<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1659364503416,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000172-ebac-d265-adff-fffc847c0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1659364503416,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000172-ebac-d265-adff-fffc847c0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_59364497", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1064807"} }); ","_id":"00000182-59d3-df03-ad83-ddfff57f0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe scion of a prominent family of supermarket store owners is leaving Congress after losing his bid for reelection to a Trump-backed primary challenger on Tuesday night.
Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) was defeated by John Gibbs, a former senior official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Trump administration, in the Republican primary for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District. Considered the underdog by most political observers going into Tuesday’s primary, Meijer trailed Gibbs by a margin of nearly 5 percentage points when the race was called by the Associated Press with 54% of precincts reporting.
DEMOCRATS MEDDLE IN MICHIGAN GOP PRIMARY IN LATEST ATTEMPT TO PROMOTE FAR-RIGHT CANDIDATE
Gibbs, who received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement in November of last year, had also received last-minute aid from national Democrats, who saw him as easier to defeat in the general election.
Trump’s endorsement of Gibbs came after Meijer, first elected to the House in 2020, made headlines by being one of just 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach the former president over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Meijer, considered a centrist within the House Republican Conference, pointedly refused to shy away from his criticism of Trump in the aftermath of his impeachment vote. He was among a minority of Republicans to vote in favor of establishing the bipartisan Jan. 6 commission and later voted to hold former Trump adviser Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena issued by the Jan. 6 select committee. Additionally, the first-term lawmaker supported a slate of legislation unpopular with the GOP’s right-wing, including a compromise LGBT rights bill known as the ‘Fairness for All Act’ and a bipartisan gun control bill.
Meijer, in turn, became a top target of efforts by Trump and his allies to exact vengeance on the former president’s congressional critics. In Trump’s endorsement of Gibbs, he attacked Meijer as a “RINO,” or Republican in name only, and called him a “terrible representative of the Republican Party.”
But Republican leaders in Washington, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), stood by the embattled freshman congressman. McCarthy’s PAC contributed funds to Meijer’s campaign in the race’s closing weeks.
National Democrats recently seized on Meijer’s unpopularity with the Trump-aligned wing of the Republican Party to intervene in the primary in order to boost Gibbs, whom they regard as more likely to lose in the general election. During the week before the primary, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent more than $400,000 to run an ad spotlighting Gibbs’s hard-right bona fides, touting his close affiliation with Trump and his stances on immigration and education. The strategy drew the ire of many within the party who regarded efforts to aid ostensibly weaker far-right candidates as reckless and dangerous.
Of the 10 Republicans who backed impeachment, just one, Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), has advanced to a general election. Others, like Meijer, have been defeated or have chosen to retire rather than face GOP primary voters. Two more pro-impeachment Republicans, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), were locked in tough primaries that remained uncalled as of Wednesday morning. And Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) faces an uphill battle against a Trump-endorsed rival in her Aug. 16 primary.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Meijer is the eldest son of Hank Meijer, the billionaire CEO of the eponymous Midwestern big-box chain. The Meijer family is the wealthiest in Michigan, with Forbes estimating its net worth to be upward of $15 billion in 2022.
Gibbs is set to face Democratic nominee Hillary Scholten, a former attorney for the Department of Justice, in November for a newly redrawn 3rd District that has become increasingly competitive. Much of the Grand Rapids-anchored district was once represented by former President Gerald Ford, a Republican, but President Joe Biden carried the 3rd District by more than 8 points in 2020. The favorable lean of the district and Meijer’s loss have Democrats bullish on Scholten’s chances, even in what’s likely to be a tough year for the party.
