Mike Rogers’ $45 Million Bid In Michigan Spurs Democrats’ Israel And ICE Divisions

An open seat in Michigan has begun to look like an insurance policy for Republicans, with Democrats needing to pick up four more seats to flip the Senate in the upcoming congressional elections, and a major outside Republican group pumping $45 million into the state to back former Representative Mike Rogers.

“The Democratic Party's stance in the U”

El-Nashra

The race has put Democrats’ internal divisions on display, including immigration and healthcare, with Abd al-Sayed calling for abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while Stevens and McMorrow want to reform its practices only.

El-Nashra

A key political fault line is Israel, where Abd al-Sayed attacks the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and describes the Israeli military campaign in Gaza after the October 7 attacks as "genocide."

Labour and party leadership stakes are tied to whether Democrats can avoid losing the seat, and Local senator Mallory McMorrow warned that "If he wins this seat, and if they manage to buy this seat, the Democrats will have no path to controlling the U.S. Senate."

A separate Axios report described Democrats’ stance in the U.S. Congress shifting toward Israel, with an increasing number of lawmakers no longer supporting continued U.S. funding, including for defense systems like the Iron Dome.

Democratic Representative Jim McGovern told Axios that he cannot support more military aid to Israel, noting that he had previously supported the Iron Dome but that "the lack of accountability now raises concerns."

The Intercept

The Axios report also cited Israeli correspondent Barak Ravid saying 40 of the 47 Democratic members of the Senate voted against supplying the Israeli army with bulldozers, and 36 of the 47 against arming it with bombs.

In the same report, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced she would not vote for any funding to Israel, including defense systems, and the piece said the issue has become a central theme in Democratic Party primaries as AIPAC spending millions of dollars backs Israel-friendly candidates.

The political stakes are sharpened by the report’s claim that "no Democratic senator who is considering running for president voted in favor of arming Israel," even as other Democrats reject calls to halt U.S. funding.

In a separate analysis, The Jerusalem Post argued that the war with Iran that began on February 28 will be remembered as the moment when the United States–Israel alliance reached its highest point, while also being "the most politically dangerous."

“The war with Iran that began on February 28 will be remembered as the moment when the United States–Israel alliance reached its highest point, and also the most politically dangerous”

The Jerusalem Post

The article described battlefield cooperation in detail, saying U.S. and Israeli F-15s and F-35s flew together in groups of simultaneous attack runs and that they shared intelligence and relied on the same tankers for refueling.

It also tied the alliance’s future to public opinion, citing a Pew survey published on April 7 that found 60% of American adults hold an unfavorable view of Israel, compared with 53% just a year earlier, and that only 37% said they had a favorable view of Israel.

The Jerusalem Post warned that once public support cracks, "the strategic consequences may take time to appear, but they do eventually appear," framing the risk as a political erosion that could outlast the battlefield cooperation.

Meanwhile, The Intercept pushed back on how the divide is portrayed, saying the “divide” is between party leadership and voters and quoting polling figures that it said show 77 percent of Democrats think Israel is committing genocide in Gaza versus 11 percent who say it is not.