Tucker Carlson Trashes GOP Senate Pick Mike Rogers as 'Not a Conservative'

Tucker Carlson denied endorsing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's U.S. Senate race, but used the denial to deliver an extended attack on the Republican nominee, former Representative Mike Rogers, calling him "not a conservative" and "a tool of repression" on the episode of The Tucker Carlson Show released Monday.

The remarks land in one of the most closely divided contests of the 2026 midterms. PolitiKool's polling average has El-Sayed at 47.3 percent to Rogers' 45 percent, a 2.3-point edge, in a race rated among six toss-ups that will decide control of the Senate.

Carlson's comments came near the end of a two-hour conversation with journalist Max Blumenthal, editor of The Grayzone, who raised the Michigan race while criticizing Republican attacks on El-Sayed over Sharia law. "That's the candidate in Michigan I supposedly endorsed," Carlson said. Told that a group had claimed he "officially endorsed" El-Sayed, he replied, "Which is absurd, I don't know anything about him."

What Tucker Carlson Said About Mike Rogers

Asked directly whether he had endorsed El-Sayed, Carlson said, "Of course not, I don't endorse anybody, I'm a podcaster." He then turned to Rogers, whom Michigan Republicans nominated for a second straight cycle after his narrow 2024 loss to Senator Elissa Slotkin.

"Mike Rogers is exactly the Republican you run if you want to lose and they ran him before he lost," Carlson said. "He is the embodiment of everything that is ugly, immoral, and stupid about the national security state. He is a tool of repression... Mike Rogers is not a conservative, to put it mildly."

Carlson called the reaction to his earlier criticism a misreading of his position: "So I said, this is craziness, you're Mike Rogers? No way. And they're like, well, you endorsed the Muslim guy," he said.

Blumenthal, who called Rogers "the distillation of everything disgusting about the neo-cons," argued the race would turn on local economics rather than culture-war themes: "It's about what Michiganders think. And their economy is linked to Canada. Trump kind of screwed Mike Rogers with initiating a trade war with Canada," he said.

A Critique of Rogers, Not an Endorsement of El-Sayed

The exchange follows remarks Carlson made Sept. 2, in which he said he "wouldn't vote for Mike Rogers at gunpoint" and criticized Rogers' ties to the intelligence community and Israel. Townhall and other outlets characterized those remarks as a de facto endorsement of El-Sayed, a framing Carlson rejected on Monday's episode. His position is a personal judgment that Rogers should not hold office, not support for the Democratic nominee; he said he knows nothing about El-Sayed's policies.

Rogers' record on surveillance is central to Carlson's objection. As House Intelligence Committee chairman, Rogers was among the leading congressional defenders of the National Security Agency's bulk collection programs after the 2013 Edward Snowden disclosures, urging colleagues to preserve what he called an important counterterrorism tool. Supporters said the programs operated under court oversight and helped disrupt terror plots, while civil liberties advocates on the left and right said they violated the Fourth Amendment.

Rogers carries President Donald Trump's "complete and total endorsement," posted on Truth Social in July 2025 after Representative Bill Huizenga opted against a primary challenge.

Michigan Senate Polls Show a Toss-Up

Recent public surveys back PolitiKool's toss-up rating. An Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media survey released Thursday found El-Sayed at 48 percent and Rogers at 46 percent among 1,000 likely voters, with a 3-point margin of error, placing the race within the margin.

An AARP Michigan poll released Aug. 20 showed a one-point race, El-Sayed 48 percent to Rogers 47 percent. The bipartisan survey by Republican firm Fabrizio Ward and Democratic firm Impact Research, of 877 likely voters, found Rogers leading by 9 points among voters 50 and older and El-Sayed leading by 14 points among voters under 50.

The margins echo 2024, when Slotkin defeated Rogers by 0.3 percentage points, 48.6 percent to 48.3 percent, even as Trump carried the state.

Why the Stakes Are High for Republicans

The seat, vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters, is a top Republican pickup target and one of six Senate races PolitiKool rates a toss-up. The national environment adds to the pressure on Rogers: PolitiKool's polling average puts Trump's approval at 38.8 percent, with 58.2 percent disapproving, and Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot by 6.7 points; the Emerson survey put Trump's approval among Michigan voters at 40 percent.

Republicans have made El-Sayed's past comments on Sharia law an issue. Pressed by Fox News host Jesse Watters on Aug. 24, El-Sayed told Fox News that "nobody is trying to push Sharia law on anyone else, just like I hope nobody is trying to push Canon law on anybody else."

Carlson dismissed the line of attack on Monday's episode. "I don't remember the last time I was frustrated by Sharia law. It's not like an issue in this country. Prices are an issue, lack of opportunity is an issue," he said.

What Happens Next

Whether Carlson's criticism moves Republican voters remains unclear. The AARP survey found Rogers leading by 33 points among swing voters 50 and older, a group likely to turn out and unlikely to be swayed by a podcaster's objections to the surveillance state.

But Carlson's audience overlaps with the younger, anti-interventionist wing of the Republican coalition that El-Sayed has courted on foreign policy. With the race inside the margin of error in every recent public poll, even a small shift among disaffected conservatives could decide the seat, and with it, potentially, the Senate.