Rock musician and NRA board member Ted Nugent is considering a run for U.S. Senate next year, the “Cat Scratch Fever” singer said Thursday.
The 68-year-old Republican and avid Second Amendment supporter confirmed his interest in competing for Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow’s Senate seat this week after a local blogger touted him as a potential GOP candidate Tuesday.
Mr. Nugent shared the blog post from his official Facebook page afterwards along with a statement that said he’d be the “candidate from hell” as well as a photograph of himself shaking hands with President Trump.
“I’m always very interested in making my country and the great state of Michigan great again and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to help in any way I possibly can,” Mr. Nugent told The Daily Caller in an interview Thursday.
His campaign slogan would be “Make Michigan, Michigan again,” and his campaign song would be “a very loud” version of his 1975 rock song “Stranglehold,” Mr. Nugent said.
“My beloved birth state of Michigan still has godawful rules, laws and regulations that are more akin to Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Massachusetts than the real Michigan so I remain poised to do what I can,” he said.
Details concerning Mr. Nugent’s potential Senate bid emerged this week after reports indicated another Michigan-born musician, Kid Rock, was being floated as a possible candidate.
“There’s a lot of excitement here in Michigan and we think Ted Nugent would be a great candidate to win against Debbie Stabenow,” Michigan GOP press officer Sarah Anderson told Fox News this week, but admitted she hadn’t discussed the reports with either Mr. Nugent or Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie.
West Michigan Politics blogger Brandon Hall wrote Tuesday that Mr. Ritchie’s alleged candidacy was “more of a dream than a reality,” and suggested Mr. Nugent was better suited to usurp Ms. Stabenow from the Senate seat she’s held since 2001.
Mr. Nugent “would be the perfect person to tie together the Trump coalition with the Reagan Democrats and blue-collar Democrats down river and in Macomb County,” Scott Hagerstrom, the Michigan director of Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, told The Daily Caller. “I would certainly welcome him giving it a hard look.”
Nonetheless, entering the race wouldn’t be entirely easy for Mr. Nugent, according to West Michigan Politics. Mr. Nugent is currently listed as a resident of Texas, according to the blog, and would have to re-establish residency in his native state before tossing his hat in the ring.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.