Michigan Democrats are launching their first digital ad of the 2026 U.S. Senate race, targeting Republican candidate Mike Rogers for supporting efforts to block the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
The 60-second ad, titled “A Bridge Too Far,” will begin running Monday on streaming platforms across Michigan. The ad accuses Rogers of siding with wealthy donors who sought to block the publicly owned bridge, which is expected to boost trade, ease congestion at the border, and create jobs when it opens.
The ad comes two weeks after Metro Times revealed Rogers’s long relationship with the billionaire Moroun family, which owns the competing Ambassador Bridge.
The ad references recent President Donald Trump’s threat to block the $4.7 billion bridge from opening, and it criticizes Rogers for defending those remarks. At one point, the narrator says Rogers supported efforts to derail the new crossing, even though promised to strengthen supply chains and expand trade between Michigan and Canada.
The spot also highlights Rogers’s long relationship with the Moroun family, which has fought the Gordie Howe project for years.
Campaign finance records show Rogers’s congressional campaigns received 19 donations from members of the family totaling $21,400 over more than a decade.
Economists and trade experts have warned that delaying the crossing could harm Michigan’s economy and disrupt one of North America’s busiest trade corridors.
“While Mike Rogers thinks blocking the Gordie Howe Bridge is ‘the right thing to do,’ the only people that stand to benefit are his billionaire donors — not Michigan families,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said in a statement Monday. “Michiganders know Rogers is willing to cave to special interests that want to hold our economy hostage, and they’ll hold him accountable for his pay-to-play politics in November.”