Republican Grosse Pointe businessman and investor Sandy Pensler has joined the race for Michigan’s open Senate seat in 2024. He joins a competitive field that includes former Detroit Police Chief James Craig, and former U.S. Representatives Peter Meijer and Mike Rogers.
Pensler unsuccessfully ran for Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow’s seat in 2018, losing the GOP primary. Stabenow has announced that she is retiring.
Pensler released a campaign announcement video on Friday.
“We’ve lost our moral compass. Career politicians are afraid of making tough decisions. They always take the easy way out. They’re afraid of losing their jobs,” Pensler said in the video.
Pensler criticized the Biden administration on its energy, economic, border and foreign policies.
"Biden spends like a madman, causing inflation and mortgage rates to skyrocket. He burdens our children to buy votes. It’s wrong," Pensler said. "Finally … when America is weak, the world suffers. That’s the story of the Biden presidency."
“We start by taking the Senate back from the morons. Let’s throw the bums out,” Pensler said toward the end of his three-minute announcement.
In a statement, Michigan Democratic Party chair Lavora Barnes said "Michigan Republicans’ nasty and bruising intra-party fight is getting worse by the day."
She said Pensler “is on the wrong side of the issues that matter most to the people of our state: backing the 2017 tax giveaway to the wealthy like himself, calling Roe v. Wade ‘tyrannical,’ and opposing fair wages for working Michiganders.”
In addition to a crowded GOP field, Democratic U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin is vying to replace Stabenow. Slotkin is competing with actor Hill Harper, business executive Nasser Beydoun, former state lawmaker Leslie Love for the Democratic nomination, and attorney Zack Burns.
