Navy veteran announces run for Congress as a Republican in consequential Michigan district

A Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet has emerged in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, with Amir Hassan announcing a bid for the seat on Sunday.

Hassan is a U.S. Navy veteran and a former federal law enforcement officer, and among the first to announce plans to challenge McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City).

The candidate in a video released Sunday extolled his upbringing in Flint, where he was born and raised, his decision to join the Navy and his service at the Guantanamo Bay base and prison facility in Cuba before working for the federal government.

“Where I’m from, we’re raised to think Democrats are the good guys,” Hassan said in his campaign introduction. “We’ve been held culturally hostage for over half a century. But look around. Flint is what happens when your vote is taken for granted. Where’s your return on investment?”

It also opened the opportunity to begin hitting McDonald Rivet head on as her first real opponent on the GOP side of the race.

“I responded (as a federal law enforcement officer) when the radical left attacked ICE, federal buildings and tried to destroy communities,” Hassan said. “I was spit on, punched and attacked. The Democrats? They stood with the mobs. And Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet goes along with her party every time. She’s not fighting for us. She’s just another politician fighting for herself.”

Centered around the Tri-Cities area of Saginaw, Bay City and Midland, the 8th District includes all of Saginaw and Bay counties, almost all of Genesee County, including the City of Flint, as well as portions of Midland and Tuscola counties. 

While McDonald Rivet won the district by nearly seven points in 2024, and President Donald Trump by just two points, the National Republican Congressional Committee indicated they had their eye on flipping it next year.

Hassan also stands out among Republican candidates in the cycle in that he is Muslim. He noted that his time as a watch commander at Guantanamo Bay strengthened that devotion, as he saw first-hand how the tenets of his religion could be transformed “into something evil,” a reference to the accused terrorists housed at the facility.

His campaign website notes that he has zero tolerance for political extremism and fully supports U.S. aid and defence to Israel. That said, he referred to himself as an “American First patriot,” which has become synonymous with the fringes of the MAGA movement even as that stance becomes more mainstream in the Republican Party.

“I’m not going to Washington to fit in, I’m going to serve,” Hassan said. “I’m going to lead.”