Rogers set to skip Michigan Senate debate over outlet’s ‘favoritism’ toward El-Sayed

Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers (R) will skip Tuesday night’s debate with opponent Abdul El-Sayed (D), citing the moderator’s alleged “favoritism” toward the Democrat.

Alyssa Brouillet, the Rogers campaign’s communications director, said in a statement that Michiganders “deserve to see their candidates engage in a healthy, fair debate — not one compromised by media bias.”

She singled out moderator Roop Raj, a journalist with Detroit’s Fox affiliate. The Rogers campaign said the anchor’s “bias and favoritism” led the former congressman to skip the debate — slated for 7 p.m. EDT.

“Roop Raj has made his position clear, from praising Abdul as ‘brilliant,’ to being celebrated by Hasan Piker as ‘my GOAT,’ and bragging about his political stunts,” Brouillet added. “Mike looks forward to making his case to working families and to making Abdul answer to voters for the conman he is.”

Rogers and El-Sayed are battling in one of just seven Senate races the election handicapper Cook Political Report rates as a “Toss Up.” As of Monday, The Hill’s polling partner, Decision Desk HQ gave , gave El-Sayed a 66 percent chance of succeeding outgoing Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

Despite Rogers’s absence from Tuesday’s debate, the event will go on. El-Sayed will attend the debate next to an empty podium, according to Fox 2 Detroit .

Raj defended himself against the charges of favoritism from Rogers’s campaign, saying on Fox 2’s “Good Day Detroit” show, “Nothing we do at this station is trying to take a side.”

“We ask tough questions about Republicans and Democrats each and every night on our political talk show, ‘The Pulse.’ But as you can imagine, the narrative is the narrative. And for whatever reason, the Rogers camp did not want to do a debate with Fox 2,” Raj said.

The reporter admitted he praised El-Sayed as “brilliant” due to his background as a Rhodes Scholar but added that he sees both Senate candidates as “tremendous political athletes.”

El-Sayed, meanwhile, insinuated Rogers was “chicken” for skipping the debate. In a video he posted Tuesday to social platform X, the Democratic nominee said Florida — where Rogers owns a home — has some “fine chickens” who “don’t want to debate.”