Former Rep. Mike Rogers’ (R-MI) Senate campaign recently named a conservative influencer with an extensive history of anti-Israel posts as county chair for his campaign in five counties — but Rogers distanced himself from the volunteer’s views on the Middle East in an interview with Jewish Insider. 

Rogers’ campaign announced on X on June 16 that it had named 100-plus county chairs across the state. Among those, Jackson Karki was named as a county chair for the Upper Peninsula counties of Baraga, Delta, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw and Marquette. Karki on both his own X account and an alternate account, Red Lion Politics, has a history of anti-Israel commentary that has veered into antisemitic tropes. 

The Red Lion Politics account identifies Karki in its bio as the account owner, and both accounts identify their owners as being from Marquette, Mich.

On Red Lion Politics, Karki has claimed at various points over the past several years that “Israel controls us” and “the Republican Party is owned by the Israel lobby,” he has called for the U.S. to “stop being suckers for Israel please” and asked, “When we will we have a president or politician that’s not in love with Israel?”

He has also said repeatedly that he does not support Israel — often adding that he does not support Palestine or Iran either — and said that “we should cut military ties and funding to Israel, whose actions often don’t align with our values or interests.” He has called for cutting off ties to various other U.S. allies as well, including Ukraine.

The Red Lion Politics account also declared that, “Some Zionists hold beliefs that clash with my Christian faith, including views that disparage Jesus Christ, making it impossible for me to blindly support Israel’s government or its policies.”

During the recent Israel-Iran war, Karki declared at various points, “If Israel attacks Iran without our consent they would’ve lost all my respect I had left for them,” “Warned you all to stop supporting Israel and Palestine. We shouldn’t be giving them the time of day” and “we ain’t praying for Israel or Iran,” while also declaring, “Israel is gonna be fine. They have nothing to fear.”

Karki’s anti-Israel commentary has extended to his personal account, saying “Republicans need to stop shilling for Israel” and “stop shilling for Israel.” Just months before those posts, in 2021, however, he posted “I stand with Israel!”

Karki could not be reached for comment.

In an interview with JI, Rogers emphasized that Karki is just one of thousands of volunteers who have worked with his campaign.

“When you’re in a state like Michigan, you’re going to have people who want to help you for a whole host of reasons. And it doesn’t mean that they’re going to agree with me 100% or I may agree with them 100%,” Rogers said. “We had Muslim volunteers, we had Chaldean volunteers, we had Sunnis and Shia volunteers. We had a huge Jewish coalition.”

“This is not a paid person. He’s a volunteer, and he wants to make a change for the larger representation of his views, which he believes that I’m that guy to do that,” Rogers continued. “Obviously I disagree with many of his comments there, but he’s also engaged in the debate that’s happening very robustly on the Republican side.”

Rogers emphasized that he is a staunch supporter of Israel and strongly supports the U.S. operations against Iran, adding that the U.S. can be “engaged in the world without being entangled in the world.” And he said he does not hide his views from any of his supporters, even when they see issues differently.

Rogers worked aggressively during his previous Senate campaign in 2024 to appeal to Michigan’s sizable Jewish community, particularly those who were disaffected with the Democratic Party’s positions on Israel — while at the same time reaching out to Muslim and Arab constituencies that held negative views towards Israel. 

He said that any volunteers, in their activities for the campaign, “are representing my views and my position, not representing their views and their position.” He described the county chairs as points of contact for others to talk to about getting yard signs or literature or volunteering with the campaign.

“If you go through every list of every candidate, I’m sure there’s people that disagree with every candidate they’ve handed out literature for,” he said.