Former Congressman Peter Meijer announced on Monday that he is seeking the Republican nomination for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat.
Meijer is an Iraq War veteran and an heir to his family’s supermarket chain. He is attempting a comeback after serving one term in Congress but losing a Republican primary following his vote to impeach then-President Donald Trump. Representative Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids) went on to defeat GOP nominee John Gibbs in the 2022 election. The district, redrawn following the 2020 U.S. Census, leans slightly Democratic.
Meijer told Michigan Public Radio he is not ready to call it quits with politics.
“Our near-term prognosis is not healthy, it’s not good and we need to be working to reverse course so that we get back to fulfilling the promise of this country,” he said. “We’re as a country facing a lot of long-term challenges. You know, we have an immediate moment where our economic, you know, fiscal and national security and international affairs are all in a very dark place.”
Meijer said he would like to restore checks and balances between the executive branch and Congress and between the federal and state governments.
Meijer was one of 10 House Republicans who joined Democrats in the vote to impeach then-President Donald Trump and that vote is already being used against him. But Meijer said he would support Trump if he is the Republican presidential nominee next year.
“My firm goal is to make Joe Biden a one-term President,” he said. “I have been incredibly disappointed by the policies of this administration and, frankly, the hypocrisy of this administration.”
Nine other Republicans have announced plans to seek the GOP nomination. Among them are former Congressman Mike Rogers and former Detroit Police Chief James Craig. With an already crowded Republican field, a candidate could win the Senate primary with a plurality, but not a majority, of the total votes cast.
Six Democrats are running for their party’s nomination.
The winner of the November 2024 election will fill the seat being vacated by Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow.
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