A member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), he has been a Belfast City Councillor for the Ormiston (formerly Victoria) DEA since 1993.

In 1973, he stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party in the election to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

He is also a former director of Glentoran FC but resigned from his position a few days before a winding up order from HMRC was due to be heard by the High Court in January 2011.

[3] At a DPP meeting in Short Strand Community centre on 15 June 2009, he claimed he had been attacked with eggs and stones by members of the IRSP.

[5] In the run up to the 2019 Local Government Election, a leaflet for Mr Rodgers and fellow UUP councillor Peter Johnston alleged that the Alliance Party was "closely aligned" with the "IRA's political wing".