UNDER SIEGE

Democrats are not pleased to have lost Michigan’s 7th Congressional District last election cycle, after former Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin pursued and won the open Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator Debbie Stabenow (D). Currently held by GOP Rep. Tom Barrett, the mid-Michigan district is getting the attention of a couple of high-level Dems who previously served in the Obama and Biden administrations. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, who served under former President Joe Biden, had announced she was running for Congress in June. Brink also served under former President Barak Obama at the deputy director of U.S. State Department and the National Security Council. She was appointed ambassador to Slovenia by President Donald Trump in his first term before becoming ambassador to Ukraine in 2022. Brink will face a fellow Obama administration alum in the August primary as former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, who was a military aide to Obama and carried the “nuclear football” for the former president, has jumped into the race. On September 17, according to Punchbowl, a slew of Obama alums held a Washington D.C. fundraiser for Maasdam to get his campaign started. Among those listed on the invite list were Jay Carney, Ben LaBolt, Stephanie Cutter, Jim Messina, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), former Obama body man Reggie Love, former White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, former UN Ambassador Susan Rice, former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Alyssa Mastromonaco, a top Obama aide.

Matt Maasdam

Bridget Brink