2020 General Election
Gary Peters https://petersformichigan.com/ is running for a second term. I had thought I might start by explaining he was unusual among the men in the US Senate. His family had no pretensions to leadership. He did not demonstrate the aspirations that lead a high schooler to attend Harvard or Yale or Stanford or Chicago.
He’s not as unusual as I thought. Of the Democratic men in the US Senate, half did not go to schools like Harvard or Yale or Stanford or Chicago. Or have other marks of being or striving to be members of the elite.
So Gary Peters is not unusual. He went to Alma College. His dad was a school teacher, union member and teacher union rep. His education after college was at night. There was a lot of it. He got an MBA from Detroit. A law degree from Wayne State. In a departure from the utilitarian, an MA in philosophy from Michigan State.
MBA in hand, he worked for Merrill Lynch and then Paine Webber as a financial advisor. He tried politics. In 1991, he was elected to the Rochester MI City Council. Gary Peters was hitting his stride as a striver. In 1994, he was elected to the Michigan State Senate. He was good at it. He chaired the Democratic caucus. At age 34, after his city council stint and before his election to the state Senate, Gary Peters joined the navy reserve. He was eight years into his service the Twin Towers were attacked. Spent some time after that in the Persian Gulf.
In 2002, term limited out of the state Senate, Gary Peters ran for Attorney General. And lost. By 5,200 votes, less than .2%. Despite irregularities, he didn’t challenge the vote. He was appointed Commissioner of the Michigan Lottery. In 2007, he began teaching part-time, at Central Michigan University. He also decided to run for Congress. In 2008, he retired from the Navy as a Lt. Commander and was elected to Congress. He defeated an eight term Republican whose district was increasingly Democratic in the year that Barack Obama was elected President.
Michigan’s declining population led to losses in Congressional districts and changes in the districts Gary Peters ran in. The changes made him more conservative. He created a Spending Cuts and Deficit Reduction Working Group. The changes also made him more radical. He became an ally of the Occupy Wall Street movement. In 2014, when Carl Levin retired from the Senate, he ran to replace him. He had no serious opposition within the Democratic Party. In the general election he defeated a wealthy, but inept Republican opponent who unwilling wasg to appear in public after embarrassing gaffes.
Gary Peters will not have the gift of an inept opponent in 2020. John James is young. He will still be under 40 in November, 2020. He is a graduate of West Point with an MBA from the University of Michigan. He is wealthy. He is a partner in his father’s James Group International which specializes in transporting hazardous materials throughout the world. He has served as Director of Operations and CEO of the company. He ran for the US Senate already, losing by 7 points to the very popular Debbie Stabenow – a much closer race than was expected. He is African American. Will John James take some of the Democratic base away from Gary Peters?
Gary Peters comes to the race with resources. He is effective at his work. Barney Frank described him as the “single most effective person” fighting against those who wanted to let Detroit go bankrupt. He has focused on resurrecting manufacturing, urging the creation of a National Institute of Manufacturing. He benefits from Donald Trump’s decrease in popularity in Michigan. Trump’s popularity in Michigan dropped rapidly after Michigan helped elect him in 2016.
Gary Peters will need resources to keep his Senate seat. Trump’s low popularity does not change the fact that Michigan is now a state evenly balanced between Republicans and Democrats. Tip Michigan Democratic. Make the US Senate Democratic. First protect the Senators who are in danger. Provide Gary Peters https://petersformichigan.com/ with support.
US Senators who can defend their seats if they get help.
Doug Jones Alabama
Gary Peters Michigan
Jeanne Shaheen New Hampshire
Tina Smith Minnesota
Democratic Candidates who will flip Republican seats if they get help (More to come)
Mark Kelly Arizona
Jaime Harrison South Carolina
