Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig announced on Monday he was endorsing former Rep. Mike Rogers, his former GOP primary rival, in the race to fill retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D-MI) seat next year.
Craig was one of Rogers’s leading competitors when he dropped out of the primary race last month, making the endorsement a big win for the former House lawmaker as he tries to clear the field well before the August primary. Craig praised Rogers for dedicating “his life to protecting the American people.”
“I’m confident that as our next U.S. Senator, Mike will secure our Southern border and work closely with local law enforcement to keep our communities safe and secure,” Craig said in a statement. “I look forward to working with him as we fight to defeat Joe Biden and the Democrats in November.”
Rogers, who served in the House from 2001 to 2015 and chaired the House Intelligence Committee, faces a crowded primary field, which saw the surprise addition of former Rep. Justin Amash in late February. Amash retired from the House in 2021 after disavowing former President Donald Trump and leaving the GOP, becoming an independent and later a libertarian. His entry into the race complicated Rogers’s path to the nomination, which involves him besting his fellow Republicans.
He is also facing former Rep. Peter Meijer, who lost his 2022 House primary to a challenger backed by Trump. Meijer is the great-grandson of the founder of the Meijer supermarket chain, a mainstay in Michigan that grew his family’s net worth to an estimated $6 billion. Despite those attributes, Meijer faces an uphill climb in winning the GOP primary in Michigan, where the state GOP has fully embraced Trump since his 2016 win and remained loyal despite 2020 and 2022 losses.
Then, there is businessman Sandy Pensler, who came in second in the state’s 2018 GOP Senate primary and has the endorsement of former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Pensler, like Meijer, has the appealing ability to self-fund his campaign, which gives both men the ability to prolong their bids for the vacant Senate seat. Craig, Rogers, and Amash do not have that same ability. Craig dropped out of the race amid dismal fundraising numbers and is looking into running for mayor of Detroit.
Democrats have Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and progressive actor Hill Harper in their primary contest. Slotkin, a former CIA agent, is viewed as a competitive candidate because of her success in holding on to her swing district in the House for three consecutive cycles and her impressive fundraising network. Harper, known for his role on ABC’s The Good Doctor, is running to Slotkin’s left.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, typically doesn’t get involved in primaries when not protecting incumbents. Regardless, Slotkin is viewed as the front-runner in the primary and general elections.
Still, a Democratic Party victory is no guarantee for this vacant seat in Michigan, a state won by Trump in 2016 before going to President Joe Biden in 2020.
