In one of the biggest upsets in any of the four states holding primaries Tuesday, freshman Republican Rep. Peter Meijer went down in defeat in Michigan’s 3rd District (Grand Rapids).
In what is becoming an increasingly familiar story in GOP primaries this year, Meijer became the 6th House Republican to vote for former President Donald Trump’s impeachment and to go down in defeat at the hands of a Trump-endorsed opponent — in this case, John Gibbs, who served in the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Trump.
But Gibbs’ 53 to 47% triumph is especially stunning in that it was achieved by taking out someone who is a household name in western Michigan.
The son of billionaire supermarket magnate Hank Meijer, he is the fourth generation in his Dutch-American family to work in the family business. Meijer Supermarkets are familiar sites in western Michigan.
But the name and family connections were not enough for the congressman. When Meijer voted for Trump’s impeachment last year, polls showed that as many as 40% of likely Republican primary voters wanted a new congressman.
In the final two weeks of the campaign, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) unleashed $425,000 in TV spots slamming Gibbs as “too conservative” and “handpicked” to run by Trump — comments sure to be viewed favorably by primary voters. (Michigan has no party registration and voters select which primary they want to participate.)
Meijer denounced the DCCC broadsides as hypocritical.
Gibbs, who would be the Wolverine State’s first Black Republican House member, now faces a stronger-than-usual challenge from Democrat and attorney Hillary Scholten (who drew 47% of the vote against Meijer in 2020).
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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