Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers marked a new step in his Black community outreach Saturday with the opening of a field office in Detroit.
The office is located on Livernois Ave near the Seven Mile Rd intersection, along a stretch known as the Avenue of Fashion. Supporter Valeria Berry said the presence has already gotten interest from passers by in the Democratic stronghold city.
“So many people have ridden past, who have walked past. They parked their cars and then they walked past because they were curious. And then they were nervous,” Berry said before adding she wanted to let those people know, “It’s okay, be you.”
Many of Rogers’ supporters Saturday discussed the desire to convince family, friends, and neighbors in the heavily Black city who may hold conservative beliefs that it’s okay to vote Republican. Black voters have been among the most loyal Democratic voting blocs for decades.
Volunteer Carletta Griffin said Rogers has been putting in the work to chip away at that.
“He’s genuinely doing the outreach, he’s actually showing up. I mean this is not the first time he’s connected with Detroiters. I’ve attended press conferences and he’s genuinely passionate. He’s not out here just for a vote,” she said.
For Griffin and Berry, education was among the top issues that brought them to the Rogers camp. Detroiter Don-Q Patterson, who runs a reading-focused nonprofit, said he also cared about education. That’s on top of immigration and Christian values.
Patterson said he felt like Republicans have lost a lot of chances in past elections by not engaging people in the city.
“It’s a lot of people out here not voting, it’s a lot of people out here that are on the fence. And they’re only on the fence and not voting because these particular candidates have not always traditionally connected with our community well,” Patterson said.
Rogers said having an easier path to the Republican nomination this year let him spend much more time on Black voter outreach than the last time he ran for the Senate in 2024. He said he felt Republicans have made a mistake in past years.
“I do think it takes the right set of circumstances for people to be open. We have the right set of circumstances for people to be open and we’re taking full advantage of the idea that we can now have a conversation I probably couldn’t have before,” Rogers said.
Rogers is facing Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed this election. During the August primary, Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D, MI-11) won nearly twice as many votes as El-Sayed.
Like with Stevens, pro-Rogers ads that prominently feature Black Michiganders have started running.
The Livernois and Seven Mile office is his first in the city.
Rogers said he wishes he could have opened it weeks ago. Though he agrees, the response as people come by has been warm so far.
“It’s not left or right for them. I’m not trying to make people a Republican, that’s not what I’m doing. What we’re just saying is we’ve been doing the same thing over and over, let’s try something new and here’s the kind of things we can do together. That’s why we’re here. It’s working great,” he said.
