DEXTER, Mich. — Several Michigan Republicans have made the surprising choice to support Democratic House candidate Curtis Hertel Jr. in a hotly contested race for a Lansing-area seat.
This is not the first time Republicans have endorsed an opponent of Tom Barrett.
In 2022, then-Rep. Liz Cheney endorsed Elisa Slotkin for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District as the first Democrat to run.
Cheney, the daughter of an Iraq War advocate, opposed Barrett, an Iraq War veteran, saying “Congress needs serious, responsible, substantive members like Eliza.”
Now, the Michigan Republican team has once again endorsed Slotkin, a Democrat who is leaving the district to run for U.S. Senate.
At a campaign event on Wednesday, Hertel appeared alongside several Michigan Republicans to endorse his bid for Congress.
“The House isn’t what it used to be,” former Rep. Joe Schwartz said.
“And we want to get the House back to the way it was before, with strong, independent-minded Democrats and Republicans back in the House.”
Brett Gillespie, a Republican member of the Grand Ledge City Council, explained his reasons for supporting him to The Post: “I know he’s a Democrat, but I think he puts his constituents first. He’s a fighter for the Ultium battery plant here in Delta Township, which is right around the corner from my city.”
Barrett doesn’t seem to think Republican support will hurt her campaign, but she narrowly lost to Slotkin two years ago when the same situation occurred.
“I’m a little desperate,” he told The Post by phone, hard at work making pizza for his family dinner.
“First of all, on the day this coalition was announced, one of the coalition members removed his name. And on top of that, the polls showed that I was leading the race by a significant margin.”
In Barrett’s view, her Republican opponent has been compromised by business interests.
“I think they have an obligation to be up front with the public and admit that they are overwhelmingly made up of lobbyists,” Barrett said.
“Jeff Timmer, who is on the list, is well known for his ties to the Lincoln Project, so he’s using his status as a symbolic Republican running against the Republican candidate to make money.”
The Lincoln Project is the Never Trump Republican Political Action Committee.
Asked how she would respond to Republicans like Gillespie, who called Hertel “bipartisan,” Barrett pointed to her record as a state senator.
“I have introduced over 30 bipartisan bills, some of which have been signed into law by Republican Governor Rick Snyder and some by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. I have a proven track record of not being intimidated by Curtis Hertel or anyone else.”
While the Republican Party is struggling with internal infighting, the Democratic Party has its own problems.
President Biden’s recent rally in Detroit was not attended by any prominent Democrats seeking reelection.
The president of the United Auto Workers union was also absent.
“Nobody was there. Biden was in Detroit. His opponent wasn’t there, Slotkin wasn’t there. Nobody wanted to be seen with him,” Barrett said of attending Donald Trump’s rally in Grand Rapids on Saturday.
That internal division is a thorny issue for Michigan Democrats. “Michigan is a Midwestern manufacturing state, exactly the type of state that Trump appeals to,” Barrett said, before pausing to add, “Excuse me, the pizza caught fire while I was talking to you.”
When asked if she would campaign with Biden, Barrett’s opponent Hertel evaded the question by changing the subject to soft-serve ice cream, saying, “If the president would like to come to the district and have a conversation, we would be happy to do that. I look forward to meeting him across the street and having a Tasty Twist.”
