Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), who many believed would run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), bowed out of the potential run on Tuesday.
Dingell said in a lengthy statement on Twitter that she had been encouraged to run for the open U.S. Senate seat over the last several months but would prefer to stay and work for the people in her congressional district.
“After much consideration, I have decided that I can best serve Michigan and our nation as a member of the U.S. House. Because, bluntly, I love my job. I love my district. And most importantly, I love my constituents,” Dingell said in her statement on Tuesday.
“I look forward to continuing my work to represent the people of Michigan’s 6th district,” she added while noting that she wants to keep “deliver[ing] solutions” for seniors and working families, in addition to working on bringing the supply chains home and boosting manufacturing.
Dingell is one of Michigan’s more high-profile politicians and represents Michigan’s Sixth Congressional District. After Stabenow announced she would not seek reelection to make way for a crop of new political leaders, speculation on who would run for the seat on the Democrat side quickly ramped up.
Dingell not running leaves Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who announced she would run for the seat in February, able to coast to the nomination unless another high-profile person was to enter the race. Slotkin’s announcement was not a surprise to many, despite it coming barely three months after she was in a tough reelection spot.
Following the last controversial campaign season, Slotkin and her husband got a divorce after 12 years of marriage. The two announced via a joint statement to the Detroit Free Press, claiming that “after careful consideration,” they “reached this decision together after much reflection, and we do it on agreeable terms.”
It followed very public controversy during the last campaign cycle when she was living in a residence owned by a “lobbyist,” who is a “part-time” corporate “executive” for a pharmaceutical manufacturer receiving millions in federal funding — and has donated to her campaign — to run for the new congressional seat.
At the time, the “lobbyist” and his family were registered to vote at the same residence where Slotkin resided.
When Slotkin was confronted about the situation during a television debate with her Republican opponent, state Sen. Tom Barrett, she responded to the news anchor asking the questions, calling the attacks “political desperation,” since she claimed to be paying fair market value.
Slotkin’s Republican opponent attacked her by saying there were over 1,500 available apartments in Lansing, Michigan, at the time, yet Slotkin was living in the one owned by the executive who donated to her campaign.
Following the controversy, Slotkin triumphed over Barrett to win reelection in Michigan’s Seventh Congressional District in one of the most intense and expensive races anywhere in the country, as Breitbart News reported.
As Breitbart News noted in January, Michigan not having an incumbent Democrat senator could help the Republicans’ chances across the state, while a GOP candidate for Senate and president would be at the top of the ticket.
In the last presidential election, President Joe Biden only won in the state with roughly 50.5 percent. In the next election cycle, 23 of the 33 Senate seats up for reelection are currently held by Democrats or left-leaning Independents. Former President Donald Trump won six of those states by double digits in at least one of his presidential elections.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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