Meijer vows to 'call balls and strikes' on Trump, who looms large in primary

Washington — Former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer entered the crowded Republican primary for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat Monday with formidable name recognition, prime access to campaign donors and a relative degree of uncertainty that he can cruise under former President Donald Trump’s radar.

Meijer's one term in Congress was defined in the political sense by his vote 10 days after taking office to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection" in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump countered by backing Meijer's primary opponent, John Gibbs, who defeated him in the August 2022 GOP primary.

As Meijer launches his Senate campaign, analysts increasingly see him as moving to try to neutralize the Trump factor in a Senate primary that includes former Detroit Police Chief James Craig and former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of Brighton, among others.

Meijer, 35, of Grand Rapids Township said Monday he stands by his impeachment vote and past criticism of Trump's actions.

"When it comes to the former president, I'm going to call balls and strikes," Meijer said in an interview with The Detroit News.

"I'm going to criticize where I think criticism is worthy, but I'm also going to defend him or give him credit where he's being unfairly maligned, or in areas where he's putting forward policy solutions — especially in defending the record of the Trump administration where they were doing great things that we should be getting back to," Meijer added.

What the Iraq War veteran regrets is not being in office to see the “same degree of accountability brought toward President Biden, who has done far greater things to bring disgrace to that office,” Meijer said Monday on "The Steve Gruber Show," a syndicated conservative talk radio program.

"My view on Jan. 6th comes from being there, comes from the frustration that I felt at seeing an embarrassment both at home ― rivaled only by the Afghanistan withdrawal that came a short eight months later in terms of damaging our credibility on the national stage," Meijer told Gruber.

Meijer also indicated he will support the 2024 GOP presidential nominee, whom he acknowledged is increasingly likely to be Trump, despite the multiple criminal charges facing the former president related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, his business practices and hoarding of top secret documents at Florida resort.

Ahead of his Senate campaign launch, Meijer on Friday inserted himself into a legal fight over whether the 14th Amendment prevents Trump from running again because of his role in the Jan. 6 riot. Meijer argued in a brief that Trump's name should be allowed to appear on Michigan ballots next year.

Meijer told The News his position is consistent — that even before he had concrete plans to run for Senate, he has "very much relished" the opportunity to defend Trump when the criminal charges were "off base" or politically motivated. Such was the case with Manhattan District Attorney Alan Bragg's indictment of Trump in New York, which Meijer earlier this year called "weak sauce."

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Meijer also questioned the timing of the 2020 election-related indictments as politically motivated, coming over two years after rioters tried to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. He said "the jury's out" on whether the substance of the cases are politically motivated.

"So I guess I just don't see it in such stark, black-and-white terms — which frustrates the folks who love the former president and frustrates the folks who hate the former president," Meijer told The News.

Can he win?

Some GOP strategists have publicly questioned Meijer's ability to win a primary election that could be swayed by Trump.

The Michigan Republican Party waded into the fray by tweeting Monday morning: "Peter Meijer voted to impeach President Trump. Remember that."

The post was quickly deleted, and the state GOP issued a statement claiming it was the work of an "over-zealous intern."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of Senate Republicans, however, did not pull its punches.

The group's executive director, Jason Thielman, said Monday that Meijer "isn’t viable in a primary election, and there's worry that if Meijer were nominated, the base would not be enthused in the general election."

Trump’s campaign didn’t respond Monday to a request for comment.

Alex Bruesewitz, a GOP strategist based in Palm Beach, Florida, and close ally of the Trump family, said Meijer was “run out of Congress” by the Trump-backed Gibbs in a lower-stakes race, and he predicted Meijer would lose again.

“Peter Meijer has zero chance of winning. Peter Meijer is a disgrace who tarnished his family name when he voted to impeach Donald Trump off of a big lie, and he’s absolutely insane if he thinks he can thread the needle on earning the support of President Trump’s supporters,” Bruesewitz said.

The Palm Beach strategist said he didn’t know whether Trump would decide to weigh in on the race, noting the former president has a lot to focus on with the various criminal and civil cases pending against him.

“I do know for a fact that Peter Meijer won’t earn any support from MAGA Republicans, and anyone who is in the Republican Party who has a voice or influence is going be working in lockstep against that disgraceful RINO,” Bruesewitz said.

Coming off the sidelines

Meijer said he's heard from all the doubters who believe his path in the GOP primary is blocked because he publicly crossed Trump.

But Meijer said he will “out work” his opponents ― going to more places and talking to more people than they are willing to.

"The reality is, if I feel I have something to offer ... I can't just sit on the sidelines and be relegated to commentary as opposed to moving towards action," Meijer told The News.

Meijer kicked off his Senate campaign Monday using a campaign logo that mirrors a 1980s and 1990s-era logo of the Walker, Michigan-based supermarket chain his grandfather, Frederik Meijer, founded in 1934.

Meijer said his campaign will focus in part on national security and international affairs and how those are links to cost of living issues and immigration challenges.

"But not just dwelling on the problems ― outlining a vision for where we should be by 2050, and then laying the groundwork, connecting the dots, building the runway for how we're ultimately going to get there," Meijer said.

David Dulio, a political scientist at Oakland University, said Meijer is trying to "thread the needle" with his approach to Trump and appealing to moderate voters.

"I take him at his word that he’s calling balls and strikes. I have no doubt that he would have participated in the investigations into Biden had he continued to serve in the House," Dulio said.

"But that (impeachment) vote is going to be with him as long has he’s in politics. In a Republican primary, that vote is going to be something his rivals are going to hang around his neck ― Chief Craig among them, but also the outside groups who are going to cut ads."

Trump's political considerations

The “million dollar question,” Dulio said, is whether Trump weighs in on Michigan's GOP Senate primary ― or stays out.

Trump's late endorsements in primaries have been a key factor in past Michigan elections, including his decision to back Tudor Dixon for governor days before the August 2022 primary as well as his endorsement of John James in a 2018 Senate primary.

Dulio suggested the former president, if he does get involved, is likely to go with Craig ― who endorsed Trump this fall but would be the weakest general election candidate as opposed to Rogers or Meijer.

So far, Trump hasn't seemed as determined to go after establishment Republicans or those he's deemed "RINOs" — Republicans in name only. That could be an effort to help himself at the top of the ticket in swing states like Michigan.

"When you look out across the country and what races are going on, Trump is far more restrained in issuing endorsements and inserting himself in primaries today than he was in 2022. This time, he's on the ballot ... and tactically being smarter about how he goes about this," said Jason Roe, a GOP strategist and former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party.

"If I’m him, what’s the benefit of endorsing in a primary here in Michigan for settling a score for a minor transgression, whether it's Peter Meijer or Mike Rogers, if the result is kneecapping the potentially strongest candidate in a general election? Then he's gonna get what he deserves if he doesn't win the state."

Meijer isn't the only candidate in the primary who has said negative things about Trump.

Rogers called Trump's tactics "destructive," rejected claims that he won the 2020 election and said Trump's time "has passed."

But before Rogers launched his Senate campaign, the former FBI agent and House intelligence chairman wrote an op-ed saying a growing number of Americans see the prosecutions of Trump as "a political hit job and nothing more."

Meijer noted his disagreement with Trump over what happened on Jan. 6 is widely known and reported. He said too much of today's politics is performative, with people lashing out at each other, making accusations and not doing anything good for the country.

"At the end of the day, I have to take everything in totality. The challenge of our negative polarization moment is there's no reward and, in fact, tremendous penalty to straying from your side of the aisle," Meijer told The News.

"That has led politicians to just be kind of hypocrites through and through, where they will call out actions on the other side and then keep quiet when their own party does the same. That's what frustrated me about politics when I was growing up. That's what I resolved not to do."

mburke@detroitnews.com