By David Eggert
Associated Press
LANSING (AP) — Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bob Young Jr. launched his U.S. Senate campaign Wednesday, touting his conservative record and becoming the second Republican to seek the nomination to challenge third-term Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow in 2018.
Young, who was an appellate judge for 22 years, announced his candidacy at an empty Detroit lot where his childhood home once stood.
“I’m not a politician. I’m a judge,” he said during the announcement shown in a Facebook live video. “But when I get to D.C., I’m going to lay down the law. No more big government, no more spending beyond our means. We have to make tough decisions and I’m going there for one reason — to make those tough decisions.”
Young, 66, disclosed his plans to run last week at a meeting of local Republicans in Midland. He stepped down from the high court in April after serving there for 18 years.
He described himself as a black conservative Republican — three words “almost never uttered in the same sentence” — and said he cut the judiciary’s size and
cost while serving as the court’s longest-serving chief justice and as a “rule-of-law” judge.
Lena Epstein, co-owner of Southfield-based Vesco Oil Corp., is also running for the GOP nomination.
Young, who lives in Laingsburg outside Lansing, graduated from Harvard with bachelor’s and law degrees. He was appointed to the state Supreme Court and state Court of Appeals by then-Gov. John Engler in the 1990s and later won elections to stay on the bench.
Before that, he worked as general counsel for AAA Michigan and worked in private practice.
Young said he chose to announce his candidacy at the run-down parcel because it is a “physical symbol of what happens when people like Debbie Stabenow are in control.” He said she is a “champion of big government and the status quo.”
Epstein, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, criticized Young and Stabenow for holding elected office for decades, combined. “Voters across Michigan spoke loud and clear in 2”" she said in a statement.
Stabenow coasted to re-election in 2006 and 2012.
A spokesman said she is “focused on doing her job” by protecting the Great Lakes and lowering health care costs.
Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon said in a statement that Young “sided with insurance companies, polluters and other special interests” while Stabenow is “on the side of Michigan families.”
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