Dem
51
GOP
49
Normally, candidates who aren't polling well just keep running until the money is gone. Republican Senate candidate Peter Meijer did not face this problem, as his family owns a superstore chain with locations all over the Midwest and he is a multimillionaire. Nevertheless, he dropped out on Friday.
Meijer is an Army veteran who served in Iraq and is a former congressman. Normally, that would be a good springboard for the Senate. However, he was one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump. Trump noticed... and opposed him. After Meijer's announcement, Trump posted this message to his boutique social media site: "Once he raised his very little and delicate hand to Impeach President Trump, his Political Career was OVER!" Maybe Meijer thought that with Trump actively opposed to him, he had no chance, even if he could toss tens of millions of his own dollars into his campaign. Score another political corpse for Trump.
The Michigan seat is open due to the retirement of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). The Democrats are almost certain to nominate Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). With Meijer out, there are still 10 Republicans running for the nomination. Trump has endorsed former U.S. representative Mike Rogers. However, wealthy investor Sandy Pensler is also in the race and can try to carpetbomb Rogers into oblivion. Polling shows that Slotkin beats all the Republicans, but her lead over Rogers is just 2 points and he is by far the strongest candidate. If Democrats want to try a bit of ratf**king, they could try to help Pensler, although he doesn't need any help. The primary is August 6. (V)