Mike Rogers discusses endorsement from Haley Stevens in exclusive interview

Back now on this special Sunday edition of The Pulse, covering all things people, power, and politics. Here to discuss the endorsement he received from Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens is Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers. Congressman, it's good to see you. Thanks for joining us here today. Great to have you. Great to be here. Let me try that again. Well, no, listen, it's been a long road for both you and Al-Sayed and the others running for governor, of course. This is crunch time. How did you find out about this? Any endorsement from Haley Stevens today? We got a phone call this morning and there's been a lot of unfortunate activity. I think Abdul discarded Haley Stevens, was rude to Haley Stevens, has been rude I think to many in the African American community, at least that's what they're telling me. And I think this just boiled over when he disinvited her to the campaign event that was supposed to happen today and basically said, don't need you and don't need your supporters. I just, hey, I was shocked by it. I thought it was pretty lowball politics. And I think she picked up the phone today after having lots of apparently conversations with a lot of people and pick up the phone and said, hey. I heard you're going to church, you want some company. And so that was, I mean, we were very welcome for, I'm very welcome to have her support. She got almost 70%, 67% of the African American vote in the city of Detroit. I am welcoming her support because of the hate that's been going on. I mean, the most vile ad, only thing she asked. Was could you please condemn this ad that I think is the most racist ad I've seen maybe in my political lifetime. Blaming one group of people for your high prices, I've never seen anything like it. It's dangerous. And she said, listen, just disavow that ad, let's move on and I can still be there. He basically said, don't bother showing up. Boy, I think that just backed her in a corner, and we've been in Detroit, we've been talking to Detroiters. I was glad to have her support this morning. Let me ask you a question about the condemnation that's being asked of Al Sayed quite a bit when it comes to associations, when it comes to these ads. This particular ad wasn't made by the Al Sayed campaign. There are PACs out there. You and I have talked about this. They come up with all kinds of nasty messaging on your side and his side. You're not asked to condemn everything every time someone shows up and this is so different. Is it? Oh my God. Why is it different? Because you're condemning a race of people. The ad was. The ad was condemning a race of people. It's made by Hassan Piker, who is his surrogate, who he brought into the state, who he put in front of our kids, who they, by his own staffer's admission, still talk to each other. He's lied to the press about that before. It's his uncle, I believe. But it is his uncle. This guy's his uncle. And that's the relationship and how they got to the ad. And this is an easy thing to do, right? You're talking about... Condemning a race of people, you know, I don't care if it's two or 3% of our population. It's wrong and it's causing real pot. His language is causing problems when young women have to hide their star of David's to walk across the college campus because they're getting harassed for being Jewish or young Young men have to wear ball caps over their yarmulkes. Who wants, I don't want to live in that America, I wore the uniform of the United States so you could pray any way that you want. And we thank you for your service and your son also has served as well. So I know it's a history of serving our country and no one would ever take that sentiment away. However, I do want to ask you the question about condemnation. If we're gonna ask him to condemn these things, no one's asking you to condemn Jake Lang for showing up with a Mike Rogers sign. The good news is I did condemn Jake Lang. I mean, it's an easy thing to do. He is too aggressive and we've condemned it and that's what we said. Let's go. You gotta step up here because you're attacking a race of people on top of these other events where your language is causing angst and anxiety and fear. In a community right here. Wrong is wrong, whether it be Jake Lang or Hasan Piker's uncle, whoever the heck it is. Whoever it is. None of you guys should want that. Let's talk about the issues that will move the meter on the polls. Let's just face it. The majority of people who are going to vote for Mike Rogers have already voted for Mike Rogers. The majority of people have already voted for Al-Sayed, who have wanted to. And now the remaining people who intend to vote for you or him will go on Tuesday. The undecided is a small number. What do you hope to do in the next few days to convince people that you're different? Then perhaps what they imagined or what they've been told about you, what are some things that you wish that people knew about you? Well, first of all, the Democrats for Rogers is real. It's not a campaign gimmick thing. It's got its own life. It's taken on its own life. People are worried that Abdul is too extreme. I worry he's too extreme. I don't think we can afford his Green New Deal policies. And I don't think his ideology that's kind of brushing up against this Muslim Brotherhood is really a good thing to send to the United States Senate. There's eight Muslim countries that have banned them. Muslim Brotherhood. His dishonesty about all of that is concerning to me and it's concerning to a lot. Even though he disavowed it? He has not disavowed it. This is- Softly perhaps not the- My gosh. You wanted him to disavow it. You ought to at least give it three sentences. He doesn't even do that. My argument is this is that serious to keep continue to dismiss it. He hasn't really disavowed it. Here's what we're doing. We're in the city of Detroit. We're talking to voters there about the housing problem. We're going to stop talking about how many homes we tear down in Detroit and how many we build. That is building a coalition of people who want to get this done. Same with education. 15% of eighth graders in the city of Detroit can read in the eighth grade. That is a sentence to poverty or prison, and we're going to break that chain. We've had great conversations with people in Detroit, in the neighborhoods, in the pastor community, and that's what's different. about this work. This is gonna be a seismic shift in the way people view how we're gonna fix problems. We're going to talk about this after we're elected. We've got solutions for housing. We've got solutions to get kids reading again. We have solutions to get kids shot back in high school so they can get connected to the skilled trades. We have solutions. And we're in these communities talking about it. It's not this sloganeering. That's a different style of campaigning. That's what I think people aren't seeing. And we're making headway. That's why Democrats for Rogers in the city, the fast thing going out of our office, Democrats for Rogers lawn signs. Mike, let me ask you a question about the Democrats for Rogers. Roger's we know as long as politics have been around, there's been money around, right? Are there people being paid to say they're Democrats for Rodgers that are putting up signs and being in these ads? No, not that I'm aware of. I mean, I'd be shocked if that were true. These are people who are concerned about their community, are interested in having somebody who shows up and is doing the work in the community. I just had another one tonight, we were at an event earlier tonight. He came as a young black man and he came up and said, I just wanna appreciate, thanks for being in the community, I've noticed. You've earned my vote, and it's just that, people aren't used to seeing a Republican in the city of Detroit, in the neighborhoods I've been going to, and just a quick, there's a pastor said, check my notes, there hadn't been a Republican here in 50 years. Got a great reception, why, we're talking about problems in the city, like creating Grocery stores closer to senior populations so they don't have to drive out of the city. They call it a food desert. These are real problems that people are talking about and we have solutions and we have ways to get this done. And listen, there's a lot of Democrats that have come out. This isn't just Haley Stevens today was I think the biggest one and the most impactful one. But you think about the former chair of the Democrat Party, Lon Johnson came out and said I won't vote for her. And there's about 10 of these. We only have about 40 seconds left. Well, I want you to, Parting message about President Trump, for those out there who are Republicans who don't support the war in Iran, who think that their gas prices or fuel is all up because of that. And I know you said that you've talked to the White House about this. If you become a senator- Mm-hm. How hard do you plan to press back against President Trump? We're going to push him back. Matter of fact, I had the occasion to talk to him, and I said, man, this thing's got to wrap up. You know, when I get there, I'm going to be beating the desk. What did he say to you? He said, I think it'll be done before you stick your arm up in the air and take the oath. I hope that's true. If not, I'll work with him when I get there. Gas prices are too high, but here's the difference. When you're a Green New Deal, Bernie Sanders, AOC, come in. They have huge, huge, huge, huge cost increases coming your way. $2,000 for utility costs per home per year and about 20 cents a gallon. When the war is done, you want somebody there working to get these prices down as fast as you can, not this big Green New Deal that Bernie Sanders gave a million bucks and AOC who gave a million bucks. The Green New Deal may be pricey, but the war is really, really pricey. That's going to end. That's the difference. We're going to get that to end. Democrats are about to get it. We'll see what happens next. Mike Rogers, final stretch. We thank you for your time here tonight. Thanks so much. Thanks for being with us. Appreciate it. Pulse. Thanks. We're turning to what this means for the Democratic Party after the break. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and State Senator Mallory McMurrow with that part of the conversation. You're watching a special edition of The Pulse on Fox 2.