FEEDING FRENZY (PART I)

The September announcement by Michigan’s 11th District Congressman David Trott (R-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Troy, Rochester Hills) that he would be stepping down from his seat after two short terms has set off a wild scrum on both sides of the aisle to see who’ll run. Republican Lena Epstein, who had announced she was taking on Sen. Debbie Stabenow for Senate in 2018, announced she is definitely switching races and is now running for Congress instead – but some Republican insiders doubt she has any better chance in this race than in the contest for the Senate. As an interesting aside, in 2012, after Jim Thienel appointed her as chair for the Lincoln Day dinner, she turned around and ran against him as Oakland County Republican Party chair. Unfortunately for her, “I stacked the deck, and I won. We went out to dinner, and became great friends. Now I’m co-chairing her campaign,” Thienel said. Then there is former state Rep. Andrew “Rocky” Raczkowski of Troy, who also announced he is going for the seat despite losing to Sen. Carl Levin in 2002, as well as by a narrow margin to then-Rep. Gary Peters in 2010 in the 9th District. A veteran, he planned to take on Levin again in ‘08, but was called back to active duty. “I will take the military attitude into Congress. I’m running and we’re going to win. Period,” he said in his announcement.