Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers reportedly asks AIPAC not to campaign on his behalf

Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers has reportedly asked AIPAC not to campaign on his behalf, fearing support from the pro-Israel lobby could harm his chances of winning the November general election in Michigan.

The decision demonstrates just how far AIPAC’s standing has fallen in American politics after it once enjoyed overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle.

Over the past year, most Democratic Party candidates have distanced themselves from AIPAC, with accusing one’s opponent of being tied to the pro-Israel group increasingly becoming the norm, regardless of whether it’s true.

But Rogers’s reported decision to distance himself from AIPAC shows the desire to disassociate from the group now exists in both parties.

Rogers spoke with AIPAC chair Michael Tuchin in Los Angeles last week. The next day, AIPAC shelved an already-prepared video ad targeting Rogers’s Democratic opponent and outspoken Israel critic Abdul El-Sayed, Axios reports.

Rogers’s decision to distance from AIPAC infuriated officials in the group, which had already spent over $30 million to defeat El-Sayed in the Democratic party and was prepared to spend millions to help elect the Republican nominee in the general, Axios says.

Rogers’s aides warned AIPAC before the Democratic primary that they believed El-Sayed would beat moderate Haley Stevens, but the pro-Israel group insisted on staying involved, thinking that Stevens would win, Axios says.

AIPAC still wanted to stay involved in trying to defeat El-Sayed, but Rogers’s campaign thinks the lobby’s involvement has backfired and will continue to do so, according to sources who spoke with Axios.