Anti-NSA Republican to Replace Mike Rogers

[EBounding]

Remember the time when Mike Rogers retired and an anti-NSA Republican ran to replace him? It's happening right now in MI-08. Tom McMillin has filed with the maximum number of signatures as a Congressional candidate with two other opponents in the primary.

This race will likely be won in the primary since it's a fairly safe Republican district. McMillin's main opponent Mike Bishop will have problems explaining his Detroit bailout vote (http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=449857) (Amash and McMillin voted No) and his support of the Michigan Business Tax (http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/11469), so Tom has a very good chance to win this race.

Tom would be one of Justin's most trusted allies since they've already worked together in the Michigan legislature. He's still building his Congressional campaign website but please take the time to check out his issues page if you're not familiar with him:

http://www.tom4michigan.com/standing_up

And make sure to check out and Like his facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-McMillin-for-Congress/291701130985354) if you can.

[TheTyke]

Awesome!! Don't know much about him yet, but it would be a tremendous victory - not to mention deliciously ironic - to get an anti-NSA guy in there!

[FSP-Rebel]

Bentivolio was a major step up from his predecessor despite his waffling but Tom would be a major flip over Rogers and his tenure. This guy is so good that he'd be tied at the hip w/ Amash, Massie and Sanford. Not lukewarm like Bridenstein and Huelskamp but fully rock solid from the fiscal side to foreign policy to civil liberties. Since the main opponent is clearly establishment and will have all of their support, this race boils down to our muscle vs. theirs. Tom is a man worthy of Ron Paul money and I was never confident enough in KB to say that but Tom's record and his advocacy is ironclad.

[johndeal]

Sounds good. Nothing on foreign policy though.

If someone can get him to change the picture of that awful tie and shirt combo on his website and convinces me he is a non-interventionist I'll donate.

[angelatc]

Justin Amash got behind him ASAP - that's good enough for me.

It would be so amazing to see the Rogers seat turn into a liberty seat!

[EBounding]

Sounds good. Nothing on foreign policy though.

If someone can get him to change the picture of that awful tie and shirt combo on his website and convinces me he is a non-interventionist I'll donate.

Since he's been in local and state government he hasn't made a whole lot of public comments about foreign policy, so he needs to put up his positions now that he's running for Congress. But I know for sure that he is no where near neocon foreign policy.

For what it's worth, he said this recently semi-publicly to his facebook friends before Rogers announced he was retiring:

http://i.imgur.com/HU8T2go.png

[EBounding]

459791000483807233

[tsai3904]

Rochester Hills Mayor withdraws from race. It's down to McMillin (endorsed by Amash) and Bishop (endorsed by Rogers).

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140425/POLITICS03/304250097/1361/Rochester-Hills-mayor-pulls-out-of-race-for-Congress

[EBounding]

That's too bad since Barnett would have split the vote with Bishop. The establishment is circling the wagons.

[Adrock]

That's too bad since Barnett would have split the vote with Bishop. The establishment is circling the wagons.

I would of thought the same thing. This "insider" seems to think it may be bad news for Bishop though.



Susan Demas, editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics, said this is “bad news for Mike Bishop,” who was likely hoping for a three-way primary to help split up votes.

LINK (http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-10143-barnett-drops-out-of-8th-congressional-race.html)

[Independent Republican]

I would of thought the same thing. This "insider" seems to think it may be bad news for Bishop though.




LINK (http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-10143-barnett-drops-out-of-8th-congressional-race.html)

I trust this guy a lot more than Susan Demas who is extremely liberal.

http://republicanmichigander.blogspot.com/2014/04/mi-08-bryan-barnett-drops-out-now-its.html


Barnett dropping wasn't significant in Livingston County, but quite significant in Oakland County. He got 77% twice in Rochester Hills. This favors Mike Bishop most likely. Barnett had a lot of establishment support in Oakland County, including L Brooks Patterson. He did have a tough road to victory, especially with Joe Hune not running and taking the Livingston and rural Ingham County vote with him. That's not a shot at Barnett. He just wasn't well known here. Rochester Hills is over an hour drive from Brighton.

While this didn't start out this way, I can see this starting to turn into an ideological based primary. Bishop had some tea party support in 2010 and isn't disliked by them, but Tom McMillin is a hero to many tea partiers which could automatically turn Bishop into an enemy of at least many tea party groups.

Justin Amash types are also supporting McMillin heavily. Amash can not stand Mike Rogers (or vice versa), so this could also end up being a proxy battle to some extent as Rogers endorsed Bishop early and Amash wanted McMillin to run from the start. While I hope this isn't the case, I can see the knives being sharpened already by "friends of the program." Advice to all sides, negative campaigning doesn't work well in Livingston County and is known to backfire.

Joe Hune not running was a big game changer here for what he did not do. McMillin wasn't going to run against Joe. McMillin knows he needs the conservative vote in Livingston County to have a chance, and Joe would have wrapped that up from the start. Joe also had significant "establishment" support as well.

The winner goes through Livingston County, and rural Ingham to a lesser extent. Bishop will get some of the Rogers vote automatically. McMillin gets the Amash and Campaign for Liberty vote off the bat. The winner of this primary will come down to who gets what would have been the "Joe Hune" vote. Joe's strong with tea party, but was really strongest ideologically with the regular old conservatives that don't like labels. Will they vote Bishop or McMillin? That remains to be seen, and I don't think it is set in stone.

Bishop set up campaign office in Brighton. He's got good campaign staff in the county (some from the county). That's a smart move. I expect McMillin will work hard in this county as well.

The dems have a four way primary. Hopefully that one is as ugly and bloody as the 98 gubernatorial primary for them.


The guy who runs the blog is County Chair in Livingston County. I know him personally. He goes his own way on politics and is tough to pinpoint in any category. If I had to pick a category for him, it would be a Joe Hune Republican. Sometimes he's establishment, and sometimes he isn't. He does know his elections.

[Adrock]

I trust this guy a lot more than Susan Demas who is extremely liberal.

http://republicanmichigander.blogspot.com/2014/04/mi-08-bryan-barnett-drops-out-now-its.html



The guy who runs the blog is County Chair in Livingston County. I know him personally. He goes his own way on politics and is tough to pinpoint in any category. If I had to pick a category for him, it would be a Joe Hune Republican. Sometimes he's establishment, and sometimes he isn't. He does know his elections.

Sounds like you are close to everything. Would you put the primary as a toss up right now? Something where money and people power will make the differerence? Seems like a Joe Hune endorsement would go a long way.

[Independent Republican]

Sounds like you are close to everything. Would you put the primary as a toss up right now? Something where money and people power will make the difference? Seems like a Joe Hune endorsement would go a long way.

I'm in the Brighton area, so this is my district. The blogger/chair is a friend of both Joe Hune and Cindy Denby, and he is very favorably biased to them. I originally signed up to promote Hune because of his fiscal stances so that was my choice as well.

I'd call it a tossup. I didn't know or know much about either of them and don't expect them to be known in Livingston County. I know Bishop was in the state senate and ran for prosecutor in Oakland County and that Tom McMillin and L Brooks Patterson don't like each other, but that's about it.

Bishop was state senate when Hune was in the state house. McMillin is state house while Hune is in the senate. I don't know how close Hune is to either of them. I do know that he endorses very few people and I'll be surprised if he endorses anybody. That endorsement would go a long way if it does happen. I'll be surprised if it does.

[MichaelDavis]

That's too bad since Barnett would have split the vote with Bishop. The establishment is circling the wagons.

I'm not so sure. Like McMillin, Barnett is from Rochester Hills. Geography is one of the factors which decide how people vote. Citizens want their representative to be from their area.

[Independent Republican]

I'm not so sure. Like McMillin, Barnett is from Rochester Hills. Geography is one of the factors which decide how people vote. Citizens want their representative to be from their area.

Bishop is from Rochester which is surrounded by Rochester Hills. All three candidates are from the same area.