DETROIT — Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers said he refused to agree to debate Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed on Detroit's Fox 2 on Sept. 15 because of moderator Roop Raj's "bias," accusing the veteran television news anchor of favoritism and calling the episode "horrifically unprofessional."

"You have a moderator who's already decided who he wants to be a United States senator, and I just think it was most unprofessional. I refuse to even use the word 'journalist,'" Rogers said about Raj in a Sept. 16 interview with The Detroit News.

"When you become part of the story because you want to be part of the story, that's a huge problem."

Fox 2 (WJBK-TV, Channel 2) went forward with the forum, leaving an empty podium open for Rogers in its studio, with El-Sayed accusing his opponent of dodging the debate.

"Last week, Mike Rogers took the time to go to Dallas to give a speech at a convention held in the interest of Donald Trump, but he didn't have the time to spend an hour with us here in Detroit," El-Sayed said at the start of the televised forum.

"That tells you everything about who he is and what his priorities are."

But Rogers, a former seven-term congressman from White Lake Township, said he had never agreed to appear at the debate hosted by the Fox affiliate.

He objected to Raj's "intervening" in El-Sayed's July 27 Democratic primary debate against Haley Stevens, whom El-Sayed narrowly defeated Aug. 5. Rogers also noted that left-wing streamer Hasan Piker said of Raj after the primary debate that Piker would "kiss him on the mouth," suggesting Raj as a moderator was favorable to El-Sayed.

Rogers' campaign also highlighted a clip of Raj describing El-Sayed as "brilliant."

"I thought it was horrifically unprofessional, and I think he has absolutely crossed the lines in who he's supporting and trying to help them. ... (W)e never agreed to it. If that was a debate we backed out of, then fair game. But we never agreed to this. They just said, 'Be here or we're going to do it anyway,'" Rogers said.

"We're not going to be bullied, pushed around, extorted by somebody who is more interested in himself than he is with his role as a journalist should be. We're not playing that game."

Raj on the air Sept. 15 denied that his past remark describing El-Sayed as "brilliant" displayed any bias, saying the comment was taken out of context. "I don't think anyone would say a Rhodes Scholar is stupid by any means," Raj said of El-Sayed, who has a doctoral degree from the University of Oxford.

Raj noted he's interviewed Rogers multiple times over the years and has called him a "maverick" and a "really smart guy who's been in the rooms where it happens," contrasting the former congressman's years of experience in elected office in Congress and the state Senate with El-Sayed, who has never held such office.

"Nothing we do at this station is trying to take a side. We ask tough questions about Republicans and Democrats each and every night on our political talk show, 'The Pulse,'" Raj said in a Sept. 15 news segment about the debate.

"But as you can imagine, the narrative is the narrative and, for whatever reason, the Rogers camp did not want to do a debate with Fox 2. It is rare to cite a moderator as a reason not to want to face an opponent, but that is what we have here this morning."

The Michigan Debate Commission initially wrote to both El-Sayed and Rogers campaigns on the day after the Aug. 5 primary, inviting both general election candidates to a Sept. 15 debate at Oakland University, said David Dulio, an OU political science professor and director of civic engagement at the university.

When it became clear that Rogers wouldn’t take part, the commission "pulled back" from the event, and Fox 2 ran with it, Dulio said. The commission is a project of the Michigan Debate Task Force, spearheaded by the Detroit Economic Club and Oakland University, partnering with a coalition of media outlets.

“The commission as an entity did not want to go down that road that Fox 2 did,” said Dulio, referring to a stage with one candidate and an empty podium.

Identifying dates in mid-September for the gubernatorial and Senate debates was intended to get candidates together to talk in "unfiltered, controlled environments" and to spread widely across the state before absentee ballots are in the hands of voters, Dulio said.

"That was the driving reason behind doing it the way we planned. When it became clear Rogers wasn't going to do it, we pulled back, and Roop and Channel 2 kept going," Dulio said.

"This is a totally tough spot because candidates will make decisions based on what they think is best for their campaign. I get that. They didn't want to do it. That's disappointing for the commission, but we understand it."

Raj said Rogers' campaign never responded to the invitation until it released a statement the morning of the debate advertised by Fox 2, with a spokeswoman saying Rogers would not take part because of the objections to Raj.

Raj noted that the station took the same approach to a debate earlier this year when Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson showed up for a Democratic primary debate for governor and Jocelyn Benson, the sitting secretary of state, did not.

Asked if another reporter from Fox 2 could have moderated, Rogers said that "unfortunately Roop made it all about Roop."

"Good luck trying to find someone at Channel 2 News to have an adult conversation. All their credible reporters have left. Their news director has been there a week. That station is a mess," Rogers said. "And it shows when you do this kind of a thing in a race of this importance."

Raj did not immediately respond Sept. 16 to a message from The Detroit News seeking comment.

Michigan's Senate seat is up for grabs because U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, opted against seeking reelection to another six-year term. A loss in Michigan could hurt Democrats' push to try to win back control of the Senate from Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority.

Rogers and El-Sayed's campaigns have agreed to two debates this fall: Oct. 8 on WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids and on Oct. 21 on WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) in the Detroit market. The WXYZ debate is expected to be broadcast statewide.

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