Prominent Michigan attorney Geoffrey Fieger has reportedly been considering another bid for governor, and he confirmed his interest to the Detroit News recently. Fieger, who may be most famous for defending physician-assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian, ran for governor back in 1998 and beat a labor-backed candidate in the Democratic primary. Fieger made news with his very personal attacks on GOP Gov. John Engler, whom he labeled “racist,” “fat” and a “moron.” However, while Fieger spent $3.5 million of his own money, state and national Democrats largely stayed away from him, and he lost 62-38.
It doesn’t sound like Fieger has changed much since then. While ex-state Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer is the early primary frontrunner, Fieger insisted he doesn’t “even know who she is,” adding, “If she was so dynamic, I’d at least know who she is.” Fieger also had some choice words about University of Michigan Regent Mark Bernstein, another wealthy lawyer who is mulling a Democratic primary bid, and even compared him to Donald Trump. Fieger argued that while he is a self-made man, Bernstein “has his dad’s money. Mr. Trump was supported by his dad, who was a racist.”
But while Fieger cast Trump as “mentally ill,” he argued that he could appeal to the same angry voters who helped Trump win Michigan last year. And indeed, Fieger won his 1998 primary by appealing to white voters upset with the status quo, and also reaching out to African Americans by reminding them that his father was a freedom rider in the 1960s. However, this formula didn’t work so well for Fieger in the general. Fieger says he’s in no hurry to decide, but said that if he becomes governor, he wouldn’t rule out a 2020 presidential bid.