Michigan Republican Party Chairman Pete Hoekstra voiced concerns this week that Democrats in Michigan “will steal some votes” if the Senate race between former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) gets “close,” according to a copy of the recording obtained by The Hill.
Hoekstra, who was recognized earlier this year as the Michigan GOP chairman, made the comments while speaking at a Monday fundraiser in Farmington Hills, Mich. He repeatedly praised Rogers and vowed that the state party would do everything to help him win.
“We haven’t elected a Republican senator since 1994, all right — think about it, 30 years,” Hoekstra said at the event, according to the recording. “And the nice thing is, if the race is close, this is the guy that knows how to win close races. The first race he won for the U.S. House, I think it was the closest race in the country that year,” he said, referencing Rogers’s House race in 2000, which he won by a razor-thin margin.
“We don’t recommend that this cycle, because if it gets that close, we are afraid that they will steal some votes to make sure that he doesn’t win,” Hoekstra said. “But hey, congratulations and thanks for all the work that you’re doing. It’s awesome.”