National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) told Breitbart News exclusively on Tuesday that Sen. Gary Peters’ (D-MI) retirement proves that President Donald Trump is a “force to be reckoned with” and that Republicans can win the open Michigan seat for the first time in 30 years.
Scott spoke to Breitbart News after Peters said he would not seek reelection in 2026. Peters’ announcement has sent shockwaves throughout Washington, DC, and Michigan, as the outgoing senator just served as the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) chair, and is responsible for Democrats losing their Senate majority.
Scott, the newly minted NRSC chair, said that Trump’s victory in Michigan has proved that Americans across all walks of life are flocking to the Make America Great Again agenda.
Scott said, “It just tells me one thing that is completely crystal clear in American politics today: that President Trump is a force to be reckoned with, and if you don’t, then you lose. And bottom line — I think he’s running scared because President Trump won Michigan.”
The South Carolina senator said that Trump won Michigan for two reasons: the open border and Trump growing the Republican coalition.
“Number one, Peters sat by while the American Southern border was wide open. The greatest invasion in American history, 14 million people crossing illegally, a lot of them landing in Michigan. Number two, the auto workers. President Trump has an open policy as relates to American workers, union or not. President Trump supports American workers. Peters did not. Number three, minority voters, 39 percent President Trump told me the other day, 39 percent of the African American males voted for him. That number might be off by a little bit, but what it says is Detroit, Michigan, is in play. The state is in play. Why? Because President Trump showed us a recipe to get things done.”
“We have to take advantage of that by recruiting a great candidate, and we’re going to make sure that we maintain the Trump coalition of union workers, minority voters, and, frankly, everybody that loves apple pie, baseball, and the American dream,” he added.
After the Peters’ retirement announcement story broke, a spokesperson from the DSCC said, ‘No Republican has won a Michigan Senate race in 30 years,” and asserted Democrats will continue to hold the seat.
Scott said that Democrats cannot “respond to the truth” that Republicans beat them in 2024 and can flip the seat in 2026. He noted that now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) beat Republican Mike Rogers by three-tenths of a point in the 2024 Michigan Senate race.
He said that the seat “is not just winnable with President Trump leading the ticket, not literally on the ballot, but he’s going to lead the ticket because of his economic policies that will make it easier for us to build more cars in America, American-made cars. Number two, we know that closing the southern border will make our nation safer. President Trump is already doing that. And number three, he is focusing on making sure innovation happens before regulation. That’s good for the economy. All over Michigan, all over Georgia, we are going to have an opportunity to run the tables.”
Although many Democrats may run for the soon-to-be-open Michigan Senate seat, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, an Indiana native, is reportedly “taking a serious look” at running for the seat.
Buttigieg may be having some trouble transitioning into a Michigan transplant, as one union auto worker in December quizzed him on which team the Detroit Lions were going to play.
Stunned by the question, Buttigieg failed to produce an answer.
Despite the potential slate of opponents, Scott said that the focus should be running on President Trump’s agenda and recruiting the right candidate for the seat.
He remarked, “The great news is we will work our tails off to make sure that we take advantage of this opportunity for Michigan, but also for America.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
