Michigan U.S. Senate Candidates
Michigan voters will chose from a crowded field of two Democrats and four Republicans in the U.S. Senate primary on Aug. 6. Three-term U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin faces actor and businessman Frank Eugene (Hill) Harper. Republican candidates Justin Amash, a former five-term U.S. congressman who represented Grand Rapids, Sherry O’Donnell, a west Michigan physician, businessman Sandy Pensler and Mike Rogers, a former U.S. congressman and commentator on national security are seeking to advance to the General Election.
Democratic CandidatesHill Harper, Democrat
An actor, author and businessman, Frank Eugene (Hill) Harper has had starring roles in TV’s “The Good Doctor” and “CSI:NY,” and is perhaps equally well known for having been a classmate of former President Barack Obama’s at Harvard Law School. A transplant to Detroit, Harper, who owns a coffee store in the city, is making his first foray into state politics by advancing the argument that Michigan needs Black representation in the Senate and a break with politics as usual. Backing him up are a few heavy hitters, including Wayne County Executive Warren Evans.
While Harper has worked to reach out to voters across the state, his campaign’s central focus has been attempting to motivate the large bloc of Black voters in Detroit to support him. To that end, he has struck a progressive stance, arguing that Democrats and the Biden administration must demand an immediate ceasefire to the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and calling for universal health care. He has also said he would vote to end the filibuster.
Elissa Slotkin, Democrat
Slotkin, of Holly in northern Oakland County, has an impressive resume to say the least: After serving as an intelligence official under two presidents and having done three tours in Iraq, she was an acting assistant secretary in the Defense Department under former President Barack Obama. Then she ran for and flipped what until then had been a solidly Republican U.S. House district in Michigan outside Detroit in 2018, winning three close elections in districts that voted for Republican former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.
Slotkin, a prodigious fundraiser and the only Jewish member of Michigan’s congressional delegation, is also an indefatigable campaigner and leaves little to chance. She continues to present herself as a more moderate, independent Democrat. She typically votes with her party, though she also breaks with it somewhat more than most. Well-known for her appearances on TV, she is a sought-after voice on national security issues and foreign affairs; she, too, has called for a cease-fire in Gaza, but also defended Israel’s right to take down Hamas in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. She has fought for abortion rights and access to health care, though she does not favor getting rid of private insurers but wants a Medicare-like public option to compete with them.
Read more about Harper and Slotkin here:
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/07/10/actor-hill-harper-michigan-open-us-senate-seat/70395515007/
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/30/as-democrats-vie-for-us-senate-nomination-slotkin-dominates-field/73804976007/
Republican CandidatesJustin Amash, Republican
Amash, a constitutional lawyer from Cascade Charter Township in west Michigan, has always cut a distinctive figure in politics. Elected as a Republican to a Grand Rapids-based U.S. House seat in the Tea Party wave in 2010, he served five two-year terms, establishing himself as a principled conservative, typically refusing to vote with his party if its position did not meet his beliefs that the federal government should be reined in to let the free market and Congress should not allow party leaders to stifle debate.
He left the GOP and became an independent after breaking with former President Donald Trump, who he considered unprincipled, and voted to impeach Trump for soliciting Ukraine’s aid in digging up dirt on President Joe Biden. In 2020, Amash decided not to run for reelection, flirted with running for president as a Libertarian and then jumped into the Republican Senate race early this year. With Trump at the head of the party, he will have a hard time swaying GOP voters but he argues he is the true conservative choice in the race.
Sherry O’Donnell, Republican
O’Donnell, a physician who lives in west Michigan, has spent a career helping run a nonprofit medical clinic in Niles and serving as a disaster relief doctor in 35 countries. Two years ago, she tried to enter politics by challenging U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, and losing to him in the GOP primary. Now, she’s a longshot candidate for the Republican nomination to the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, trying to make up for a lack of financial resources by drumming up grassroots support.
O’Donnell emphasizes her experience as a doctor helping respond to COVID-19 in New York City and her belief that government misled the public as to the measures taken to control the spread and the need for shutdowns. She also leans into her Christian beliefs, continues to push for term limits and is a staunch abortion opponent, though she believes the issue should be left to the states.
Sandy Pensler, Republican
Pensler is making his second run for a Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate in Michigan, having unsuccessfully challenged John James for the nod in 2018 to face U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow. A Grosse Pointe businessman who is worth millions, Pensler has degrees in chemical engineering and economics from Yale and a law degree from Harvard, launched his own capital investment firm and owns Korex, a company making household cleaning products.
In this race, Pensler has shown himself willing to spend heavily from his largely self-financed campaign to attack the presumptive Republican front-runner, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, and sharply question his record. Pensler also has argued that America under President Joe Biden “is burning” and has lost its “moral compass.” He, like the other Republican candidates, has chided Democrats for allowing huge numbers of undocumented immigrants to come across the southern border; he also has said he would protect women’s sports, presumably from transgender athletes.
Mike Rogers, Republican
Rogers is a former congressman from Michigan, having served from 2001 to 2015, and during his tenure established himself as a serious conservative and a reliably mainstream Republican vote, albeit one who was willing to work with Democrats, especially as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Seen as more of a pragmatic than ideological Republican, Rogers, a former FBI agent, became a sought-after commentator on national security and intelligence matters.
Upon leaving Congress he worked for CNN and in the cybersecurity field, leaving Michigan only to return to Brighton when the Senate seat came open. In the past, he was critical of former President Donald Trump, especially in Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden. But Rogers is now supportive of Trump, feeling he was a far better president than Biden, and each has the other’s endorsement. Rogers maintains he is “ready to serve,” and can make coalitions on Day One in office and that he is running to rein in inflation, secure the southern border and block the economic threat posed by an ambitious Chinese government.
Source link : https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/15/michigan-u-s-senate-candidates/74343310007/
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Publish date : 2024-07-15 13:01:16
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