Democrats for Mike Rogers, a group that has spent millions of dollars to defeat Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, has received funds from Republican-aligned organizations, campaign finance records show.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, made public on October 16, revealed that TFM, a super PAC that has been running commercials against El-Sayed under the “Democrats for Mike Rogers” name, was funded by two other PACs that back Republican candidates.

GLCF, a pro-Rogers group, gave TFM $50,000, while American Unity PAC, whose stated mission is to promote “Republicans who support LGBT freedom,” transferred $25,000 to the Michigan group.

Other donors include three individuals in Tennessee and one Michigan resident.

The name and place of residence of the Michigan donor — Michael Sandler, of West Bloomfield — matches those of a doctor who was appointed to the Central Michigan University board of trustees in 2017 by then-Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican.

Friday’s quarterly filings cover up to September 30, offering only a partial picture of TFM’s finances. The group has spent more than $4 million to help defeat El-Sayed, suggesting that most of its donations came after the September 30 deadline and will not be made public until after the election on November 3.

Nonetheless, the records appear to back suspicions from El-Sayed’s supporters against the group that it may be a Republican-led operation trying to manufacture Democratic support for Rogers and paint the progressive Democrat as an extremist.

An X account associated with the group was created after the bruising Democratic primary ended in August, which pitted El-Sayed against pro-Israel Congresswoman Haley Stevens. It quickly amassed thousands of followers.

The Democrats for Mike Rogers account frequently shares and amplifies attacks against El-Sayed, including regularly questioning his medical credentials and painting him as untruthful.

Last week, the group released a TFM-funded ad, featuring several people who are supposedly Black voters in Michigan questioning El-Sayed’s commitment to Michigan and arguing that he cares more about Palestine.

“I think Abdul cares more about the West Bank than west Detroit,” one person says in the commercial — a message that is echoed by two other people.

“I’m a lifelong Democrat, and this year I’m voting for Mike Rogers,” another says.

El-Sayed is supportive of Palestinian rights and says U.S. taxpayer dollars should be spent improving the lives of Americans, not sent overseas to commit war crimes.

Rogers, a former member of Congress, is a staunch supporter of Israel and has pledged to “unconditionally support” what he calls “Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Israel — which leading human rights groups and United Nations investigators say is committing genocide in Gaza — receives at least $3.8 billion in U.S. military support annually.

U.S. support for Israel has become a key point of contention in the Senate race in Michigan.

TFM was established initially as Democrats for Mike Rogers on August 27 but later changed its name at the FEC’s behest because independent expenditure PACs cannot include a candidate’s name without authorization.

State Representative Karen Whitsett, who was elected as a Democrat but has aligned with Republicans for years, is the sole person listed on the TFM’s filings, serving as the group’s treasurer and custodian of records.

In 2020, Democrats in the Michigan House of Representatives censured Whitsett after she met with President Donald Trump and thanked him for promoting hydroxychloroquine, an unproven drug that she said helped with her recovery from COVID-19. Earlier this year, Whitsett announced she would not run for office again due to her faith. “For me, it is impossible to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ while remaining a member of the Democratic Party as it exists today,” Whitsett said at the time. “I cannot reconcile that platform with Scripture.”

Prior reporting from Drop Site News has also found that several other people publicly associated with Democrats for Mike Rogers, are, in fact, not Democrats.

Truthout reached out to TFM through the email listed on its FEC records and did not get a response by the time of publication.

Whitsett also did not respond to Truthout’s request for comment.

The Senate race in Michigan is seen as one of the most important contests in the midterm election. It will be difficult for Democrats to regain control of the chamber if they lose in the Midwestern state.

The seat is currently held by retiring Democrat Gary Peters.

If El-Sayed wins, he would become the first Muslim senator. In recent weeks, Rogers and his allies have intensified their attacks on El-Sayed with accusations that he supports “terrorism” and has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood — allegations that Democrats say are unfounded and rooted in Islamophobia.

Last week, Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana), campaigning alongside Rogers, said El-Sayed goes to bed in an Osama bin Laden jersey.

The group Democrats for Mike Rogers has echoed such attacks, baselessly claiming that El-Sayed is “funded by the Muslim brotherhood and Iran lobby.” (Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood do not follow the same Islamic sect and are at odds politically and ideologically).

The group has also said that El-Sayed is “running to do the bidding of CAIR,” referring to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group.

El-Sayed has argued that Republicans want to distract from his policy ideas and Trump’s unpopularity by focusing on the Muslim candidate’s identity.

After the president misrepresented E-Sayed’s first name as “Mohammed” in an apparent effort to draw attention to his Muslim faith earlier this month, the Democratic nominee accused Trump of attacking all Michiganders.

“He thinks so low of us,” El-Sayed wrote in a social media post. “He thinks he can use my name and my faith to distract us from the suffering his policies are inflicting on us at the pump, at the grocery store, and at the doctor’s office. He thinks we don’t know any better. It’s time for change.”

An urgent fundraising appeal: 6 Days to raise $41,000

Truthout is one of only a few platforms for justice-oriented, grassroots journalism. Today, we face an existential threat.

Due to Google’s launch of AI search, we’ve seen a drastic plunge in our site traffic and, as a result, our revenue. We lost 15 percent of our readership overnight. This was a readership we painstakingly built over decades, and it vanished because Google chose corporate greed over a healthy democracy.

We are fundraising right now to meet our basic operating expenses. If you can support Truthout with a one-time or monthly donation, you will make a significant impact on our work. Anything you can do makes a difference — we appreciate your support.