Grand Rapids — John Gibbs, the Trump-endorsed challenger to U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, held a narrow lead in the nationally watched results of west Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District race.
A political appointee in former President Donald Trump’s Housing and Urban Development agency, Gibbs has pitched himself as an ultra-conservative replacement for incumbent Meijer of Grand Rapids Township, who was one of 10 House Republicans to impeach then-President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.
Gibbs had about 51% of the vote to Meijer’s 49% with about 54% of precincts reporting.
If Gibbs prevails, he will face a general election in a district President Joe Biden won in 2020 and that has been identified as one of the few districts Democrats may be capable of flipping in a tough election year.
The contest between Meijer and Gibbs has garnered national attention as the Republican Party continues to grapple with cleavages between traditional conservatives and Trump loyalists. If he loses, Meijer will be the sixth of the 10 House Republicans who voted for impeachment to leave at the end of his term. Two others face primaries Tuesday.
Trump endorsed Gibbs but notably did not come to Michigan to campaign for him in the final days of campaign, despite Gibbs’s struggles with fundraising as Meijer and allies poured millions into opposing him.
Dave Wasserman, the U.S. House editor of Cook Political Report, tweeted around 10 p.m. that the “biggest surprise of the night so far” was Meijer’s strength in the primary.
“If he maintains this pace in Kent County, he’s got a great chance to hang on,” Wasserman wrote.
Gibbs, 43, grew up in Lansing and studied computer science at Stanford University. He worked as a software engineer for startups in Silicon Valley and eventually joined Apple to work on the iPhone. A fluent Japanese speaker, he left California for Japan to serve as a Christian missionary for seven years.
He did a one-year master’s in public administration at Harvard University before joining the Trump administration’s HUD, overseeing homelessness programs and community development block grants. He moved to Byron Center, south of Grand Rapids, after Trump allies recruited him to run against Meijer.
Gibbs has branded himself as a Trump-approved replacement who says it was “mathematically impossible” for President Joe Biden to have won the 2020 election and defends claims of election fraud that have been dismissed by courts, legislative investigations and audits for a lack of evidence.
After casting his ballot in Byron Center south of Grand Rapids Tuesday morning, Gibbs was asked whether he would accept the results of this election.
“We’ll see,” he said. “If the election’s on the up-and-up there will be no problem.”
He has framed the race as a battle between the moneyed establishment and an insurgent right-wing grassroots.
“There’s somewhat of a low-grade civil war happening in our party right now,” Gibbs said Monday. “The feeling among the bulk of the voters is that the party is going in a direction that doesn’t represent what regular people want anymore.”
Meijer, 34, is the son of Meijer Inc. superstores Executive Chairman Hank Meijer. He grew up in East Grand Rapids, went to Columbia University and served in an Army intelligence unit in Iraq.
He later worked as a conflict analyst in Afghanistan and got an MBA at New York University before running to succeed Republican-turned-Libertarian former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash in 2020.
He’s billed himself as an effective lawmaker who has fought for veterans and pushed back against Biden administration policies he argues have contributed to high inflation and gas prices.
The campaign is focusing on “all my work to strengthen Congress’ hand, to re-establish some of the checks and balances between branches that have eroded over the years,” he told The News. “We’re talking about pursuing actual solutions, rather than just getting stuck in a realm of…
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