Pugh leaves U.S. Senate race to run for congressional seat left open by Kildee

Michigan State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh announced on Monday that she will run for the 8th Congressional District seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, a Flint Democrat. 

“After hearing from several community leaders and stakeholders, I have decided to become a candidate for Michigan’s 8th congressional district instead of continuing a campaign for the United States Senate,” Pugh, a Democrat who’s a Saginaw native and public health expert, said through a statement.  

Kildee, 65, said a cancer diagnosis earlier this year had caused him to reassess his career plans. 

Pugh told the Michigan Advance on Saturday that she was giving “serious consideration” to a run after Kildee’s “decision to not seek re-election, many community leaders and stakeholders have approached me and asked that I consider a campaign for U.S. House.” 

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The district includes Genesee, Bay and Saginaw counties and portions of Midland County. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has moved the seat from “leans Democratic” to a “tossup” in 2024. 

The seat is considered key to party control of the U.S. House, with Republicans currently holding a slim majority.

For the last several months, Pugh had been campaigning for the competitive U.S. Senate seat, which is held by retiring U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing). Democrats narrowly control the upper chamber but face a difficult map next year to maintain their majority.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Lansing), former state Rep. Leslie Love (D-Detroit), actor Hill Harper of Detroit, and businessman Nasser Beydoun are 2024 Democratic candidates for that seat. 

Additionally, 10 Republicans are vying for the Stabenow seat. They include former U.S. Reps. Peter Meijer and U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers. So are former Detroit Police Chief James Craig; Board of Education member Nikki Snyder; former Berrien County Commissioner Ezra Scott; Alexandria Taylor, an attorney who has previously represented Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo; Sherry O’Donnell, a former 2022 congressional candidate and Michigan state chair for U.S. Term Limits; conservative businessman J.D. Wilson; Sharon Savage, an educator who worked for the Warren Consolidated School District for 42 years; and Michael Hoover, who previously worked for Dow Chemical Co.

As for 8th Congressional District seat, Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley has confirmed that he had launched an exploratory committee for a possible run as a Democrat. Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson; state Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint); former Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D-Flint) and Genesee County Clerk-Register Domonique Clemons have all said they will not vie for the seat. 

On the Republican side, Paul Junge of Grand Blanc and Martin Blank, a surgeon and U.S. Army, are also seeking to fill the seat. Junge, who lost to Kildee by more than 10 points in 2022, previously worked under the Trump administration in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as well as a prosecutor, as a TV news anchor and with his family’s maintenance business. Other potential Republican candidates include former House Speaker Tom Leonard and state Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland).