El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak asks whether Mike Rogers "has to pay $200 per person" to draw a crowd
Cole WozniakSpokesperson for Abdul for U.S. Senate, El-Sayed's campaign, in an email to The Michigan Daily
In an email to The Michigan Daily, El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak wrote that El-Sayed's events do not require a monetary incentive to attract community members. He wrote "Mike Rogers has to pay $200 per person to get people to show up at an event?" and "Hundreds of Michiganders show up to every single Abdul town hall for free." His question names Rogers, not America Next, as the payer. The Michigan Daily reported that it could find no evidence that the Rogers campaign had any direct involvement.
Responding to
Cole Wozniak, El-Sayed's campaign spokesperson, asked in an email to The Michigan Daily whether Mike Rogers "has to pay $200 per person to get people to show up at an event," and said hundreds of Michiganders attend El-Sayed's town halls for free.
“Mike Rogers has to pay $200 per person to get people to show up at an event? ... Yikes. Hundreds of Michiganders show up to every single Abdul town hall for free.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Did a conservative group offer College Republicans $200 each to disrupt Abdul El-Sayed's Flint town hall, as group chat messages suggest?
As of October 4, 2026, The Michigan Daily and HuffPost have reported on GroupMe messages that student Iman Dashti posted on October 1 in the University of Michigan College Republicans' main chat. Screenshots posted on X show Dashti writing that the organization America Next "reached out to me to set this up," offered everyone who came to "show out against Abdul" $100, and agreed to $200 when he asked. The messages invite members to Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's October 3 town hall in Flint, where Dashti writes the group would "coordinate questions" and "boo him." HuffPost reports the College Republicans confirmed the messages are genuine. The group also told HuffPost that a member's advertising in the chat does not reflect the organization's values and that it "did not in any manner coordinate" with Dashti. America Next has not responded in the reporting we found, and the Rogers campaign had not responded to HuffPost when it published. A heckler was removed from the Flint event, and El-Sayed said that in a University of Michigan Republican group chat "they pay them $200 to do exactly that." As of October 4, 2026, we found no report that anyone was paid.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
The Michigan Daily's report on the October 1 GroupMe messages. It quotes parts of Iman Dashti's message, including the invitation to the Flint town hall, the plan to "coordinate questions" and "boo him," and the line about getting paid. It carries an emailed statement from El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak and says Dashti and America Next did not respond to requests for comment. It does not quote the lines in which Dashti says America Next offered $100 and then $200. As of October 4, 2026 the article contains no response from the College Republicans, America Next or the Rogers campaign.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
The campaign sent the statement by email to The Michigan Daily, which published its report on the evening of October 2, 2026, U.S. Eastern time. The report quoted Dashti's message, including the line about getting paid, and said Dashti and America Next did not respond to requests for comment.
After the quotation
The next day, El-Sayed referred to the group chat at his Flint town hall. HuffPost reports that campaign aides directed it to the Daily's report and that at least one aide said El-Sayed does not need to pay anyone to show up to his events. The Rogers campaign had not responded to HuffPost's request for comment when it published.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Relative to the proposition that America Next offered College Republicans members $200 each, Wozniak does not mention America Next or the College Republicans. His question puts the payment on Mike Rogers, and the Daily found no evidence of direct involvement by the Rogers campaign. Challenged the characterization fits because the statement recasts who is behind the payments. The closest competing label is Condemned, because the question treats a $200-per-person offer as real and mocks it, but it does not assert the offer the case asks about.
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More from this case
Read the full caseCollege Republicans at UMich reply on X to a post about Dashti's September 23 question: "did not orchestrate any of that, nor did the Rogers campaign"
College Republicans at the University of Michigan
“Our organization did not orchestrate any of that, nor did the Rogers campaign, as he is not on their staff or on our executive board. That opportunity was presented to Iman following that viral moment and was in no part related to his attendance or actions at the previous event. We could care less if you 'believe' it or not, because that is what is true.”Read statement
College Republicans tell HuffPost that a member's chat advertising "does not reflect the values of our organization as a whole"
College Republicans at the University of Michigan
“Anything that a particular member may have advertised in our group chat does not reflect the values of our organization as a whole ... did not in any manner coordinate ... advertising or product endorsement purposes”Read statement
El-Sayed says that in a University of Michigan Republican group chat "they pay them $200" to heckle him
“In a University of Michigan Republican group chat, they pay them $200 to do exactly that ... They'll pay $200 for someone to waste his money, show up and heckle me ... I'm just saying, you deserve a better social life than that.”Read statement
Cite this record
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- The Dispute Index
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- El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak asks whether Mike Rogers "has to pay $200 per person" to draw a crowd
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- https://disputeindex.com/events/4525-in-an-email-to-the-michigan-daily-el
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak asks whether Mike Rogers "has to pay $200 per person" to draw a crowd". First published: 2026-10-04. Last updated: 2026-10-04. https://disputeindex.com/events/4525-in-an-email-to-the-michigan-daily-el