Capitol News

Former Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers has claimed that his loss in the 2024 election was influenced by a van carrying ballots in Detroit. According to The Detroit News, Rogers made these statements at recent events, referencing a van “showing up” at about 5:30 a.m. after Election Day with ballots. When mentioning "ballots," Rogers used air quotes.

Detroit is Michigan’s largest city and a Democratic stronghold. It has been the focus of previous unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud by Republicans. Rogers said, “We ended up losing that thing by about 17,000 votes,” while making the air quote gesture.

These remarks are notable because Rogers conceded his race to Democrat Elissa Slotkin soon after the election and had not previously raised such allegations publicly. The Detroit News reported that his assertions do not align with what actually occurred during the election in Michigan. When asked for evidence supporting his claim about the van, a spokeswoman for Rogers did not respond.

At another event on October 7 in Detroit, Rogers stated he lost to Slotkin by 0.3% of the vote and repeated his claim: “Now, there were some ballots that showed up at 5:30 — I wish I were kidding — in a van,” adding, “And that swung the election on us. And it happened to be here in Detroit.”

Chris Thomas, former Michigan elections director who now assists with running elections in Detroit, responded to Rogers’ comments by saying they might be even more unfounded than similar claims made after the 2020 presidential election. Thomas noted, “The Republicans had a full complement of challengers at Huntington Place in 2024,” and added, “By all comments I received, they were extremely happy with the manner by which the Detroit Department of Elections conducted the processing of absentee ballots.”