Michigan Senate: where the candidates stand

Economy, jobs and trade

Calls for union support and a voice for unions in economic decision-making, spending on research and development, antitrust enforcement against price-gouging and monopolies, and repeal of corporate tax breaks. Supports targeted, benchmarked tariffs that sunset once industries establish themselves.

Economy, jobs and manufacturing

Advocates tax cuts for working families and a revitalization of Michigan's manufacturing industry, and calls for shop classes in every high school.

Supports taxing capital gains over $1 million at ordinary income rates, closing the stepped-up basis loophole, taxing inheritances over $1 million as ordinary income, a progressive tax on trust wealth, a higher marginal rate on earnings over $1 million, a billionaire tax on wealth over $1 billion, a cost-of-living exemption up to $50,000, and closing the Social Security payroll tax cap.

Gas tax

Calls for suspension of both the Michigan state gas tax and the federal gas tax, saying the combined suspension would save Michiganders nearly 71 cents per gallon.

Immigration

Calls for abolishing ICE, arguing the agency cannot be reformed, while supporting immigration enforcement and border security under a new structure; would repurpose ICE funds toward immigration courts and a pathway to citizenship.

Immigration and border security

Defends President Trump's immigration strategy, credits the administration's border crackdown with reducing murders and overdoses, and is critical of ongoing congressional debate over funding the Department of Homeland Security.

Healthcare / Medicare for All

Supports a single-payer 'Medicare for All' system that expands Medicare to every American from cradle to grave without premiums, copays or deductibles, including vision, dental and hearing. Says Medicare for All need not ban supplemental private insurance provided by unions or employers, though it should make such coverage redundant.

Prescription drug prices

Wants Medicare empowered to negotiate prices for every prescription drug, earlier after market entry and for all patients, plus public manufacturing of drugs such as insulin, limits on excessive drug patents, and eliminating pharmacy benefit managers.

Medicaid and the ACA

Categorically opposes privatizing Medicare, cutting Medicaid, or cutting ACA subsidies, and says he would push to repeal the Medicaid and ACA subsidy cuts in the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Act.

Abortion and reproductive healthcare

Says healthcare decisions including reproductive and gender-affirming care should be made only by the patient (and parents, for minors) and their doctor, and would fight to codify the rights once protected by Roe v. Wade into federal law.

Public health

Would make critical health leadership posts such as CDC Director, FDA Commissioner and NIH Director fixed-term appointments removable only in specific circumstances, require Senate consent for appointments to bodies like the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and reinvest in and reform the CDC, FDA and HRSA while increasing funding for state and local health departments.

Health insurance and AI

Categorically opposes using AI to allow health insurers of any kind to second-guess decisions made by a patient's doctor.

Healthcare / price transparency

Would require hospitals and insurance companies to publicly post real, itemized prices before care is received, with fines for executives whose institutions do not comply; says patients deserve to know the price before the bill.

Prescription drug prices

Supports expanding the TrumpRx program to use bulk government purchasing power to drive drug prices down and pass savings to consumers, and speeding approval of lower-cost generic options.

Abortion and reproductive healthcare

No documented position found in reviewed sources.

No documented position found in reviewed sources.

No documented position found in reviewed sources.

Energy and climate

Supports a pathway to 100% renewable energy built on solar, wind, battery storage, a modernized grid and efficiency upgrades on union jobs, and would codify the EPA's endangerment finding into law so it cannot be repealed by executive order.

Energy

Supports an 'all of the above' energy approach prioritizing domestic production, argues regulations and Michigan's clean energy standards caused an 'artificial increase' in prices, and wants renewable mandates removed where renewable energy is not 'good common sense.'

Environment and Great Lakes / Line 5

No documented position found in reviewed sources.

Money in politics

Supports overturning Citizens United, banning outside corporate spending through 501(c)4s, SuperPACs and 527 groups, and enacting public election funding and campaign spending caps. Says he has never taken corporate money.

Term limits

Signed the U.S. Term Limits pledge to cosponsor and vote for a constitutional amendment limiting members of Congress to three two-year House terms and two six-year Senate terms.

Money in politics and campaign finance rules

No documented position found in reviewed sources. Reviewed sources note the Senate Leadership Fund has pledged more than $45 million in outside spending to support Rogers, but do not document a stated position by Rogers on changing campaign finance rules.

Foreign policy and Israel

Frames foreign policy around diplomacy, cooperation and human rights, and criticizes U.S. aid to Israel. Opposes direct blank-check funding to foreign militaries, supports conditioning military aid and sales under existing U.S. law, supports an immediate arms embargo on Israel, opposes the war in Iran, and supports re-investment in foreign aid including UNRWA.

Iran and national security

Supported the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear program and said he would leave the option open for another round of attacks on Iran's nuclear capability, describing Iran as an imminent threat that must not obtain a nuclear weapon; now says the war needs to 'wind down' quickly so energy prices fall.

Iran war and affordability

Is running an ad blaming the war with Iran for high grocery and energy costs, saying 'the war with Iran needs to end and end quickly' and that energy costs will plummet when it does; earlier in the conflict he backed the strikes and called the war 'long overdue.'

Medical debt

Calls for abolishing medical debt for every American immediately, citing having erased it for upwards of 300,000 Michiganders in Wayne County.

Redistricting and gerrymandering

Supports drawing congressional districts through a federal nonpartisan committee of appointed experts working with the U.S. Census Bureau, modeled loosely on the Federal Reserve Board.

Supreme Court and the filibuster

Supports Supreme Court reform including ending lifetime appointments and imposing limited terms, and supports abolishing the Senate filibuster as 'antidemocratic.'

Voting rights

Opposes mandatory voter ID laws such as the 'SAVE Act,' and supports automatic voter registration at 18 and on moving, making Election Day a holiday, and no-reason absentee and early in-person voting.

Artificial intelligence

Supports federal guardrails on when and how AI is deployed, including safety testing standards for frontier models, liability and incident reporting, compute 'know your customer' controls, and an independent enforcement agency; opposes preempting state action without federal legislation.

Data centers

Supports federal zoning guidelines and legislation addressing data centers' community impacts, and has proposed a binding 'Terms of Engagement' framework holding developers and utilities to rate, reliability and clean-energy commitments with penalties for noncompliance.

Housing and homelessness

Supports a 'building boom' of new housing with streamlined local regulations, banning large corporate speculators from owning homes, banning algorithmic rental price-fixing software, charging short-term rental platforms housing dislocation fees, and a federal renter bill of rights.

Education

Supports universal childcare and pre-K, a minimum $60,000 teacher salary, full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, opposition to vouchers and privatization, expansion of vocational and apprenticeship funding, and a debt-free, tuition-free pathway to higher education.

Agriculture

Would redirect federal farm subsidies from corporate agribusiness to family farmers, cap individual subsidies at $250,000 per year, invest in specialty crops and regenerative farming, reform the H-2A guest worker program through the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, and pass a federal right-to-repair law.

Great Lakes and Line 5

Supports shutting down the Line 5 pipeline because of risks to the Great Lakes and sensitive environmental and tribal sites, while saying the line should be made safer in the meantime as long as such work does not disrupt the line or destroy those sites.

Water

Supports a federal water guarantee of at least 50 gallons of clean water per person per day with bills capped at 2% of household income and protection against shutoffs, removal of all Michigan lead pipes by 2030, accountability for PFAS polluters and agricultural runoff, and funding to modernize water systems.

Veterans

Would expand and improve the VA rather than cut it, and supports vastly expanding services so that no veteran goes without housing, a good job, or an education.

Public ownership of AI firms

Has called for public ownership of AI and regulating AI firms like public utilities, suggesting a federal banking-oversight-style framework and going beyond a one-time 50% tax on AI firms' stocks to give the government a stake in their business.

Insurance coverage denials

Would require insurers to publicly report denial rates, approval times and appeal outcomes, with penalties for companies that excessively deny or delay care that should have been approved.

Preventive care and high-risk pools

Said he is interested in ending ACA-guaranteed no-cost preventive care, suggesting a $50 copay for an annual physical is acceptable, and proposed 'catastrophic funds' resembling pre-ACA high-risk pools for the sickest patients; also proposed paying off medical school debt for doctors who work five years at a federally qualified health center.

Affordable Care Act

Opposed creation of the Affordable Care Act while in Congress and more recently opposed extending the enhanced premium tax credit program for plans bought through HealthCare.gov; has tied resulting rate increases to the original policy.

Housing

Proposes allowing tax-free 529 plan withdrawals for first-time homebuyer down payments and first-year property taxes, letting renters build credit for timely payments, deferring student loans while saving for a down payment, rolling back housing regulations, and creating residential housing zones where new construction is tax-free.

Data centers

Said 'we need to take a pause, probably, and make sure that we're answering all the questions that people have' about data centers, and told The Detroit News he would support a one-year moratorium on new data centers.

Alignment with President Trump

Aligns himself closely with President Trump, vowing to 'stand with' him and to deliver on what Rogers calls 'a mandate given to him by the American people'; carries Trump's endorsement.

Education funding

No documented position found in reviewed sources beyond a call for shop classes in every high school (see Economy, jobs and manufacturing).