Friends,

First and foremost, I want to thank you for your support in advance of yesterday's U.S. Senate primary in Michigan. It is an honor to be the Democratic nominee for Senate. I will work as hard as I ever have for anything in order to win this November.

Now the sprint is on to the general election, where we'll face Republican Mike Rogers.

This is going to be one of the most expensive and competitive races in the country. The polls show it starting off extremely close, and I won't be able to win this alone. So, today, I am asking for your support to start us off on the right foot:

Are you able to split a contribution between Gary Peters and my campaign for U.S. Senate in Michigan? We're looking for lots of donations on this first day of the general election.

So, who is Mike Rogers, the Republican who won the GOP nomination?

First, he was Trump's endorsed candidate in the Republican primary.

He was on the Trump national security transition team before 2017 and was in talks to be Trump’s Director of FBI, but then got removed from Trump’s team. Then he became a critic of Trump – going so far as to call him “more gangster than presidential” – and even considered a run for president against him.

Then, in a truly stunning about-face, he changed his tune in order to gain Trump's favor in this Senate race. And it worked. He’s been kissing the Trump ring ever since.

But there's much more beyond Trump:

Rogers has supported an extreme nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or common miscarriage; he authored four bills that would ban IVF; and he voted to cut and privatize Social Security and Medicare.

Not only does this one race have the possibility of determining control of the Senate, but it is a microcosm of which direction the Senate will take as a whole depending on who wins.

Like I said, this race will be incredibly expensive and competitive. All the polls are tight, and how we start this general election campaign may determine how it ends. So I am asking:

Can you please split a donation of $5 to Gary Peters and my campaign for U.S. Senate in Michigan? We're looking for a large number of donations on the first day of this general election.

Thank you in advance for contributing today. It means so much.

Elissa