Politics

EXCLUSIVE: Mike Rogers Takes Affordability Message To New Level With Nod To Beloved TV Show

Mike Rogers in 2015 (Hudson Institute / Wikimedia Commons)

Leading Republican Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers unveiled a new video series inspired by a beloved reality TV show aimed at addressing the cost of living — widely considered the top issue of the 2026 midterm elections — the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

The first entry in Rogers’s “Let’s Get to Work!” series released Monday and first shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF), features the candidate performing various tasks at a family-run dairy farm in the western part of the state’s Lower Peninsula. The Rogers campaign said the series — which will continue throughout the hotly contested Senate race — is an homage to the Discovery Channel show “Dirty Jobs.” It also aims to show how everyday Michiganders would benefit from the GOP-backed Working Families Tax Cut Act, also known as the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

Rogers is endorsed by President Donald Trump and faces effectively no serious opposition in the Republican primary. The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates the Michigan Senate race — an open seat contest due to the retirement of incumbent Democratic Sen. Gary Peters — as a “toss up.” The contest is widely considered one of the best opportunities for the GOP to flip a Senate seat in November.

The first “Let’s Get to Work!” video shows Rogers at Green Pastures Farms in Coopersville, Mich., where he meets Jesse and Betsy Meerman. They tell him the property has been in their family since the 1880s, but the lofty federal estate tax, commonly known as the “death tax,” has made this difficult in recent years.

“It’s not easy to send the farm over to the next generation,” Jesse Meerman tells Rogers in the video. “So, really, what Uncle Sam has done is said, ‘My condolences on the death of your father. … Pay me $5 million cash now.'”

“I happen to believe we shouldn’t have that anyway, specifically on agriculture. We want that to be perpetuated in families,” the Republican candidate replies. He also adds in the video that the OBBBA, which Trump signed July 4, 2025, “raised the exemption for the death tax.”

“Michigan has had two Democrat Senators who’ve done nothing but fail our state,” Rogers, who served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2015, told the DCNF in a statement. “Democrats have made life so much more unaffordable, from skyrocketing Michiganders’ prices with record high inflation, to making it too expensive for families to get into homes, and now, voting for what would have been the single largest tax hike in American history.”

The last Republican to represent Michigan in the upper chamber left office in 2001.

“It’s time for a change. That’s why we’re on the road, listening to and learning about the challenges facing Michigan families and workers all across the state,” the GOP candidate added. “Michigan deserves real leaders who will keep more money in their pockets, starting with the Working Families Tax Cuts.”

According to a fact sheet from the White House, a “typical family with two children in Michigan can expect to see higher take-home pay of about $7000 to $9900,” due to the OBBBA’s tax benefits.

Affordability and cost of living are widely expected to be the top issues that will decide the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections. Multiple Democrats, including Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, won key victories during the November 2025 elections in part by vowing to make life more affordable for their constituents.

In addition to its affordability and tax-relief focused message, Rogers’ two-minute-long video released Monday also contains several lighter moments, such as assisting the Meerman family in feeding livestock and collecting eggs on their farm.

“Shake it up,” the Meermans’ young son instructs Rogers, who is holding a large jug of fresh milk, at the beginning of the video.

“Shake it up,” the candidate repeats as he shakes the jug. “It’s kind of like a martini, only different.”

Future videos in the “Let’s Get to Work!” series will see the candidate travel to other workplaces across the state, including diners and manufacturing facilities, according to the Rogers campaign.

“Dirty Jobs,” the stated inspiration for the candidate’s video series, ran for a total of 179 episodes. It featured host Mike Rowe as he joined workers across the country in performing a range of unconventional occupational tasks.

While Rogers is the overwhelming favorite to win the Aug. 4 Republican primary for Michigan Senate, the Democratic contest features a brutal three-way slugfest between Rep. Haley Stevens, State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, and Bernie Sanders-endorsed public health official Abdul El-Sayed.