'Turnout is a problem': Peters seeks to overcome voter apathy in Senate bid
Date Posted: September 26 2014
Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat was seen earlier this year by Republicans as a good, potential pickup for their party, with Terry Lynn Land seen as a solid candidate who was polling well.
But the summer of 2014 has not been kind to Land – she has so far refused to debate Democratic candidate Gary Peters, she doesn’t do town hall meetings, and her public appearances have been highly scripted to avoid questions from the press. Land, Michigan’s former secretary of state, has mainly has gotten
Peters is a three-term Congressman from the state’s 14th District in Oakland County. Like any candidate, he takes the polling with a grain of
“Turnout is a problem all over the country for Democrats, but Michigan has the largest (midterm) drop-off of any state,” Peters told MSNBC. “We just have to make sure our base understands the importance of a midterm election.”
Peters is endorsed for U.S. Senate seat by the Michigan Building and Construction Trades
Michigan does like its Dems in the Senate: since 1978, only one Republican has taken the office, Spencer
“Up and down the Nov. 4 ballot, this is an important election,” said Patrick Devlin, secretary-treasurer of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council. “Filling this U.S. Senate seat with a labor-friendly candidate like Gary Peters is vital to our interests here in Michigan, and will mean we’re doing out part to make sure organized labor gets heard in Washington. Gary Peters has always been there for
Before he entered public office, Peters, 55, was an investment banker. He also served in the United States Naval Reserve from 1993-2000 and from 2001-2005. He was trained as a Seabee Combat Specialist and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
Said Michigan AFL-CIO President Karla Swift, in announcing that labor umbrella group’s endorsement of Peters: “The son of a veteran and public school teacher and a nurse’s aide, Gary Peters grew up in a Michigan