Former Rep. Peter Meijer ends his longshot bid for the GOP nomination in Michigan’s Senate race

LANSING, MI — Former Rep. Peter Meijer withdrew his name from Michigan’s U.S. Senate race on Friday, ending a bid to become the Republican nominee and return to Congress after being impeached by voters for supporting an effort to to impeach then-President Donald Trump.

Meijer announced his candidacy in November and is vying for the Republican nomination against former U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers and Justin Amash, alongside wealthy businessman Sandy Pensler.

Meijer met the April 23 deadline to submit petition signatures to get his name on the ballot for the August primary, but withdrew from the race on Friday, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office confirmed of Michigan told The Associated Press. Meijer’s name will not appear on the ballot because he met the deadline to withdraw from the race on Friday at 4 p.m.

“The stark reality is that the fundamentals of the race have changed significantly since we launched this campaign. After prayerful consideration, today I have withdrawn my name from the primary election,” Meijer said in a statement.

While many believed Meijer had the potential to be competitive in a general election, his vote to impeach Trump undermined his attempt to be competitive in a primary in a state that supported Trump in 2016. Trump has endorsed Rogers in the race.

Meijer, a Grand Rapids native, is the heir to a Midwestern supermarket empire and a former U.S. Army reserve officer who served in Iraq. He was seen as part of the next generation of Republican leaders when he was elected to the U.S. House in 2020 at just 32 years old.

Meijer was one of ten Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Trump in 2021 following the deadly siege of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. He would subsequently lose re-election in 2022 to a primary opponent supported by Trump, despite having a significant fundraising advantage.