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Longtime Democrat senator decides to ‘pass the torch’ leaving one more swing seat up for grabs

January 5, 2023 | | Print Article

A Democrat senator who’s been in office for over two decades announced on Thursday that she will not be seeking reelection in 2024, meaning her seat will be up for grabs.

“Inspired by a new generation of leaders, I have decided to pass the torch in the U.S. Senate. I am announcing today that I will not seek re-election and will leave the U.S. Senate at the end of my term on January 3, 2025,” Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, 72, said in a statement.

Look:

Until her retirement, she intends to continue her “work.”

“For the next two years, I am intensely focused on continuing this important work to improve the lives of Michiganders. This includes leading the passage of the next five-year Farm Bill which determines our nation’s food and agriculture policies. It is also key in protecting our land and water and creating jobs in our rural and urban communities,” she said.

Her announcement inspired some interesting responses.

One group of Democrat voters begged her to quit now so that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer can simply appoint a Democrat replacement.

Look:

It’s similar to the stunt they pulled with the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, except in her case she didn’t even want to retire. She nevertheless faced intense pressure to retire before former President Barack Obama left office.

Her critics wound up being prescient. Indeed, she died years later under former President Donald Trump, which in turn allowed the Republican president to replace her with a conservative-leaning judge.

That being said, the worst-case scenario here is that whichever Democrat runs for Stabenow’s seat in 2024 loses to a Republican — which, incidentally, is exactly what Republicans are hoping will happen:

Another set of Democrat voters began tossing out the names of Michigan politicians they’d like to see running for her seat in 2024.

Top of mind was Gov. Whitmer, though according to Grant Hermes of station WDIV,  she’s “said she wants to remain Gov tho.”

Fair enough.

Below are other suggestions:

In case you’ve forgotten who exactly Stabenow is, here’s a quick reminder.

She’s the same woman who this past summer bragged about driving a pricey electric car, even as gas prices were crushing everyday Americans.

Four months earlier, she had the audacity to blame Republicans — who at the time controlled neither the White House, House, or Senate — for inflation.

“Republicans have done nothing to lower costs, they have proposed nothing to lower costs,” she said.

Fact-check: FALSE.

Republicans have since day one pushed for President Joe Biden to reverse his economy-wrecking policies, but alas, the president has refused to listen to them.

Stabenow is also the same Democrat who, a few months ago, tried to kill a “buy American” provision that was tucked into the climate bill the president signed in mid-August.

Vivek Saxena
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