Kristi Rogers, the wife of Michigan’s U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers (R), handed out $10 gas cards to drivers at a Detroit gas station on Wednesday. A move that sparked online speculation about whether the distribution was an illegal “bribe.”
Kristi Rogers, in a clip shared by the Michigan Chronicle’s Sam Robinson, gave away the cards at a station part of the Freedom Fuel Network, a chain that’s been praised by President Donald Trump and his administration for allegedly “lowering” gas prices.
(Critics have speculated that the stations were getting subsidies from the federal government earlier this year, although the White House has insisted in July that Freedom Fuel was simply a private company making gas more affordable.)
The giveaway comes as Rogers’ husband has recently campaigned against the impact of the president’s unpopular war of choice in Iran, a conflict he initially supported that has caused gas prices to jump since February.
The national average for a gallon of gas is $4.33, per AAA, nearly $1.27 more than it was a year ago.
Diesel fuel, too, hit a record $6.52 a gallon last month.
While several clips shared by Robinson show customers were hype about the gas cards, critics on social media wondered aloud whether the giveaway broke campaign finance laws.
One described the giveaway as “laughable and pathetic,” claiming Republicans would rather hand out gas cards than tell Trump to end the war.
Another — Jeff Timmer, a senior adviser with the anti-Trump Lincoln Project — put it this way on X, “Legalities aside, this is so ham-handed and cringy it cannot be the brainchild of any political professional.”
He continued, “It screams ‘placating the panicked candidate and/or spouse’. Parks and Recreation Leslie Knope city council campaign optics.”
Mark Brewer, an election lawyer and former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, told The Detroit News’ Melissa Nann Burke that what Rogers told the customers matters in such a situation, noting that she can’t connect the gas cards to voting for or registering to vote for her husband.
(Note: A gas card handout by Herschel Walker’s U.S. Senate campaign sparked similar discussions back in 2022.)
“This seems really odd, though. Why is she just wandering around gas stations giving away cards?” he added.
“A sign of desperation from the Rogers campaign? Seems like weird behavior.”
It’s a misdemeanor under Michigan’s election law, as Burke noted in her piece, to give money or a “thing of value” to others to get them to vote or register to vote.