| Less than 24 hours after Sen. Carl Levin announced his retirement, a couple of tell-tale signs have emerged that Rep. Gary Peters will run to succeed Levin next year. Earlier today, Peters met with the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press and said that he is seriously considering running. He laid out why he would be a solid candidate for Democrats: He said that any candidate will have to be “battle tested,” and he’s won three difficult congressional races, beating an entrenched Republican incumbent in 2008, holding on to the seat in 2010 when Republicans were winning seats up and down the ticket and winning a newly drawn district that includes a wide portion of Detroit. He also said that any statewide candidate has to carry Oakland County in order to win a statewide seat. Peters was born and raised in Oakland County, was a Rochester city councilman and state Senator before winning his congressional seat and lives in Bloomfield Township. “Whoever the candidate is has to prove they can win tough races and appeal to moderate and independent voters where elections are really decided,” he said.
The Freep live-tweeted the meeting. Around the same time, I received an invite to a fundraiser for a Women for Peters fundraiser to be held on St. Patty's Day. Peters is in a solidly Democratic district, so if this fundraiser had anything to do with running for a fourth House term in 2014, it would be that he is concerned about a primary challenge. While a primary challenge itself would be improbable, a formidable challenge - one that would provoke Team Peters to have a major fundraiser 17 months before the primary - would be even less likely. It's hard to see this as anything other than beefing up his coffers for a statewide run. |
