Kid Rock Shifts Focus From US Senate Run To Voter Registration

Is Kid Rock running for the U.S. Senate or isn’t he? The multi-instrumentalist, whose hits cross genres from country to rock to hip-hop to rap, teased Michigan voters and Beltway pundits a bit more Thursday, announcing the launch of a new organization to promote voter registration and promising a news conference within six weeks to announce whether he will run for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Lansing Democrat.

Kid Rock, the on-stage persona of Macomb County native and Clarkston resident Robert Ritchie, said on Facebook that he has been “beyond overwhelmed” by the response to community leaders after his name was casually tossed out at a Republican gathering last spring as a Senate candidate who could harness the same voter dissatisfaction that helped President Trump win Michigan and the White House in November.

Even if Rock, 46, decides against running, his nonprofit voter-registration organization could bring legions of his fans to the polls for the first time in the 2018 midterm elections. (For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Detroit Patch, and click here to find your local Michigan Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

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“As part of the excitement surrounding this possible campaign, I decided to take a hard look to see if there was real support for me as a candidate and my message or if it was just because it was a fresh new news story,” Rock wrote on Facebook. “The one thing I've seen over and over is that although people are unhappy with the government, too few are even registered to vote or do anything about it.

“We have over a year left until an actual election, so my first order of business is to get people engaged and registered to vote while continuing to put out my ideas on ways to help working class people in Michigan and America all while still calling out these jackass lawyers who call themselves politicians.”

Kid Rock isn’t a consistent voter, though he made high profile endorsements of Trump in 2016 and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. According to an analysis of voter records by The Detroit News, Rock didn’t vote in the 2016 primary election and has cast ballots in only two statewide or presidential primaries since 2002. He has voted in every general election since 2006 and every presidential election since 2000, The Detroit News said.

Earlier this month, the musician launched a “Kid Rock for Senate” website, but a link goes to a Warner Bros. online store, where supporters and fans can buy “Kid Rock for Senate” shirts, caps, yard signs and bumper stickers. The “announcement” was dismissed by the media as a marketing ploy.

So what if it is, Kid Rock asked in his post.

“Since the announcement, the media has speculated this was a ploy to sell shirts or promote something,” he wrote. “I can tell you, I have no problem selling Kid Rock shirts and yes, I absolutely will use this media circus to sell/promote whatever I damn well please (many other politicians are doing the same thing, they just feed you a bunch of bulls--- about it). But either way, money raised at this time through the sale of merchandise associated with this very possible campaign will go towards our ‘register to vote’ efforts.”

You can read the full post below.

In February, a Michigan Republican convention delegate started the chatter about drafting Kid Rock to run against Stabenow, Michigan’s senior senator.

See Also

• Kid Rock May Be Serious About U.S. Senate Run
• Kid Rock And Ted Nugent Tag Along With Sarah Palin To White House Dinner
• Sen. Kid Rock? Michigan GOP Official Thinks It Would Be Awesome

The draft-Kid Rock suggestion came from Wes Nakagiri, a Livingston County Tea Party activist elected to the GOP central committee, who said that besides his huge name recognition, Kid Rock “would get rid of that stodgy Republican image,” the Detroit Free Press reported at the time.

She said he “would be awesome” as a senator.

Several Michigan Republicans have announced plans to run for their party’s nomination and the right to challenge Stabenow, 67, who has served in the Senate since 2001. They include Lena Epstein, a Bloomfield Hills businesswoman and co-chair of Trump’s Michigan campaign; former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bob Young Jr., of Laingsburg; and military veteran and political newcomer John James, of Farmington Hills.

Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP