First on Fox: Republican launches second straight bid to flip Democrat-held Senate seat in key battleground

EXCLUSIVE - Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who was the GOP Senate nominee in Michigan in last year's election, is launching a second straight Republican run for the Senate in the crucial Great Lakes battleground state.

Rogers, a former FBI special agent who later served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee during his tenure in Congress, announced his candidacy in the 2026 Senate race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters in a video that was shared nationally first with Fox News.

"As your next senator, I won't just represent Michigan, I'll fight for it," Rogers emphasizes in his video announcement.

Highlighting his long career in the military, the FBI, and as an elected state and federal lawmaker, Rogers says that he is "running to serve as your next senator because service is what I've always done. Michigan, let's get to work."

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And in his video, Rogers also spotlights his support for President Donald Trump, saying "I'll stand with President Trump, and we will deliver on the mandate given to him by the American people….for me it will always be America and Michigan first."

Rogers won the 2024 GOP Senate nomination in Michigan but narrowly lost to Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democrats' nominee, in last November's election in the race to succeed longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who retired. Slotkin, who vastly outspent Rogers, edged him by roughly 19,000 votes, or a third of a percentage point.

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The Senate seat in Michigan is one of three held by the Democrats that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is planning to heavily target as it aims to expand the GOP's current 53-47 majority in the chamber. The other two are in New Hampshire, where longtime Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is retiring rather than running for re-election in 2026, and Georgia, where the GOP considers a first-term Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff vulnerable.

Minutes after his announcement, Rogers was endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the top ranking Republican in the Senate.

"Mike Rogers is the conservative leader that Michigan needs in the U.S. Senate," Thune said in a statement.

And Rogers was also immediately backed by Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate GOP's campaign arm.

"Michigan is a battleground state, and with Mike as our candidate, I know we will add this seat to President Trump's Senate Majority in 2026," Scott said in a statement.

While Rogers is the first major Republican to enter the Senate race in Michigan, he may not have the field to himself.

Longtime Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga told Fox News last week that as soon as Peters announced earlier this year that he wouldn't seek re-election, "my phone started to ring and it hasn't stopped ringing."

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Huizenga, who was first elected to the House in 2010 and represents Michigan's 4th Congressional District, which covers parts of the southwestern part of the state, highlighted that he's getting "encouragement" to seek the Senate from "grassroots folks," as well as donors.

As for his timetable, Huizenga said: "I'm still going to do my evaluation here, and need to kind of push through on the fundraising and need to make sure that I'm able to get the support that I really need to have to be able to do this kind of run."

Rogers, in an interview Monday morning with Fox News Digital, pointed to his potential primary rivals and said "I think they all understand the importance of being unified going into next year."

And he emphasized that" we’ve done a lot of back work trying to make sure that around the state of Michigan, people were ready to go, Washington D.C. people ready to go."

Asked about the quick endorsements by Thune and Scott, Rogers said "having the majority leader and the chairman of the National Republican Senate committee is huge for us. And it just sends a very clear message: let’s go and we’re in this to win this."

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An endorsement by Trump, whose sway over the GOP is stronger than ever, is expected to play a significant role if there's a contested Republican Senate primary in Michigan.

And while Trump has yet to weigh in on the race, Rogers earlier this year hired veteran Republican strategist and 2024 Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita as a senior advisor. LaCivita remains close to the president and his political team in the White House.

Rogers in 2022 and early 2023 mulled a 2024 Republican presidential nomination run of his own, and had a few critical comments of Trump at the time. But Rogers later became a strong supporter of the then-former president and Trump endorsed Rogers in the 2024 Michigan Senate race in March of last year, after clinching the GOP presidential nomination.

Pointing to Trump's sweeping and often controversial agenda during his first three months back in the White House, Rogers told Fox News Digital "working people in Michigan, they get it. And they understand what he’s trying to do for them, their kids, and their grandkids future."

"I would love to have him [Trump] not only endorse, but come to the state and have conversations about why this is important to the future of the country," Rogers added.

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Besides Rogers and Huizenga, business executive, conservative commentator and 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon has said she's seriously mulling another run for governor, or for the Senate, in 2026.

And Republican businessman and auto dealership executive Kevin Rinke, who ran for governor in 2022, is also thought to be considering another statewide run next year.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), in a statement following Rogers announcement, emphasized that "Michiganders have already rejected Mike Rogers and his record of abandoning them to walk through the revolving door and get rich, threatening Social Security and Medicare to pay for a tax giveaway for billionaires, and supporting the chaotic tariffs that will spike costs for families."

And DSCC communications director Maeve Coyle added that "no Republican has won a Michigan Senate race for more than three decades and Democrats will hold this seat in 2026."

But Rogers argued that "we know how to put a ground game together to keep us in a very tight seat. Imagine what we can do now that we’ve started this early, raising money, building our ground game. I think we’re going to do absolutely just find. And here’s the good news – all of our polling shows Michigan has moved to the right."

Earlier this month, Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow launched a campaign for the Democratic Senate nomination.

Reps. Kristen McDonald Rivet and Haley Stevens are considering a run, as is Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. 

Last month, Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate who later served as Transportation Secretary in former President Joe Biden's administration, ruled out a campaign after seriously considering a bid.