Steve Carra is dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination in Michigan’s newly configured 4th Congressional District after former President Donald Trump essentially rescinded his endorsement in favor of incumbent Rep. Bill Huizenga.
Carra plans to announce during a Tuesday news conference that he is instead running for reelection to the Michigan House of Representatives. In an interview late Monday, Carra told the Washington Examiner that Trump’s Michigan emissary, state GOP co-chairman Meshawn Maddock, called him Friday, a few hours before the former president issued a statement publicizing his endorsement of Huizenga, to inform him of the move.
Carra disputes characterizations of Trump’s switch to Huizenga as a rescinding of the “complete and total endorsement” the former president awarded to the state legislator in early September. Rather, Carra said, he is simply choosing a different 2022 path based on redistricting’s effect on the 4th Congressional District and his fear that remaining in the race would ease Rep. Fred Upton’s path to reelection.
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“I don’t want to see the votes split,” Carra said, explaining his fear that if he remains in the Republican primary, voters opposed to Upton’s renomination might divide their votes between him and Huizenga, enabling the 16-term Western Michigan congressman to survive. Added Carra: Trump “didn’t rescind his endorsement of me — he just endorsed Bill Huizenga.”
“The key component in what happened is that I don’t live in the new congressional district as it’s drawn,” he emphasized. Maddock raised that issue during her phone call with Carra explaining Trump’s decision to back Huizenga.
Trump and his acolytes in Michigan are opposing Upton because he voted to impeach the former president in the waning days of his administration on allegations he fomented the Jan. 6, 2021, ransacking of the United States Capitol. Carra is among them, and his desire to oust Upton was a factor in his initial decision to run for Congress.
Meanwhile, the sixth-term Huizenga opted to run against Upton in the new 4th Congressional District after the 6th Congressional District held by Upton, and the 2nd Congressional District, represented by Huizenga, both anchored in Western Michigan, were radically reconfigured in redistricting.
Trump made no mention of Carra in his statement announcing his fresh support for Huizenga in the same contest.
“Congressman Bill Huizenga is doing a terrific job in Congress for the people of Michigan,” Trump said. “Bill Huizenga has my Complete and Total Endorsement for the newly drawn 4th Congressional District!”
Carra interpreted that, and his friendly conversation with Maddock, as validation of his view that the former president was not rescinding his September endorsement. However, there is another interpretation — that Trump was politely pushing Carra out of the race to clear the field for Huizenga, who will have more resources than Carra and is a more formidable opponent against Upton.
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Trump and Carra were not especially close. When the former president originally endorsed the state legislator, it happened during a brief telephone conversation that Carra described as “one of the most incredible experiences of my life.” The two had never previously spoken to each other.
At press time, a spokesman for Trump had not responded to a request for comment for this story.
