‘Accidental congressman’ weighs write-in

Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.) is considering a write-in campaign for Congress after losing his primary last month. 

The freshman Republican told The Hill that he and his family will write his name in this fall and that he is “seriously considering” filing the necessary paperwork to run as an official write-in candidate, too. 

{mosads} Bentivolio was routed by wealthy businessman Dave Trott in the August GOP primary, losing nearly 2 to 1. Trott put in nearly $2 million of his own money to attack the incumbent and also had the backing of the Chamber of Commerce and former 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney. 

“The grassroots are telling me to do a write-in; people are telling me to do a write-in,” the Tea Party congressman told The Hill in a brief phone interview Monday. 

Dubbed the “accidental congressman,” Bentivolio won in 2012 only after then-Rep. Thad McCotter (R-Mich.) failed to turn in enough signatures to get on the ballot. McCotter himself pondered a write-in campaign but dropped that idea. State Sen. Nancy Cassis, spending nearly $500,000 of her own money and with the backing of many within the GOP establishment, tried her hand a write-in bid to stop Bentivolio, but failed handily against the quixotic activist, teacher, reindeer farmer and former Santa impersonator. 

If Bentivolio does launch the bid and is able to pick up any steam, it could give Democrats a slim chance in the GOP-leaning district. The suburban Detroit area voted 52 percent to 47 percent for Romney, but President Obama narrowly carried the district in 2008. 

Democrats nominated former State Department counterterrorism official Bobby McKenzie, who had just $68,000 in the bank in mid-July. 

Trott campaign adviser Stu Sandler told MIRS News, which first reported the news of a possible Bentivolio run, that after the incumbent survived his own write-in primary last cycle, he said the person who won the nomination should get the party’s support. 

But Bentivolio blasted any notion of coming together to support the nominee. 

“What loyalty do I have [to the GOP]?” he asked The Hill. “They’re calling for unity now. Where was the unity when I was running for office?”

Bentivolio said he would “probably” end up running, pegging the likelihood around “70 or 80 percent” and would make a decision by this weekend. 

The Republican never mounted much of a challenge in his first reelection effort, so it’s unlikely he could have much impact as a write-in either. He refused to fundraise effectively, didn’t lock in big endorsements from conservative outside groups and lost his campaign manager late this spring, while Trott coalesced most of the establishment behind him.

Bentivolio, however, was unfazed by any split he could cause in the GOP if he did run and even seemed to welcome any way he could to stop his former challenger. 

“I doubt we’d win, of course, but it sure would help in keeping [Trott] from getting elected and elect a Democrat,” he said.