Kid Rock Begins Campaigning in Michigan Senate Race, Immediately Starts Attacking Dem Opponent
By Chris Agee
July 14, 2018 at 10:07am
After staging his own supposed U.S. Senate bid last year in what he later revealed was a publicity stunt, singer Kid Rock is now involved in that Michigan race through his outspoken endorsement of Republican John James.
The 37-year-old military veteran is currently in a tight primary race with Sandy Pensler as they vie for the chance to battle incumbent Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, has previously expressed his support for James in the race.
In a letter to fans and supporters this week, he made his argument for endorsing “a conservative outsider.”
In typically brash fashion, the email’s subject line contained two sobbing emojis and claimed that “John will make D.C. liberals cry.”
The entertainer began by recalling how he “got those left-wing journalists in a tizzy” with his own Senate campaign announcement.
“But at the end of the day, I wanted to keep making music for the people,” he wrote. “Those D.C. types on the Hill wouldn’t have been able to handle me anyway.”
The email went on to tout James’ military record as “an Apache pilot and an Army Ranger to boot.”
Comparing himself to the candidate, Kid Rock wrote that he could relate to James’ “no-nonsense attitude about getting things done.”
Punctuated with a call for campaign donations, he wrote that voters should support James because he “has what it takes to beat left-wing Debbie Stabenow.” He also mentioned that it was “important” to him that James is “a man of God.”
In a postscript to the email, Kid Rock went on to describe Pensler’s ad campaign against James as “bulls***.”
The two primary opponents have been engaged in a heated battle to represent the party in November’s election.
James has called Pensler a “liberal” and questioned his stance on abortion among other issues.
Pensler coined the nickname “phony John James” for his opponent and both have squared off over their mixed record of support for President Donald Trump.
Though Kid Rock claims he never took his own Senate bid seriously, he was nevertheless able to successfully raise funds and is now focusing that effort on the candidate he is endorsing.
In a statement last month, he apologized for the wasted time and effort his early supporters spent organizing a campaign that was never to be.
“I was hearing from the White House weekly,” he wrote. “There were governors and senators that endorsed me. There were people that wrote me letters from all over the state saying they’d give their time to me. So, to those people, I apologize.”