Michigan Democrats Allege ‘Dark Money’ Group Violated TV Ad Rules

Michigan Democrats are crying foul over a conservative “dark money” nonprofit group’s streaming TV ad boosting Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, alleging the group violated a federal disclosure rule.

In a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, filed Thursday, the Michigan Democratic Party accuses the Senate Opportunity Fund of failing to publicly disclose its donors — something the Democrats argue it must do by law because the group is overtly urging voters to go to Rogers’ campaign website, RogersForSenate.com.

“[T]he advertisements cannot be interpreted as anything other than advocacy to elect Mike Rogers to the U.S. Senate,” the Michigan Democrats argue in their complaint.

The ad praises Rogers’ service in the United States Army and FBI and urges viewers to “tell Mike Rogers to keep fighting for Michigan families,” which does not inherently trigger disclosure requirements with the agency because the language does not expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate.

But by adding the Rogers campaign website URL at the end of the ad, the nonprofit is expressly advocating for the Rogers campaign, which would trigger disclosure requirements, according to the Democrats’ complaint.

The Senate Opportunity Fund spent about $349,000 to run the ad between March 6 and June 1, according to data from the advertising tracking company AdImpact.

A Rogers campaign spokesperson directed NOTUS to Rob Collins, the executive director of Senate Opportunity Fund. Collins did not respond to a phone call, and the Senate Opportunity Fund did not respond to emails requesting comment.

The FEC does not comment on complaints or enforcement matters.

Despite the complaint, it’s unlikely the nonprofit will face FEC enforcement actions before the 2026 midterm, if ever.

That’s because only two of the six seats on the commission are currently occupied, which means the FEC is currently unable to pursue enforcement actions and carry out other high-level duties.

And almost a year and two months into the de facto shutdown, the agency has a sizable backlog of enforcement matters: 253, FEC Chair Shana Broussard, a Democrat, posted on BlueSky last Friday. That means even if the agency votes to pursue the matter, which is not a guarantee given the agency’s limited resources, it may not get to the case until well after the 2026 midterms if enough commissioners eventually vote to advance the case at all.

Screenshot of Senate Opportunity Fund ad from AdImpact website. AdImpact

Nevertheless, campaign finance experts told NOTUS the Senate Opportunity Fund likely triggered federal disclosure requirements by including a URL to Rogers’ campaign website at the end of its ad — a hallmark of a campaign-finance-law disclosure benchmark known as “express advocacy.”

The Senate Opportunity Fund — which works to “advance conservative solutions through research and communication on public policy issues,” according to its website — is also not registered as a political committee with the FEC.

“The URL clearly uses the magic words of encouraging votes for Rogers for Senate, which has long been the primary standard of express advocacy,” said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen.

But according to Dan Weiner, director of the elections and government program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, it’s not a slam dunk.

“Rogers for Senate is about as direct a call as you can imagine,” Weiner, a former FEC lawyer, told NOTUS. But the real question is “any other reasonable interpretation” of the URL, Weiner said, adding that the nonprofit could feasibly argue it included the URL as a way for viewers to contact Rogers — although the ad’s vague appeal to reach out to a man who doesn’t hold public office somewhat undercuts that argument, he added.

The nonprofit reported nearly $3.1 million in grants and contributions in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, according to a copy of its latest filing with the Internal Revenue Service available through ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.

As a nonprofit, Senate Opportunity Fund does not legally have to disclose its donors, meaning voters have little insight into who is behind the pro-Rogers ads.

That’s not uncommon or inherently illegal. Groups can run so-called “issue ads” that don’t expressly advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate without triggering disclosure requirements. Even if the ad sings the praises of the candidate, unless it uses the “magic words” like “elect” or “support,” the group running the ad does not have to file reports with the FEC.

Michigan’s Senate primary is August 4. Rogers is all but assured to win the Republican nomination and is poised to face the winner of a competitive Democratic primary that features Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed.