Senate race: Rogers cites 2018 carbon tax to attack El-Sayed
Rogers claims El-Sayed supports a tax raising bills by $2,000, but El-Sayed has not proposed a new carbon tax in this campaign.
By Olivia Miller ·
Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers argues that his opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, supports a new energy tax that would raise utility bills by $2,000 annually and add 20 cents per gallon to gasoline. Rogers presented these figures at a rally with President Donald Trump in Port Huron on Sunday and repeated them in television advertisements released this week.
The figures do not appear in El-Sayed's current platform for the 2026 Senate race. Rogers bases the 20-cent gas price increase on a state-level carbon tax El-Sayed proposed during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign. In that proposal, El-Sayed suggested a corporate polluter fee to offset costs for residents. The specific 20-cent estimate traces back to a 2013 study commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers.
The $2,000 utility bill increase stems from a different source. A Mackinac Center for Public Policy analysis of Michigan's existing clean energy laws found that requiring utilities to source 60% of electricity from wind and solar by 2035 would increase average residential rates by that amount by 2035. El-Sayed did not help pass those state laws, though he has publicly supported 100% clean energy goals.
El-Sayed's campaign stated that he is not calling for a carbon tax in the current Senate race. A campaign spokesperson questioned the Mackinac Center analysis, pointing to the think tank's conservative donors, including the Charles Koch Institute and foundations linked to the DeVos family.
Researchers disagree on the impact of renewable energy on consumer costs. A study from MIT found that utility-scale wind and solar projects generally lowered consumer energy prices. The same researchers noted that rooftop solar projects tended to raise electricity prices due to higher network operation and maintenance costs.
Rogers' campaign maintains that El-Sayed is supporting utility rate increases while hiding the details. Alyssa Brouillet, a Rogers spokesperson, wrote that El-Sayed will hide his support for raising gas prices by 20 cents a gallon and that the Green New Deal he supports would mandate costly electric vehicles.
The election is scheduled for November 3. The winner will succeed retiring Democrat Gary Peters. Bridge Michigan is currently fact-checking other claims in the race, including assertions about Rogers' yacht ownership.
