Campaign centered on electing Abdul El-Sayed, Jocelyn Benson – exposing their opponents records on failing to act as energy bills skyrocket, outages persist

LANSING – A trio of partners operating under the ‘Our Bills Are Too Damn High!’ banner announced an aggressive $4.8 million independent expenditure campaign aimed at electing Abdul El-Sayed to the U.S. Senate and Jocelyn Benson to Governor – layering TV advertising, massive door-to-door voter contact, and multiple flights of mail across five targeted counties. 

The joint effort will expose their respective opponents – Mike Rogers and John James – for their cozy relationships with monopoly utility companies and data center developers, all while our energy bills skyrocket and Michiganders are left in the dark on repeated summer holidays.

The program was officially launched in September by LCV Victory Fund, Conservation Voters of Michigan PAC, and the Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy.  It is one of Michigan’s largest state-based campaigns this election cycle. This robust effort focuses on the top-of-the-ticket races, along with targeted congressional races, like CD-07 (William Lawrence) and CD-10 (Christina Hines). 

It continues LCV’s momentum in Michigan, having played pivotal roles in 2024 and 2022 – spending more than $13M between its national and state affiliates combined.   

LCV Victory Fund recently launched a $1.5 million ad blitz that focuses on Congressman Rogers’ history of supporting cost hikes on utilities, groceries, and prescriptions.  Watch the ad “Sold” here.

This week, the Conservation Voters of Michigan PAC launched its own ad, entitled “Backwards & Poor,” that highlights John James’ track record of taking money from data center developers and supporting Donald Trump’s reckless AI agenda.

“John James can try to talk tough now about data centers but he can’t duck and hide from his track record of refusing to put a pause on unchecked AI and continuing to take money from the people who are going to profit the most,” said Bob Allison, deputy director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “Michiganders in November will resoundingly reject him and send a clear signal to the White House that no one calls us ‘backwards and poor’ and gets away with it.”

“We need leaders who will prioritize people over polluters and families over big monopoly utility companies,” said Sara Schreiber, SVP of Campaigns at LCV Victory Fund. “Across the country we are facing an affordability crisis and voters need to know that there are candidates who have platforms and plans to actually lower costs, especially out-of-control energy bills. Voters deserve better than Mike Rogers, who has failed repeatedly to stand up to Big Polluters. They need someone looking out for us.”

The Our Bills Are Too Damn High! campaign launched a door-to-door canvass in September that has already knocked on 264,000 doors (as of 09/21) across Kent, Ingham, Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties.  The program is on target to knock over 400,000 doors by Election Day. It also includes over one million pieces of mail targeting both absentee and in-person voters, digital ads on streaming services like YouTube, Roku, Hulu, and Comcast, other connected TV, as well as Facebook and Instagram.

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Paid for with regulated funds by Conservation Voters of Michigan PAC, PO Box 1047, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 and LCV Victory Fund, 740 15th St NW, 7th Fl, Washington, DC 20005. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.