Two former colleagues in the Michigan Senate, Republican Tom Barrett and Democrat Curtis Hertel, both announced their campaigns for Congress in a key mid-Michigan swing district, setting up what's likely to be a closely watched race as Democrats try to retake the U.S. House.
The seat in Michigan's 7th District is up for grabs because U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, is pursuing a Senate bid. Barrett lost to Slotkin last fall by 5 percentage points in what was one of the most expensive U.S. House races nationwide. China Pation Umbrella
Barrett, an Iraq veteran from Charlotte, and Hertel of East Lansing, who served as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's director of legislative affairs through June, are the first candidates to declare in the race. The 7th District covers Ingham, Livingston, Clinton and Shiawassee counties along with parts of Eaton, Oakland and Genesee counties.
Based on the 2020 election results, Biden would have won the new 7th District by less than a percentage point. Former President Donald Trump would have won it by 1 point in 2016. The district took on new boundaries in the 2022 election.
Hertel, who launched his campaign from a Lansing union hall Monday, touted his record in the state Legislature, including several recent wins that occurred while he lobbied the new Democratic majorities on behalf of Whitmer.
Under Democratic control of state House and Senate, Whitmer has signed new laws imposing new regulations on guns, granting some tax relief and repealing the decade-old right-to-work law and restoring union-scale prevailing wages for government contracts. Hertel argued that, even while still in the minority, he was able to push the issues of workers to the forefront.
"That’s Michigan," he said. “Not boastful, rolling up your sleeves and getting the job done. Washington, D.C., could learn a lot from little old Michigan.”
Barrett's launch video calls the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 an "embarrassing surrender" and warns of China "building our factories, spying on us and corrupting our children." It shows footage of Barrett visiting the southern border in McAllen, Texas, two weeks ago to emphasize the fentanyl epidemic, and his lamenting the rate of violent crime in Lansing and the effect of inflation on family budgets.
"I can't ignore the reality of what we're looking at. ... I can do this, and I think I'm needed, and so I made the decision to run," Barrett said in an interview.
"Last year, the Democrats spent $20 or $25 million just trying to pulverize me into the ground. But if they can do that to me, think about what they can do to other Americans. I am willing to stand up, fight back, to try and win this seat and try and bring our country back."
Barrett, 42, grew up in Madison Heights. He joined the Army at 18 and served 22 years overall, retiring last year in part over his refusal to get the COVID vaccine mandated for service members.
He went to Western Michigan University. After completing helicopter flight school in 2011, he worked in the executive office of state Treasurer Andy Dillon, a Democrat, during Gov. Rick Snyder's administration, serving on the board of the State Land Bank Authority. He narrowly won his first race for state House in 2014 and served through 2022.
Barrett last year pitched himself to voters as a family guy and conservative who would be a check on the White House, blaming Slotkin and Democrats for record levels of inflation, and for gas and home heating prices hurting family budgets.
He was greatly outspent by Slotkin, who repeatedly hit Barrett for voting against the new electric vehicle battery plant coming to his Senate district in Delta Township, a GM joint venture that was supported by $824 million in incentives, which he called corporate welfare.
The difference in this campaign is that Barrett isn't facing an incumbent, he noted, and he's not expecting the same funding differential from Hertel that Barrett faced in Slotkin, he said.
"We know each other very well and that comes with a familiarity that kind of cuts both ways," Barrett said of Hertel. "We had a fine personal relationship and everything. We disagree a lot and frequently that was on display in the Senate. But we always had a professional, friendly relationship. And that familiarity presents a different dynamic than it was the last time around."
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called Barrett a "perennial loser" after he filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission last week.
“Tom Barrett is just another rubber-stamp for the extreme MAGA Republican agenda," DCCC spokesperson Courtney Rice said in a statement.
"Whether it’s opposing abortion even in cases of rape or incest, or attempting to stand in the way of creating new manufacturing jobs, Michiganders will once again reject Tom Barrett’s extreme, anti-middle class candidacy.”
Hertel has served on the Ingham County Commission, then as register of deeds before his election to the state Senate where he represented the 23rd District from 2015 to 2022.
His campaign in a release said Hertel was "instrumental" in passing bipartisan legislation that cut taxes for seniors and working families, expanded workers’ rights and will bring investments in advanced manufacturing to the state. As the governor's lobbyist, Hertel also led the effort to pass the repeal of Michigan's 1931 abortion ban, his campaign said.
More:Hertel leaves job in Whitmer's office ahead of expected run for Congress
Hertel also worked on a gun reform package in the Legislature in the wake of the Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University that killed three. His son was on campus the night of the shooting.
Slotkin endorsed Hertel shortly after his launch, calling him a "dedicated public servant and the strong fighter we need to defend this seat."
The National Republican Congressional Committee on Monday said Hertel had spent "years voting against tax cuts" and accused him of approving $175 million for the "Chinese Communist Party."
Hertel was in the Senate when Whitmer's administration announced an agreement with Chinese-founded Gotion Inc. for a Big Rapids area electric vehicle battery parts plant, but had left the Senate and was lobbying for Whitmer when the Legislature earlier this year signed off on about $175 million in business incentives for the company.
"Michigan voters are well aware of Hertel's extreme record and will swiftly reject him as Republicans flip the 7th," said Chris Gustafson, a spokesman for the NRCC.
Hertel comes from a family steeped in Michigan politics. He is the son of the late House Speaker Curtis Hertel Sr. His wife, Elizabeth Hertel, is director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
His uncle, Dennis Hertel, was a congressman from suburban Detroit in the 1980s and early 1990s. His other uncle, John Hertel, was a state senator in the 1970s and early 80s and has been a county commissioner in both Wayne and Macomb counties.
China Superstore Gazebo Companies Hertel's brother, Kevin , is a state senator from St. Clair Shores.