Second Democrat announces campaign to unseat GOP congressman in competitive Michigan district
Maat Maasdam, a former Navy SEAL, announced his campaign Tuesday to unseat Tom Barrett, a former Army helicopter pilot who delivered a key win for Republicans in 2026 when he flipped the 7th Congressional District in central Michigan. Maasdam joins Bridget Brink, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, in the Democratic primary as both seek to introduce themselves to voters in the critical district.
'I'm running for Congress to continue serving my country, not any political party,' Maasdam said in a campaign announcement.
Maasdam is emphasizing his military experience, setting up his background to compete with Barrett. According to Maasdam's campaign, he served as former President Barack Obama's military aide who carried the ' nuclear football,' a briefcase that contains atomic war plans and enables the president to transmit nuclear orders to the Pentagon. His campaign noted that his wife was a Navy helicopter pilot.
'In the military, whether you're Republican or Democrat, you're still working together on the same mission,' he said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his announcement. 'It really gives you the opportunity to find common solutions and get the job done. And I haven't seen a lot of that recently.'
The district — which includes the capital city of Lansing and surrounding rural areas — was previously held by rising Democratic star and former CIA analyst Elissa Slotkin before she successfully ran for U.S. Senate in the 2024 election.
In the subsequent race for the open seat in November, Barrett emerged victorious from an expensive race with a 3.7-point lead. He has already brought in more than $900,000 in the first three months of his time in Congress.
Brink, Maasdam's Democratic competition, resigned from her position as ambassador to Ukraine in April in protest of what she says is President Donald Trump's unfair treatment of the war-torn country. A longtime diplomat who previously held high-ranking State Department roles in other former Soviet and Eastern European countries, Trump picked Brink to be the country's ambassador to Slovakia in 2019. Former President Joe Biden tapped her to be ambassador to Ukraine shortly after Russia invaded the country in 2022.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
10 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Confederacy group sues Georgia park for planning an exhibit on slavery and segregation
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (AP) — The Georgia chapter of a Confederacy group filed a lawsuit this week against a state park with the largest Confederate monument in the country, arguing officials broke state law by planning an exhibit on ties to slavery, segregation and white supremacy. Stone Mountain's massive carving depicts Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Gen. Robert E. Lee and Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson on horseback. Critics who have long pushed for changes say the monument enshrines the 'Lost Cause' mythology that romanticizes the Confederate cause as a state's rights struggle, but state law protects the carving from any changes.
Winnipeg Free Press
32 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
MAGA faithful cheer Trump for pausing Ukraine weapons after bristling at Iran strikes
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is getting praise from his most ardent supporters for withholding some weapons from Ukraine after they recently questioned the Republican leader's commitment to keeping the U.S. out of foreign conflicts. This week's announcement pausing deliveries of key air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other equipment to Ukraine comes just a few weeks after Trump ordered the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Bombing those sites in Iran had some hardcore supporters of the 'Make America Great Again' movement openly questioning whether Trump was betraying his vow to keep America out of 'stupid wars' as he inserted the U.S. military into Israel's conflict with Tehran. With the Ukraine pause, which affects a crucial resupply of Patriot missiles, Trump is sending the message to his most enthusiastic backers that he is committed to following through on his campaign pledge to wind down American support for Ukraine's efforts to repel Russia, a conflict he has repeatedly described as a costly boondoggle for U.S. taxpayers. 'The choice was this: either prioritize equipping our own troops with a munition in short supply (and which was used to defend U.S. troops last week) or provide them to a country where there are limited U.S. interests,' Dan Caldwell, who was ousted as a senior adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, posted on X. Caldwell publicly worried before the Iran strikes that U.S. involvement could incite a major war and ultimately cost American lives. Far-right influencer Jack Posobiec, another ardent MAGA backer, warned as Trump weighed whether to carry out strikes on Iran last month that such a move 'would disastrously split the Trump coalition.' He was quick to cheer the news about pausing some weapons deliveries to Ukraine: 'America FIRST,' Posobiec posted on X. Both the White House and the Pentagon have justified the move as being consistent with Trump's campaign pledge to limit U.S. involvement in foreign wars. 'The president was elected on an America first platform to put America first,' Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said. At the same time, the decision is stirring anxiety among those in the more hawkish wing of the Republican Party. Many are flummoxed by Trump's halting the flow of U.S. arms just as Russia accelerates its unrelenting assault on Ukraine. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who hails from a district that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024, wrote to Trump and the Pentagon on Wednesday expressing 'serious concern' about the decision and requesting an emergency briefing. 'We can't let (Russian President Vladimir) Putin prevail now. President Trump knows that too and it's why he's been advocating for peace,' Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, wrote on X. 'Now is the time to show Putin we mean business. And that starts with ensuring Ukraine has the weapons Congress authorized to pressure Putin to the negotiating table.' Trump spoke by phone with Putin on Thursday, the sixth call between the leaders since Trump's return to office. The leaders discussed Iran, Ukraine and other issues but did not specifically address the suspension of some U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine, according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs adviser. Zelenskyy said in Denmark after meeting with major European Union backers that he hopes to talk to Trump in the coming days about the suspension. The administration says it is part of global review of the U.S. stockpile and is a necessary audit after sending nearly $70 billion in arms to Ukraine since Putin launched the war on Ukraine in February 2022. The pause was coordinated by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby. Colby, before taking his position, spoke publicly about the need to focus U.S. strategy more on China, widely seen as the United States' biggest economic and military competitor. At his Senate confirmation hearing in March, he said the U.S. doesn't have a 'multi-war military.' 'This is the restrainers like Colby flexing their muscle and saying, 'Hey, the Pacific is more important,'' said retired Navy Adm. Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Backers of a more restrained U.S. foreign policy say the move is necessary, given an unsettled Middle East, rising challenges in Asia and the stress placed on the U.S. defense industrial complex after more than three years of war in Ukraine. 'You're really coming up to the point where continuing to provide aid to Ukraine is putting at risk the U.S. ability to operate in future crises,' said Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities. 'And you don't know when those crises are going to happen.' 'So you have to be a little bit cautious,' she added.
Winnipeg Free Press
33 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. arrested by ICE for deportation, federal officials say
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Famed Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. has been arrested for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application and will be deported to Mexico, where he faces organized crime charges, U.S. federal officials said Thursday. The arrest comes only days after the former middleweight champion lost a match against influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Anaheim, California. The Department of Homeland Security said officials determined Chávez should be arrested on June 27, a day before the fight. It was unclear why they waited to act for days after the high-profile event. The 39-year-old boxer was picked up Wednesday by a large number of federal agents while he was riding a scooter in front of his home in Studio City, according to Chávez's attorney Michael Goldstein. 'The current allegations are outrageous and simply another headline to terrorize the community,' Goldstein said. Many people across Southern California are on edge as immigration arrests have ramped up, prompting protests and the federal deployment of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to downtown Los Angeles. Goldstein did not know where Chávez was being detained as of Thursday morning, but said he and his client were due in court Monday related to gun possession charges from last year and were to provide an update on his progress in a substance abuse program. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained Chávez for overstaying a tourist visa that expired in February 2024 after he entered the country in August 2023, the Department of Homeland Security said. Chávez also submitted multiple fraudulent statements while applying for a green card on April, 2, 2024, based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, Frida Muñoz, the agency said. Her previous partner was Édgar Guzmán López, the now-deceased son of imprisoned Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services flagged ICE about Chávez on Dec. 17, saying he 'is an egregious public safety threat,' and yet he was allowed back into the country without a visa on Jan. 4 under the Biden administration, the agency said. U.S. officials said he has an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives and is believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel. Mexico's Attorney General's Office said that they've initiated extradition procedures for 'Julio 'C,' who has had an arrest warrant in Mexico since March 2023 for organized crime and arms trafficking. A federal agent who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter confirmed to The Associated Press that 'Julio C' is Chávez Jr. Before his bout with Paul on Saturday, Chávez had fought just once since 2021, having fallen to innumerable lows during a lengthy boxing career conducted in the shadow of his father, Julio César Chávez, one of the most beloved athletes in Mexican history and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame who won championships in several weight classes. The son has failed drug tests, served suspensions and egregiously missed weight while being widely criticized for his intermittent dedication to the sport. He still rose to its heights, winning the WBC middleweight title in 2011 and defending it three times. Chávez shared the ring with generational greats Canelo Álvarez and Sergio Martinez, losing to both. After battling drug addiction for long stretches of his career, Chávez went to a rehabilitation clinic in Sinaloa and claimed to be clean for the Paul fight. He looked in his best shape in years while preparing for the match. Chávez said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times ahead of his fight with Paul that he and his trainers were shaken by the immigration arrests. 'I don't understand the situation — why so much violence? There are a lot of good people, and you're giving the community an example of violence,' Chávez said. 'After everything that's happened, I wouldn't want to be deported.' —- Associated Press journalists Carlos Rodriguez and Fabiola Sanchez in Mexico City contributed to this story. Watson reported from San Diego.
