Says she would bring strong management skills to Washington
By David Eggert
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land on Monday became the first Republican to jump into next year’s U.S. Senate race, saying conservative leadership is needed in Congress as she hopes to replace longtime Democratic Sen. Carl Levin following his retirement.
“Representing our magnificent state of Michigan and your interests in Congress would be the greatest honor. We need conservative leadership now more than ever because of high unemployment, huge deficits, and a spendthrift Congress,” Land said in a Facebook post.
The 54-year-old said she will immediately put together a campaign strategy and policy team. She intends to file official papers by July 1.
Land told The Associated Press in a phone interview that she is a “very conservative” but practical Republican, one who as secretary of state from 2003 through 2010 worked with Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm on election legislation. Citing her experience fixing delays in the processing of birth certificates and death records, she said she would bring a strong management and oversight role to Washington.
The federal government is just “too huge” considering recent disclosures that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative groups and the Justice Department gathered telephone records of AP journalists, Land said.
The biggest issue in the race, she said, will be the economy — something she said the Obama administration has lost sight of while dealing with fallout over the IRS and other controversies.
“We need to get back to that,” said Land, a Republican National Committee member from Byron Center outside Grand Rapids.
Land said she wants two summers to campaign across a state as big as Michigan.
She had been waiting for seventh-term U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of Brighton — a favorite of the GOP Senate campaign committee whose district extends into vote-rich suburban Detroit — to decide whether to run. The House Intelligence Committee chairman has made no announcement, though. She said she talked with Rogers last week and he wished her well.
“I understand he’s got a lot on his plate right now dealing with issues here in the country and across the seas. He has an important job. I understand that and so does he,” she said.
Rogers spokeswoman Kelsey Knight said Monday he will continue to “do his due diligence and make his decision in the near future.”
Third-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township announced his candidacy a month ago. The Democratic field has been all but cleared for him.
It is unknown if Republicans will have a competitive primary. Another to express interest in the Senate is second-term U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Cascade Township, a favorite of libertarians who last week tweeted that he led other bigger-name GOP candidates in parts of western Michigan, his home base. He could not be reached Monday.
Though Republicans control Michigan state government, including the governorship and Legislature, Democrats have fared well in federal elections. The state has gone for Democrats in six straight presidential elections.
Just one Michigan Republican has won a Senate seat in 40 years. Spencer Abraham’s 1994 victory came in a nonpresidential election year like 2014 will be. He lost six years later to Democrat Debbie Stabenow.
National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brad Dayspring said Land has a proven track record and has won statewide, taking a jab at Peters’ loss in the 2002 state attorney general election. He again criticized Peters for voting for the contentious federal health care law and a cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions.
Land herself declined to attack Peters except to say he is an “establishment candidate” picked by the “Democratic establishment.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, meanwhile, criticized Land for backing the GOP’s 2012 national platform — including changes to Medicare and a proposed ban on abortion without exceptions for rape and incest.
“By embracing a national partisan plan that would derail economic recovery and privatize Social Security and Medicare, Terri Lynn Land made it clear she is just another out-of-touch Republican who would be a rubber stamp in Washington for the extreme, right-wing agenda,” spokesman Justin Barasky said in a statement.
