U.S.A. REP. DAVE CAMP (R-MI) ANNOUNCES RUN FOR UNITED STATES SENATE, MICHIGAN SEAT

U.S.A. REP. DAVE CAMP (R-MI) ANNOUNCES RUN FOR UNITED STATES SENATE, MICHIGAN SEAT

By Todd Spangler, July 31, 2013, Detroit Free Press

U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, a key player in the nation’s capital and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is weighing a run for Michigan’s soon-to-be-open U.S. Senate seat.

Camp’s office confirmed this morning that he is considering running for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat who announced in March he would not run for re-election next year. Levin has held the seat since 1979.

Camp told Politico on Tuesday that he was “looking at” the race and had already spoken to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., about a possible run.

“It’s a big decision, and I’m going to look at it very carefully and thoughtfully,” Camp told Politico, adding that he had no timeline for getting into the race.

If Camp, R-Midland, gets in, it could drastically change the political landscape surrounding the race. First elected in 1990, Camp has risen through the ranks to become chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, a spot he will be forced to give up because of party-dictated term limits on chairmanship.

Camp has become a respected voice on the topics of tax policy and reform, and trade — issues the committee has vast authority over. This summer, he has been touring American cities with Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, talking about the need for rewriting the U.S. tax code.

He also would bring a big warchest to bear in any race: At the end of the June, he had more than $3 million in cash in his campaign funds, according to Federal Election Commission records.

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, is the only announced Democrat in the race, and is considered by many handicappers a strong selection to hold the seat for the party. Peters ended June with $1.8-million cash on hand.

Former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land is the most prominent Republican who has announced for the race, but others, including U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, have left the door open. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Howell, announced in June he would not run for the seat.

No Republican has won a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan since 1994, when Spencer Abraham won a single term. He was defeated in 2000 by Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, now in her third 6-year term.

Camp, 60, battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2012, receiving chemotherapy that left him bald. By the end of last year, he said that doctors had declared him cancer-free.

Contact Todd Spangler at 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com.