GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Patrick Miles is hoping that this latest foray for an elected office will fare better for him that the last one did.
The one-time US Attorney for the Western District of Michigan used the backdrop of his alma mater, Ottawa Hills High School in Grand Rapids, to announce on Thursday his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for the 2018 Michigan Attorney General seat that is being vacated by the term-limited Bill Schuette. Miles lost to Republican Justin Amash in the 2010 US House race before being appointed by a fellow Democrat, President Barack Obama, to head up the US Justice Department’s outstate office, stepping down with the change of administrations to Republican Donald Trump at the first of the year.
As of now, Miles will be running against civil rights attorney Dana Nessel for the Democratic nomination, with former state House Minority Leader Tim Greimel and current state Senator Steve Bieda, both from the Detroit suburbs, considering the position. On the GOP side, term-limited state Senator Tonya Schuitmaker of Lawton has already announced her intention to run for the seat, with another term-limited lawmaker, House Speaker Tom Leonard, also considering this option for his political future.
The partisan nominees for Attorney General, as well as for Michigan Secretary of State, are determined by state party conventions instead of by primary elections, as it is for most other statewide elected offices.
