On Tuesday, Democratic Rep. John Conyers announced that he was resigning in the middle of his 27th term in office, effective immediately. Conyers won his first House primary all the way back in 1964 by just 108 votes, and he became the chamber's longest-serving member in early 2015 after his one-time boss, fellow Michigan Rep. John Dingell, retired. Conyers, who was one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus, was also the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee for many years. However, his long career began to unravel just before Thanksgiving, when leaked documents revealed that he had been accused of sexually harassing women on his staff and settled a complaint for $27,000.
Following this news, several women publicly came forward to lodge similar accusations, and Conyers' position became increasingly untenable. While Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi drew immediate and widespread rebuke when she called Conyers an "icon" while questioning his accusers' reliability, soon thereafter she and the rest of the party’s leadership called for the Conyers to resign. Conyers' team initially insisted he wouldn’t quit, but the longtime congressman quickly found himself isolated.
Matters came to a head on Tuesday, when another former Conyers staffer publicly accused him of unwanted touching and appearing naked in front of her. Hours later, Conyers appeared on a radio program to say he was "retiring today." That muddy phrasing left it unclear as to whether Conyers was simply planning to retire at the end of his term in early 2019, or if he in fact was going to resign right away, but later in the day, Conyers sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan confirming that he had in fact resigned.
It’s now up to GOP Gov. Rick Snyder to set the dates for a special election to fill Conyers' safely blue seat, which includes much of Detroit as well as some of its nearby suburbs. The parties will choose their nominees through a primary, and there's no doubt that the Democratic nominee will prevail in this 79-18 Clinton seat. However, it's anyone's guess as to who will emerge from what will likely be a crowded nomination battle.
Conyers himself endorsed his eldest son, John Conyers III, to replace him, though the sight of a career politician attempting to anoint his own child as his successor while resigning in disgrace might not prove appealing to voters, despite the elder Conyers’ storied career. Conyers III, who is 27, is a partner at a local hedge fund, but he's never held elected office, and he drew some unfavorable headlines in 2010 when his father had to reimburse the Treasury for $5,700 for his son's misuse of a taxpayer funded car. The younger Conyers has not said anything about his plans, though he publicly defended his father last week.
It’s not all one big happy family, though. State Sen. Ian Conyers, the former congressman's grandnephew, said on Friday he would run to succeed his granduncle whenever he decided to leave office, an event that has of course has now come to pass. Soon after John Conyers called it quits, Ian Conyers asserted that these new developments had done nothing to alter his plans, suggesting that the congressman’s endorsement might not prove so intimidating.
Indeed, plenty of other Democrats not named Conyers could also run here. State Sen. David Knezek said Tuesday he was focused on impending Senate matters, which is not a no, while state Sen. Coleman Young II, who badly lost a race for mayor of Detroit to incumbent Mike Duggan 72-28 just last month, said, "There’s always definitely talk, but that’s all it is right now," also not a no.
Just before Conyers called it quits, Democratic operatives told Roll Call that Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon would "likely" run. Napoleon ran for mayor in 2013 and lost what was an open seat race to Duggan 55-45. Napoleon had no problem winning re-election as sheriff in 2016, and he backed Duggan's bid for a second term.
Finally, the Detroit Free Press also mentioned Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Sheffield, Council President Brenda Jones, ex-state Rep. Rashida Tlaib (whose 2008 victory made her one of the first Muslim-American women to win elected office anywhere), and Westland Mayor William as possible candidates. Sheffield's father, minister Horace Sheffield, lost the 2014 primary to Conyers 74-26, and while he says he has no interest in running again, he talked up his daughter as a potential candidate.