By the time Gary Peters was ready to run for the U.S. Senate he had an impressive resume as long as your arm.
That included a tour in the Navy, a stint in the state legislature, he was state lottery czar and run unsuccessfully for state attorney general.
By the time Debbie Stabenow was teed up to run for the U.S. Senate her even more impressive resume was as long as your leg. She worked in county government, then served on the county commission, next the state legislature, then an unsuccessful bid for governor and lt. governor, and she recently hung it up after a long run in the U.S. Senate.
By the time Mallory McMorrow was eager to run for the U.S. Senate, her political vitae was about as large as your big toe. That is to say, according to the experts, she has not paid her dues by serving in a whole host of “training ground” venues before reaching for the stars. She has a decidedly different take on that. Read on.
Her first run for office was back in 2018. She was advised to get out of the race against a well-heeled incumbent Republican with tons of legislative experience.
Ms. McMorrow recalls, “I was told then that I had no chance of winning. One of my local democratic leaders said, ‘that’s cute’ referring to her first time bid for office. Then this advice, ‘You’re going to get destroyed but you can build your name recognition and run for city commission next time.’” The old school way of climbing the political ladder.
She promptly ignored the call; went to the internet and googled “how to run for office” and before you knew it she was Oakland County’s newbie state senator.
Little did she know then that history would repeat itself.
In case you missed it, she announced her candidacy last week becoming the first Democrat to run for Gary Peter’s senate seat and sure enough, prior to her public reveal, the phone rang again.
You don’t mean, she was advised not to run again?
“They did. I’m not going to name names (oh shucks) but that is something that was asked of me . . .There have been one or two people whose message was ‘it’s not your turn. Somebody else is looking at it and you may want to consider running for Congress,” came the familiar advice.
And just as before, she responded, “I said I’m announcing on Wednesday.”
And by golly she did.
She knows she will not be the only Democrat in the primary pool. Not by a long shot.
When a long serving senator decides to retire, everyone and his or her uncle who ever wanted a shot at the so-called “greatest debating society in the world” will think about it and at this read at least three other women and one man are reportedly weighting a bid.
Ms. McMorrow is the frontrunner now because nobody else is in, but if state Attorney General Dana Nessel runs, pollster Steve Mitchel anoints her as the immediate leader of the pack. She has run for statewide office twice and won. Ms. Morrow has not.
Two Democratic Congresswomen are on the speculation list. Rep. Haley Stevens and Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet have not ruled it out.
Then there is Abdul El Sayed who could not defeat Gretchen Whitmer for the Democratic nomination for governor but he is very serious a reboot for an even higher office.
Ms. McMorrow’s magic sauce is the very fact that she is not a career politician.
“I’m an outsider and she argues, “the voters are tired of watching parties anoint people. “They want a choice. We heard that loud and clear in 2024 that voters want to decide their own future and not have it decided for them.”
She didn’t say it but that was the argument some made when the “party hierarchy” picked Kamala Harris for president thus by-passing the primary process where typical voters would have the final say, not a handful of Democrats inside the proverbial smoke-filled room.
Which leaves us at this moment. Will history repeat itself one more time if she wins the primary and the general election proving the naysayers to be wrong again?
If so that would not be bad for a former bass clarinet player turned author and that “big toe” resume.
