NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A recent campaign video released by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan left one of his opponent’s staffers feeling triggered.
Rogers on Sunday released a video of himself riding shotgun in a red antique Ford pickup truck, which had two American flags affixed to the tailgate. The video shows Rogers smiling and waving from the passenger’s seat as the truck breezes down the road. Toby Keith’s “American Ride” accompanies the video.
“Gotta love this American Ride! There’s no better way to do the Woodward Dream Cruise!” said a post from Rogers accompanying the video online.
Mike Rogers riding in an red antique Ford truck in 2026. (Mike Rogers for Senate)
FOX NEWS POLL: A SENATE BATTLE LOOMS IN MICHIGAN
But one staffer for Abdul El-Sayed, the far-left socialist-adjacent Democrat running against Rogers, did not find the bit of Americana to his liking.
“Mike Rogers’ campaign has the aesthetics of a 1960s white flight suburb and a KKK cross burning,” Mason Pressler, who serves as a El-Sayed’s political manager in the northern part of Michigan, said on X.
Rogers’ campaign seized on the post, accusing Pressler of thinking that “driving a Michigan-made Ford truck is akin to the KKK.”
The campaign also added “Old Ford trucks” to its running list of things it says El-Sayed hates.
U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers poses for a photo in front of a red antique Ford pickup truck on the campaign trail. (Mike Rogers for Senate)
El-Sayed’s communications director, Roxie Richner, explained to Fox News Digital that Pressler’s views are not representative of the campaign as a whole because Pressler’s X bio explicitly states that his posts are his own opinions.
BIDEN-WORLD VETERAN ISSUES STARK WARNING ABOUT ABDUL EL-SAYED AS HE CROSSES PARTY LINES
She did not return a follow-up request for further comment on the post from El-Sayed’s campaign aide.
The Democratic candidate has been dogged for his particular brand of left-wing politics, even by some members of his own political party who believe he is too far left.
Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan, talks poolside with streamer Hasan Piker at a party for content creators supporting his campaign, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, in Detroit. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
El-Sayed during his campaign has campaigned and partied with socialist streamer Hasan Piker, who is known for saying “America deserved 9/11,” praising Mao Zedong and Communist China, arguing that capitalists should be murdered in the streets and spewing a litany of antisemitic comments.
The far-left candidate also argued against the Second Amendment in videos discovered among the 100 he hid from public view from his YouTube channel. In an unearthed essay, he drew a parallel between President Donald Trump and Osama Bin Laden.
MICHIGAN SENATE RACE: EL-SAYED’S TIES TO EXTREMIST FUEL ANTISEMITISM CONCERNS AMONG JEWISH VOTERS
Fox News Digital previously reported that El-Sayed has received more than $100,000 in campaign cash from 41 people who work for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a designated a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and formally designated or labeled as such in Florida and Texas.
Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks after a radio appearance at Dr. Horace Sheffield’s GOTV Community Rally on Aug. 1, 2026, in Detroit, Mich. El-Sayed holds a 15-point lead against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) according to a recent poll. (Getty Images)
El-Sayed’s sister, Eman Abdelhadi, has also been revealed as a socialist University of Chicago professor who was arrested last year for allegedly spitting on a police officer during an anti-ICE protest outside the Broadview, Illinois immigrant detention facility.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller and Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.