Democratic Sen. Gary Peters announced Tuesday that he won’t seek reelection in Michigan next year, opening up a key seat in a swing state won twice by Donald Trump.
“After three terms in the House and two terms in the Senate, I believe now is time for me to write a few more paragraphs in my current chapter and turn over the reins,” Peters, who led the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the last two cycles, said in a statement.
The top Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Peters said he “always knew there would come a time to pass the torch to the next generation of public servants.”
However, at 66, he’s opting to retire at a relatively younger age for a congressional lawmaker. He said he looked forward to “finding endless twisting back roads where I can experience the joy of total freedom riding my Harley Davidson motorcycle on a warm sunny day.”
Peters vowed to “actively campaign to ensure we elect a dynamic Democratic candidate to be the next U.S. senator from Michigan.”
His retirement opens up what was already set to be one of the most competitive Senate races next year. Trump won Michigan by a point in November, but voters there also narrowly opted to keep the state’s other Senate seat in Democratic hands, electing Elissa Slotkin to succeed longtime Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
“Gary Peters is reading the room,” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement Tuesday. “After spending years ignoring illegal immigration and destroying his state’s auto industry, Michigan is better off without him.”
Democrats face a difficult map next year in their quest to win the majority in the Senate, where Republicans currently hold 53 seats. Besides Michigan, Democrats are also defending a seat in Georgia, another state won by Trump last November. Their best offensive opportunities are in Maine and North Carolina, where Sens. Susan Collins and Thom Tillis, respectively, are up for reelection.
Peters’ decision not to seek a third term could scramble the plans of several Michigan politicians who had been eyeing the open governor’s race. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is ineligible to seek a third consecutive term in 2026. Ambitious members of both parties could now opt for the Senate race instead.
Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens is “actively considering” running for Senate, a person familiar with her thinking told Roll Call. The Detroit-area congresswoman is the chair of the campaign arm of the New Democrat Coalition for the 2026 cycle. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a 2020 presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Ind., who has since moved to the state, is considering a bid for Senate, Axios reported. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson launched a bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination last week.
On the Republican side, second-term Rep. John James, who currently holds a suburban Detroit swing seat, had reportedly been considered a potential gubernatorial candidate but could opt for a Senate campaign again. James has run for Senate twice, most recently losing to Peters in 2020 by 2 points.
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