Anti-abortion group to spend $4.5 million to flip open Michigan Senate seat

Melissa Nann Burke, The Detroit News on Sep 24, 2025

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WASHINGTON — A national anti-abortion group, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, announced Wednesday it's planning to spend $4.5 million on a push to flip Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat to Republican control.

Their message is that the Democratic Senate candidates are all abortion "extremists," aiming to reach 1 million voters by Election Day 2026 by persuading more moderate voters to turn out.

"They're no longer the party of safe, legal and rare. They're now the party of abortion at any point," said Kelsey Pritchard, the group's political communications director. "That's really how we've seen success in Michigan and in other states in the past few years."

The SBA campaign will feature a field campaign concentrating on Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids and targeting pro-life voters who don't consistently show up to vote in midterm elections, with a goal of reaching 1 million voters by Election Day 2026.

The anti-abortion group said it also will spend money on digital ads, direct mail and a "robust" campaign to turn out early voters next fall.

"We are already on the ground as of now, and starting to build that out. Reaching 1 million voters by Election Day is a pretty aggressive target, but given our track record in Michigan and the state program that we had there for last year's general election, we know we can meet that goal," Pritchard said.

SBA in Michigan partners with the Hillsdale College, a Christian school, to build out their teams.

The group is investing the same amount, $4.5 million, to reach 1 million voters in Georgia, where the goal is also to flip the Senate seat held by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.

SBA also was involved in last year's Senate race in Michigan, as well as three U.S. House contests in Michigan's 3rd, 7th and 10th Districts, as part of a $92 million investment in eight battleground states last cycle.

In Michigan, the prominent Democratic candidates for Senate in 2026 are U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor, all of whom support abortion rights and supported Michigan's 2022 Proposal 3, which enshrined the right to "reproductive freedom" in the state constitution.

Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake Township is the presumptive Republican nominee who won President Donald Trump's backing over the summer. He also ran for the Senate last cycle, narrowly losing to Democrat Elissa Slotkin of Holly by about 19,000 votes.

Rogers had an anti-abortion record during his seven terms in Congress but shifted his position after launching his Senate campaign, saying he wouldn't support federal restrictions in Congress that are "inconsistent" with Michigan's 2022 constitutional amendment broadly protecting access to the procedure.

"I thought the decision should be made here. It was made here, and I'll abide by that decision in Washington, but I'll bet you can bet your bottom dollar we're going to find other ways for women to have a choice in what decision they want to make," Rogers said in a debate last year.

Rogers also said he supports access to abortion in cases of rape, incest and saving the mother's life. He opposes taxpayer funding for abortion and said that “choice” for women should also mean better access to options like adoption and prenatal care.

Asked about Rogers' positions not all aligning with SBA's, Pritchard said the group's keeping it's eye on the "big picture" of retaining and growing the Senate Republicans' majority.

"We want to continue the momentum in Michigan, where four Planned Parenthood have closed this year as Congress stopped the forced funding of Big Abortion in the One Big, Beautiful Bill," Pritchard said.

"That was for one year. So we're going to have that fight again after the midterms, and it's very important that Democrats don't win the Senate."

Slotkin attacked Rogers in ads on the issue and argued that voters shouldn’t believe Rogers “changed 30 years of being unilaterally pro-life" and never breaking with his party on the issue.

Slotkin opposed the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and has said that if a bill came before the Senate to codify Roe (which protected abortion access until the time of fetal viability at 22-24 weeks) she would vote for it.

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