- Republican Mike Rogers accused Democrat Abdul El-Sayed of wanting to ban gas-powered vehicles
- El-Sayed backed the Green New Deal’s clean-energy goals but has denied wanting to ban gas-powered cars
- In 2016, El-Sayed said he ‘probably’ agreed with the argument that ‘cars are the modern-day cigarette.’
In ads and campaign material, Republican US Senate candidate Mike Rogers has accused Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed of wanting to ban gas-powered vehicles, a move he contends would hurt Michigan’s auto industry.
The claims are based on El-Sayed’s prior support for the Green New Deal, which called for investment in clean energy to move the US to net-zero emissions. The broad policy platform, introduced in 2019 but not approved in Congress, drew condemnation from Republicans like President Donald Trump, who calls it the “Green New Scam.”
The Green New Deal’s goal of moving quickly to renewable energy prompted some critics to contend that it amounted to a phase-out of internal combustion engines.
But a Bridge Michigan review found El-Sayed, who has criticized the environmental impact of autos, never directly advocated for a ban on gas-powered autos or ceasing production of them.
The claim is among many that Bridge Michigan is fact-checking ahead of the Nov. 3 election, including one on Rogers’ shifting positions on the Iran War. The winner of the Senate race will succeed retiring Democrat Gary Peters.
The claims
Rogers’ campaign released a 30-second ad in August that began with a seemingly AI-generated depiction of auto factory workers carrying a coffin that contains an internal combustion engine.
A narrator says: “Abdul El-Sayed wants to ban gas-powered vehicles. He wants to bury the beating heart of the Motor City.”
Campaign literature mailed to Michigan voters by the conservative No Going Back PAC makes similar claims, citing a 2019 Detroit News article about El-Sayed and US Rep. Rashida Tlaib leading a Green New Deal rally in the city.
Republicans have also highlighted a 2016 speech in which El-Sayed said he “probably” agreed with the argument that “cars are the modern-day cigarette.”
The context
El-Sayed made the cigarette comparison during a talk he gave at the Boston University School of Public Health while he was director of the Detroit health department. He was responding to a question about automakers’ role in revitalizing Detroit.
“Cars are a big deal in Detroit, whether or not you like them,” El-Sayed said at the time. “…As the Fords, Chrysler, GMs of the world have sort of been able to get back up again, they have really invested in the city.”
The Green New Deal, which El-Sayed championed, proposed a goal of reaching zero carbon emissions by 2050.
In a 2019 op-ed for The Guardian, El-Sayed wrote that the Green New Deal could offer public health benefits like cleaner air. “By eliminating the emissions that drive climate change, it can address the local consequences of those emissions for children,” he added.
Campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak told Bridge that El-Sayed does not want to ban gas-powered cars, calling Rogers’ claim “a lie.”
El-Sayed also denied it in an August interview on Fox News, telling host Jesse Watters “that’s not what the Green New Deal says.”
During the July primary debate with Haley Stevens, El-Sayed said he opposed an electric vehicle mandate and added that he wanted Michigan to continue producing internal combustion engines while also building electric vehicle infrastructure.
The goal
The Green New Deal never passed Congress and would have required follow-up legislation to mandate its goals. Environmentalists were upset that legislation introduced in Congress did not set a firm date to end oil and gas development in the United States.
But there’s no question that, in order to meet the Green New Deal’s goals, production of gas-powered vehicles would have to decline considerably.
A 2024 report by the National Academies on moving to net-zero by 2050, for instance, recommended that 100% of new vehicle sales be electric by 2045.
Asked about Rogers’ claims, campaign spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet said El-Sayed would destroy thousands of manufacturing jobs by implementing electric vehicle mandates.
“Unlike Abdul, Mike Rogers has actually worked on an auto factory floor,” Brouillet said in a statement to Bridge. “Maybe that’s why he’s the only candidate in this race who seems to understand how important Michigan manufacturing jobs are. He also believes that Michiganders should have the freedom to choose what type of car works best for them — and at a price they can afford.”
While in Congress, Rogers supported clean energy alternatives to gas-powered vehicles. He voted for the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which allocated funding to support the production of hydrogen fuel cell cars, which Rogers wrote on his House website, “would power the vehicles of the future by 2020.”
In 2008, Rogers wrote, “I am committed to working to unleash the creativity of Michigan’s automotive engineers, designers and workers to create an entire new world where clean, green cars run for hundreds of miles without using gasoline.”
Bottom line
El-Sayed backed the Green New Deal, which proposed a goal of eliminating carbon emissions.
Accomplishing that goal likely would have required a major shift away from gas-powered cars. But El-Sayed never explicitly called for a ban on their production, and his campaign says he doesn’t support a ban now.
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