that an elected official needs to sell out. But if you can stick to not taking that money and still win a race to get ahead like Al Sayed has done, that speaks volumes about where the people are more so than the candidate. But does it compromise? By the way, whether it's a utility or a PAC or wherever it is, you know, Haley Stevens, we talked a lot about, you know, the AIPAC money, and a lot of people are saying, are you going to do the bidding? Other people are worried about other money that's coming into other people's pockets. How much should we be concerned about campaign finance reform, Jacob? Not much, in my opinion, because it doesn't impact people's lives, quite frankly. People can make their decisions on what the message is, and everybody's voting record and what they've done is a matter of public record, and they can look at that. If you want to look at funding, okay, Al Sayed, for instance, has over $150,000 come into his campaign from people who are members of the Muslim Brotherhood, okay, which is a designated terrorist organization. Should that be the primary reason why you vote against Al Sayed? I don't think so. I think the primary reason is this Medicare for All, which is going to raise our taxes massively and gut our health care. That is the reason to vote against Al Sayed. Yeah, I have to push back on that. Al Sayed has done an amazing job getting Michiganders to give donations. Most of his donations are less than $100 coming from within the state and from a variety of different people. That's boots on the ground, unlike Mike Rogers, who also had his money from corporate interest. Then he can move and live in Florida and buy the yacht and do all the things and associate himself with all the wealth that is built into that corporate. It's people like Mike Rogers that gives getting corporate money a bad reputation. Do you think that Rogers is taking money from any corporate PACs out there? He's from Florida. Mike Rogers has lived in his life. I just can't let that go. I've been to Mike Rogers' house. Mike Rogers lives in White Lake. Which one? White Lake. Oh, okay. White Lake in Oakland County. Let's take that whole where he lives out. Back to the super PACs. Does it bother you, whether it be Mike Rogers or Abdul Al Sayed or Jocelyn Benson or John James, that corporations and super PACs play such a big role in influencing the vote? Mike Rogers cannot tell super PACs what to do or what not to do. That is not his fault. There are super PACs who take corporate money, who are spending money today to help Al Sayed as well. Do you want them to stop? But let's just be clear. I'm not saying that no one should take corporate money. But there is a history with Mike Rogers and his behavior. And he gives a bad reputation to doing that. Don't you think, whether it be Nancy Pelosi, who's a Democrat who made millions while sitting in office, or a Republican that you're saying is doing this, whoever it is, in general, zoom out 30,000 foot. I don't care if you're a Democrat, if you're blue or red. Wrong is wrong. Do you think that something needs to be changed with campaign finance? I wish we could take all the money out of campaign finance. If you were not receiving a contribution from a regular citizen from your state or region, then you couldn't get it. But, you know, I don't know how you put the, what to say, the poop back in the button. Toothpaste back in the tube would be a different way to put it. But, listen, there's a lot to get to, a lot to talk about. And we have 60 important days moving forward. And it's good to hear from both of you. Come back and talk to us again right here on The Pulse. Thank you, Jamie. Thank you, Les. Thank you. Coming up, a dark web service is selling digital scans of people's driver's licenses. More than 150 million of them. Plus, the most A.I.-proof jobs. You may be surprised by what's on that list. Technology expert Brent Yaks in next on The Pulse. Thank you, both. Welcome back to The Pulse. So, which jobs are considered the most A.I.-proof? They'll be in demand no matter what A.I. does. And on the dark web, a service that's selling digital scans of the driver's licenses of more than 150 million people. Tech expert and the CEO of AuCom, Brent Yaks, joins us with a look at all of this. And, Brent, it's always good to see you. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, Jamie. Let's begin with this list. This is interesting, Brent. This is a list of the A.I.-proof jobs. Nursing, number one. Computer science, number two. Accounting, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering. Physical therapy. No A.I. machine is going to help get your hip back in place, right? Cyber security, data science. Education is number ten. Anything on this list? Keep the list up for a moment. Back in our talented people in the control room, I'm just going to ask Brent what he thinks of this list. Go through the list here. Well, so, first of all, I don't think anything is really A.I.-proof, right? What's surprising to me is you look at any list where they say, hey, what is the job that's going to be least impacted by something like A.I.? And to me, it jumps out physical labor jobs, the skilled trades jobs, which are fantastic jobs. Nursing, of course, teaching, things like that. Those are all the ones that I would imagine would be pretty high on the list. So, again, I want to be steer clear of the A.I.-safe because I think what's happening is that everything is going to be impacted one way or another. So I think that even if it's a skilled labor job, knowing some A.I. is still going to actually benefit that job as well. It's just not going to replace it how you would normally think. So there's a spectrum. There's degrees to which these industries would be affected. But is there anything on this list that just outright surprises you? Nursing, computer science, the engineering's in there. Does that surprise you at all? Data, science? I think anything that's professional services management or things like computer science, things of the engineering nature, all of those are probably not very safe. Yeah, I would imagine so. All of those require A.I. And then you have construction that's not on this list, other things like that. The trades really are having a moment because of this, aren't they? And it's very difficult to even find skilled trades right now, right? We need more people in the skilled trades. So, I mean, I hope this shines a light on that. Yeah, I mean, and think about it. You go to these trade schools, you do an apprenticeship, and you end up with six-figure jobs with no college debt. They're doing pretty well for themselves compared to some people who are walking around with degrees going, I don't know what to do with this. They're great jobs. Let's talk about this, what the F.B.I. is focusing on, these scans of these driver's licenses. What are we looking at here? So, this is a lot bigger than I think people are really realizing right now. So, what we're saying is that the dark web out there, there was an organization called Nexus, which is a place that sells information, right, on the dark web. And they are leaking out I.D. images. So, things that are the documents you use to prove who you are. They have copies of those actual images that they got through some kind of an exploit somewhere. The F.B.I. won't admit who it is yet or say it yet. But it came from some identity source. So, the fact that those are out there now is a huge risk for everyone. And the fact that the number of documents they had was 153 million, only 4 million of which were in Canada, 149 million of which were in the United States, means that there's potentially up to maybe 149 million personal documents out there. Well, and I've got to check the population of America right now, but it's upwards of 300 million. And so, you're talking about 140 some million that are American I.D.s out there. What can we do to, A, check to see if we're on that list? Is there a way to do that? And, B, what is the F.B.I. doing to make sure that we're safe? So, unfortunately, not a great answer for either. There's not a really easy way right now besides what some people have done to go on the dark web and look to see if your I.D. is out there. But that's not really manageable for most people, and I wouldn't recommend it. And, unfortunately, the F.B.I. right now, there's not a lot they can do. But there is stuff that people can do. Right? So, I would recommend for everybody to go and do a credit lock on the three major credit bureaus that are out there. TransUnion. Absolutely. The three major ones that are out there, get a lock on it. Because what that means is that if somebody tries to open an account in your name, you have to actually let it out. You have to log in and you have to turn it on and say, yep, I can approve this credit today. I think that's a huge thing. I think another big thing that people forget about is that now on, today, the way we live in 2026 with all these things that are happening out there, you can't just assume if somebody knows personal information about you that they're actually an authority of the subject. If anybody calls you and has your personal information and says they're somebody, hang up. Call them through the number you know and recognize because their personal information doesn't mean they're who they say they are. Yeah, and that's fascinating because they're getting really coy. We used to say, you know, seniors beware and we have to look out for our seniors. Heck, I mean, I'm 49 years old and I get calls and you go, wait, is this the real deal? Is this this office or that office? Very important information. So the bottom line is, freeze those three major credit unions. Freeze those credit unions. All right. Very good. Brent Yaks, thanks for joining us here today. We appreciate you. That is The Pulse for tonight. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rup Raj. As always, it was good to be with you. Thank you.