Michigan Senate Election Will Be Preceded By Tough Primaries In Both Parties— Huizenga Will Run

Huizenga and Rogers

The southwest Michigan district Bill Huizenga represents has been drifting from red to purple. Trump only beat Kamala there by 5.5 points, 52.0% to 46.5%. Huizenga out-performed Trump but only beat his opponent 55.1% to 43.4% and lost Kalamazoo County, the biggest in the district, as well as Berrien County— and was too close for comfort in swingy Calhoun County. It’s just a matter of time before the district elects a Democrat. And Huizenga has no intention of sticking around to see if the blue wave headed his way is going to be big enough next year to drag him down. The weak establishment-oriented Democrat he beat last time, Jessica Swartz, wants to run against him again, but so do two other Democrats.

House Republicans, who need every seat they can hold onto next year, have been pressuring Huizenga and other GOP incumbents, not to run for higher office. But Huizenga had already made up his mind— he’s running for the open Senate seat Gary Peters is giving up. The problem is that so is Mike Rogers, the favorite of the Michigan (and DC) Republican establishments. Far right MAGAt extremist Tudor Dixon, who ran for governor in 2022 and got her head handed to her, is also threatening to run, as are half a dozen other Republicans. On the Democratic side, progressive Abdul El-Sayed as well as Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and state Rep. Joe Tate have already declared.

This morning, Brendan Pedersen reported that Trump Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was off the reservation— helping Huizenga instead of Rogers. Thune and many other Senators have endorsed Rogers but it looks like it’s going to take an explicit endorsement from Señor Trumpanzyy to settle this primary.

Yesterday, Adam Wren and Lisa Kashinsky reported that Huizenga doesn’t think Rogers is a strong enough candidate town the seat. He told Politico that he wants “to make sure we win. I want to make sure we’ve got the right candidate to do that. I personally think it should have been won last election. It didn’t. And the question is: Are we going to run the same play and expect a different result?” The NRSC said polling shows Rogers is a stronger candidate than Huizenga and they have a poll they claim proves it:

With a blue wave— or anti-red wave— cycle forming, it’s likely that whichever Democrat wins the nomination will also win the seat.