United States Senator Carl Levin (D-Detroit),
Michigan’s senior Senator and Chair of the powerful Senate Armed Services
Committee, has announced that he will not seek re-election in 2014, ending a
nearly 35 year career in the United States Senate.
First elected in 1978, Senator Levin took
office in 1979 after defeating former Senator Robert Griffin (R-Traverse City)
and is the longest serving member of the U.S. Senate from Michigan having
recently cast his 12,000th vote. Senator Levin had been a member and
President of the Detroit City Council and is an attorney.
Senator Levin’s statement explained that he
had determined he would best serve the citizens of Michigan and the United States
by focusing these next two years on doing his job without the distraction of
campaigning to keep his job.
Senator Levin’s decision leaves an open U.S.
Senate seat for the first time in 20 years and will result in considerable
maneuvering on the part of both Democrats and Republicans to be their
respective party’s nominee for what promises to be an extremely expensive race
in 2014. Names being thrown around in Democratic circles include attorney and
Democratic financier Mark Bernstein, U.S. Congressman John Dingell’s wife and
Democrat Party powerbroker Debbie Dingell, and current U.S. Congressman Gary
Peters (D-Bloomfield).
On the GOP-side, even more names have
surfaced, including current Lt. Governor Brian Calley, State Senator Roger Kahn
(R-Saginaw) as well as any number of sitting U.S. Representatives such as Dave
Camp (R-Midland), Justin Amash (R-Cascade Township), and Mike Rogers
(R-Brighton).