Matt Maasdam, Democratic candidate for Michigan's 7th District. | Screenshot
Michigan 7th Congressional District candidate Matt Maasdam was endorsed Tuesday by one of his Democratic Party predecessors, former U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer.
Schauer’s endorsement of Maasdam marks the candidate’s second major nod in his bid for the seat ahead of next year’s August Democratic primary election, when Maadsma is poised to face former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, Michigan State University professor Josh Cowen, Alexandra Prieditis, Muhammad Salman Rais and Elyon Badger.
The eventual winner in that race would go on to face current U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte).
In his endorsement of Maasdam on Tuesday, Schauer said the candidate was “exactly the leader that mid-Michigan needs right now.”
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“As a Navy SEAL serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and at the White House, Matt has always been motivated by service to his country,” Schauer said in a statement. “Now he’s answering the call to serve again – and our families in mid-Michigan will be lucky to have Matt’s bold leadership and fighting spirit working on our behalf.”
Schauer represented Michigan’s 7th Congressional District from 2009 to 2011. He previously served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1997 to 2002, and then state Senate from 2003 to 2009, where he was also the minority leader in his last two years in office. Schauer was the 2014 Michigan Democratic Party nominee for governor, but lost to incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.
Maasdam has also been endorsed by the VoteVets PAC, an organization backed by more than 1.5 million veterans, military families and their supporters.
If elected, his campaign notes, Maasdam would be the first Navy SEAL to ever serve in Congress as a Democrat.
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