The National Journal recently reported that former GOP Rep. Mike Bishop was considering a rematch with freshman Democratic Rep. Elisa Slotkin, and while he did not rule it out when asked, MIRS’ Kyle Melinn writes that he seems unenthusiastic about the idea. However, the GOP currently doesn’t have any other obvious options in Michigan’s 8th District, and Melinn adds that Bishop may be willing to come out of his involuntary retirement if his party needs him.
Bishop recently said of 2020, “My philosophy is to never say never and keep the options open,” and he added, “I think the district wasn’t meant to have gone the way it did.” GOP mapmakers certainly did everything they could to make sure that this very gerrymandered seat wouldn’t, in Bishop’s words, “go the way it did,” and they were successful for most of the decade. However, while this Lansing-area seat moved from 51-48 Romney to 51-44 Trump, it swung hard to the left last year: Slotkin beat Bishop 51-47, and according to Bloomberg's Greg Giroux, both Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gretchen Whitmer and Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow carried it as well.
Bishop added, “I think given the right candidate, there’s a likelihood it will flip back.” Whether Bishop, who was left for dead for a month by a prominent GOP super PAC, is that “right candidate” or not remains an open question. Right now, though, there aren’t any obvious choices for his party. Mellin writes that state Sen. Sen. Lana Theis doesn’t want to run, state Rep. Hank Vaupel “isn’t thrilled about the prospect either,” and former state Sen. Joe Hune recently got a new job. He adds that “a pair of Oakland County business executives are tossing around the idea of running,” but there’s no other information about who they are.
Mellin also notes that Slotkin’s strong fundraising and the idea of sharing a ticket with Donald Trump in this suburban seat also isn’t very appealing to Republicans, including Bishop. The former congressman still isn’t sure how he lost his hometown of Rochester, but he does have plenty of unsavory memories of going door-to-door in the district and encountering angry voters who only wanted to talk about Trump. Bishop recounts, “I wanted to ask, ‘Do you want to talk about what I’ve done in Washington, D.C.?” and the answer was, “They didn’t.”
While it sure doesn’t sound like Bishop, who recently took a new job as co-president of a D.C.-based group, is looking forward to another campaign like that, he’s not a no. Melinn concludes that Bishop may be willing to suck it up and run if he sees a path to victory, if the NRCC is willing to give him plenty of financial support, and if his party needs him. And right now, it sounds like his party may well need him.
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