Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) hammered Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) for her record of supporting electric vehicle (EV) mandates during Michigan’s U.S. Senate debate Tuesday.
The auto industry has proven to be one of the most critical issues in Michigan for both the presidential and U.S. Senate races and was a hot topic of discussion Tuesday evening.
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“My opponent has multiple times supported EV mandates, trying to pick the cars that our companies have to build and the cars that you’re going to have to buy,” Rogers said. “And by the way, that got us 2,400 layoffs at Stellantis, 1,000 layoffs at General Motors.”
Slotkin notably opposed legislation that would block states from being able to limit the number of gas-powered vehicles sold in September 2023, as Breitbart News reported. The legislation passed along bipartisan lines but not with Slotkin’s support.
Moreover, that vote came during the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike. Democrats’ push for electric vehicles was a major factor for striking union members, as it threatened to reduce manufacturing jobs.
Rogers stressed Tuesday that the many Michigan autoworkers he has spoken with “know more than what’s coming out of Washington, DC.”
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What is more, in September 2024, Slotkin voted against legislation that would roll back the Biden-Harris administration’s rule to phase out EVs, which polling shows most Michiganders oppose. The rule, announced in March, mandates that most new cars sold in the U.S. by 2032 are EVs or hybrids.
Rogers argued Thursday that hybrids are a better way forward than EVs.
“There’s a better way to get where we want to go, like hybrids. By the way, you don’t have to plug it in, and you get to keep the autoworkers that are here in the state,” he said.
“About a million are reliant on building something, a part or something for a gasoline engine. Why we would take 40% of that labor off the table is beyond me,” he added.
Rogers also emphasized the threat that China poses to the domestic auto markets under a shift to EVs, saying the vast majority of parts processed in EVS go through China.
“Why in God’s green Earth we would cede that auto market to the Communist Party of China is beyond me,” he said.
Rogers contended, “You beat China by selling Americans cars they want to buy.”
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