Peter Meijer forms exploratory committee for US Senate run

Former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids Township, is formally testing the waters for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat next year, confirming for the Free Press on Thursday that he has formed an exploratory committee.

"I am honored by the many Michigan conservatives who are encouraging me to run," Meijer said in a text to the Free Press. "Winning in 2024 is the only way we can stop (President) Biden's ruinous economic policies and mass weaponization of government."

"It will take someone who can't be bought and is willing to be bold, and I am considering running for Senate to do my part to get us out of this mess," he added.

News of Meijer's forming an exploratory committee through a filing with the IRS was first reported Thursday by the Detroit News. The Free Press had previously reported that Meijer — whose family founded the eponymous grocery store chain — was considering getting into the race, but by creating an exploratory committee he can spend funds on efforts like having polling done on his behalf, traveling the state and calling potential supporters without necessarily triggering rules that require him to file as a candidate.

Meijer, a veteran who has strong name identification, an independent streak and wealth, is considered a strong general election candidate but will face difficulties in a Republican primary. Despite having conservative credentials, he was one of 10 Republican U.S. House members to vote in favor of impeaching former President Donald Trump for his role in instigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to keep Biden's election from being certified by Congress.

Trump Republicans turned against Meijer en masse and he was defeated in the Republican primary for his U.S. House seat in 2022 by former Trump administration official John Gibbs. Gibbs then went on to lose to U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, in the general election in a newly drawn, somewhat more-Democratic leaning district that most pundits believe would have been more of a toss-up with Meijer in the race.

Meijer, however, could have a shot at winning a Republican primary statewide if the contest were split across enough candidates, and his announcement that he's forming an exploratory committee comes amid reports that former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers — a former U.S. House member from Howell who left Congress in 2015 — is considered likely to enter the race soon.

Both have been critical of Trump and his actions following the 2020 election, when the former president — who is running again despite a series of indictments and charges against him — baselessly claimed the election in Michigan and elsewhere was rigged. Both also are seen as more centrist than other more extreme elements of the Republican Party. As such, they could inhabit the same political lane, leaving another open for a well-known, more Trump-friendly candidate, should one emerge.

If either Meijer or Rogers enter the race, they would be the first big-name Republicans to emerge in the campaign to replace U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who early this year announced she would not run for a fifth six-year term. Other Republicans who have filed include state Board of Education member Nikki Snyder, of Dexter, mid-Michigan businessman Michael Hoover and Wayne County lawyer Alexandria Taylor, who was among those ordered to pay thousands in legal fees for filing what a judge called a frivolous lawsuit challenging ballots cast in Detroit in last year's midterm elections.

Other Republicans who have filed include Oscoda Area School Board Trustee Sharon Savage, St. Joseph physician Sherry O'Donnell and J.D. Wilson, of Houghton Lake, whose website doesn't include any biographical information.

Whoever wins the Republican primary next August, he or she is likely to face a tough battle, considering that no GOP nominee for a U.S. Senate seat has won in Michigan since Spence Abraham in the Republican wave of 1994 —and he was defeated six years later by Stabenow.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, is widely considered the Democratic front-runner for the nomination, though she faces competition from a growing slate of challengers, including actor Hill Harper, who lives in Detroit; state Board of Education President Pamela Pugh, of Saginaw; former state Rep. Leslie Love, of Detroit; Dearborn businessman Nasser Beydoun and Ann Arbor lawyer Zack Burns.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Peter Meijer forms exploratory committee for US Senate run