By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WZMQ 19 News) — The 2026 race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat is already shaping up to be one of the most closely watched in the country.
On Monday, former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers officially announced his candidacy, declaring his intention to once again represent the Great Lakes State in Washington.
Rogers is seeking the Senate seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who announced earlier this year that he will step down at the end of his current term.
Rogers previously ran for Michigan’s other Senate seat in 2024, narrowly losing to Sen. Elissa Slotkin — despite former President Donald Trump carrying the state over Kamala Harris.
Political analysts say the stakes in this race are particularly high.
“This seat is absolutely the most important seat that’s going to be up in 2026 that we know of so far,” said Dr. Todd Belt, Professor and Director of the Political Management Master’s Program at George Washington University. “This is an open seat and this is in a state that is right on a knife edge. The Democrats need to take four seats in order to get the Senate back, and they need to retain this one if they’re going to be able to do that.”
The contest is expected to be one of the most expensive in the cycle, with millions likely to pour into Michigan over the next two years.
“Expect a ton of money to be poured into this,” said Belt. “It made sense for Rogers to announce early. He got some real key endorsements.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R- SD) as well as Sen. Tim Scott (R- SC), the National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman, quickly endorsed Rogers. The early momentum could help Rogers build a commanding lead among GOP voters.
“This is going to help them try to fend off some of the other Republicans who might want that seat and try to roll on to the general election and retain all of the funding that he’s going to need to mount a huge campaign,” said Belt.
Rogers is currently the only GOP candidate to officially enter the race. Democratic State Senator Mallory McMorrow has launched a campaign for the seat.
Other rumored, high profile Democratic candidates such as former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have publicly ruled out running for the seat.
“Democrats are going to have a real challenge here,” Belt said. “They have to find someone who can put up a fight. And it’s going to be probably a couple of smaller names in a primary election, which is going to deplete resources for them and also anger other wings of the party. It’s going to be a difficult one for Democrats to hang on to the seat.”
In addition to his past experience in Congress, Rogers is expected to lean on his existing campaign infrastructure and volunteer network. Having a statewide campaign network in place, Belt says, is a big advantage.
“If you have run a statewide campaign like that, then you develop a core of volunteers, you develop a number of people who are there to endorse you on the local level,” said Belt. “And you develop, of course, your campaign fundraising apparatus. So he has that in place. To keep that charged up really gives him a distinctive advantage,” Belt added.
