RUNNING ON EMPTY

Must-Win MAGA Candidate’s Wife Resorts to Desperate Gas Station Stunt

Mike Rogers appears to have put his wife to work as he trails in the polls.

The wife of MAGA Senate candidate Mike Rogers has resorted to handing out $10 gas vouchers to drivers as her husband struggles in the polls.

Kristi Rogers was spotted Wednesday prowling the forecourt of Detroit’s Freedom Fuel station in a red pantsuit and black stilettos, giving the freebies to drivers, The Detroit News reported.

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Her giveaway comes as Rogers, 63, desperately fights for his political life against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, 41. Michigan is one of several key contests that could decide control of the Senate

Republicans currently hold a 53-47 Senate majority, with Michigan among the battlegrounds that could determine control of the chamber. The RealClearPolling average puts El-Sayed ahead of Rogers by 2.7 percentage points, 48.4 percent to 45.7 percent.

One election lawyer wondered whether the spectacle betrayed nerves inside the Republican campaign. “Why is she just wandering around gas stations giving away cards? A sign of desperation from the Rogers campaign? Seems like weird behavior,” Mark Brewer, a former Michigan Democratic Party chairman, told the Detroit News.

Soaring pump prices have become one of Rogers’—and Trump’s—greatest vulnerabilities. El-Sayed has repeatedly hammered the Republican over fuel costs, while Rogers last month called for suspending state and federal gasoline taxes and pushed for a temporary halt to diesel exports.

Gas prices have stayed above $4 a gallon in the state for 158 days this year, a record, according to a GasBuddy analyst cited by the Detroit News.

Thanks to Donald Trump’s disastrous war in Iran, Mrs. Rogers’ ‘generosity’ isn’t likely to go far.

Unleaded gasoline averaged $4.59 a gallon across Michigan on Wednesday, meaning each $10 card would buy just 2.18 gallons of fuel—enough to travel roughly 56 miles, according to EPA figures—when the statewide average a year earlier was $2.88.

The fuel giveaway is not unlawful as long as the cards were not offered in exchange for registering, voting, or supporting Rogers, Brewer said.

In 2022, a super PAC that backed Georgia Republican Herschel Walker offered motorists $25 fuel vouchers after making them listen to a campaign message promoting his Senate bid.

Campaign finance lawyer Brett Kappel said then that anti-vote-buying statutes require an agreement tying the benefit to a vote.

Detroit News reported that videos showed Kristi Rogers interacting mostly with Black motorists, some wearing Rogers stickers.

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Rogers appears to be in trouble even among Trump voters. A Michigan focus group featuring 10 conservatives who voted Trump in 2024 found five backed El-Sayed and just one supported Rogers.

Trump, 80, has responded by personally throwing himself into the contest. After Rogers and El-Sayed debated last week, the president again used inflammatory anti-Muslim language against El-Sayed, labeling him a “Jihadist lunatic.”

The president claimed his candidate had “completely obliterated” the Democrat and called Rogers “a total winner.”

Trump has also lashed out at Fox News for interviewing El-Sayed, accusing the network of helping Democratic candidates as concern mounts over Republican prospects in November.

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The Rogers campaign did not immediately answer the Detroit News’ questions about whether campaign messaging accompanied the gift cards or who paid for them.

The Daily Beast has contacted both campaigns for comment.

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