Michigan Senate hopeful Mike Rogers demands Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin release herself from NDAs on controversial Chinese factory deal
DETROIT — Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers will center the Michigan Senate race’s final days on nondisclosure agreements his opponent signed on the development of a Chinese-owned electric-vehicle-battery plant called Gotion, a subject of major controversy throughout the Great Lakes State.
The Post can exclusively report former FBI special agent Rogers plans to blitz his opponent, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, for NDAs she and her staff signed regarding the Gotion project in Big Rapids.
Slotkin denies she inked NDAs with the state over the factory’s development, though she admits her staffers did. But The Post has viewed two she signed herself.
So in the final stretch, Rogers will push Slotkin to dispense with the drama and release herself from the agreements.
The GOP blitz will involve direct-to-camera videos by Rogers, a published opinion piece and press conferences.
“Slotkin can’t serve Michigan if she’s signing secret deals and deceiving voters,” Kate DeTurk, Rogers campaign spokeswoman, told The Post. “Michigan voters are asking what Slotkin is hiding. We’re hopeful she can find the courage to give them an answer.”
The Rogers-Slotkin contest is by all accounts a close one, despite Slotkin’s considerable fundraising advantage. But this past month as the race has tightened, Slotkin’s money asks have taken on a more worried tone.
“If everyone reading this donated even $3, we would not only have a huge number of donations, but we would meet our budget goals and have the resources we need to win this race,” read her Oct. 19 email blast. “And that’s especially important, because not only do we have lots of outside spending happening against us, but poll after poll shows us in a dead-heat with our Republican opponent.”
The Gotion plant is unpopular in Michigan, and the “No-On-Gotion” movement received a publicity boost in late August when GOP vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance spoke out against the plant from a local horse farm.
The farm that hosted him belongs to Lori Brock, an anti-Gotion activist fighting to stop the foreign-owned factory from being built across the street.
In the time since, Slotkin herself has joined the anti-Gotion movement, citing national-security concerns with bringing in the Chinese-owned company, which has hundreds of Communist Party members on its payroll.
Those concerns became concrete when the Justice Department announced espionage charges against five Chinese nationals near Camp Grayling this month. The training facility is fewer than 100 miles from Gotion.
“To me, until there’s a national security vetting, I don’t love the moving forward of any project, or any sale of farmland,” Slotkin said in September. “I believe that we need to not just think about economics, but also about the national security implications of Chinese affiliated companies.”
Slotkin has tried, with assistance from some in the Michigan media, to distance herself from NDAs she signed on Gotion. Slotkin’s team previously denied she signed any in comments to The Post.
But the charge still sticks, and Slotkin has failed to disconnect herself from a project she had no reason to be involved in as a Washington lawmaker.
Republicans see Slotkin’s double-talk on the NDA — signing it, then denying she signed it — as part of a trend of dishonesty in her Senate campaign.
“Elissa Slotkin signed an NDA to help a Chinese Communist Party-linked company buy up hundreds of acres of Michigan farmland — and now she’s lying about it,” Maggie Abboud, National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman, told the Post. “Instead of continuing her streak of pathological lies, Slotkin needs to come clean with Michigan voters about what Gotion knew and when.”
At Enjoyer.com, Charlie LeDuff reports Slotkin also signed an NDA on a Korean project.