Over the past few days, a fun if implausible rumor has spread about Kid Rock being named as a potential Republican candidate for Debbie Stabenow’s Senate seat, which the Democrat has held since 2000. Judging from the headlines of local news outlets and Roll Call, you’d think Rock was seriously being considered for the roll, but alas the entire thing can be traced back to a quote by a single Tea Party operative in the state.
The Detroit Free Press first reported the story on Saturday as part of a larger article about the discussions to retake the seat at a Michigan Republican Party convention last weekend. From the Free Press:
Wes Nakagiri, a Livingston County Tea Party activist who was elected to the party’s central committee Friday night, said Kid Rock, who endorsed President Donald Trump, “has name I.D., is an out-of-the-box idea, and would kind of get rid of that stodgy Republican image.”
The Trump candidacy could be “a template” for a Kid Rock candidacy, and “I’ll bet you he would generate as much excitement as Trump did,” Nakagiri told the Free Press.
Those quotes were picked up two days later by local affiliates for ABC and CBS, both of which went with headlines that appeared to take Nakagiri seriously: “Could Kid Rock launch a campaign to take Debbie Stabenow’s Senate seat?” and “Kid Rock’s Name Tossed Out For Possible Senate Run.” One day later, national politics publication Roll Call published the story with the headline “Kid Rock Eyed as Potential Senate Candidate.”
While Nakagiri is certainly active in Republican politics in Michigan—he ran for lieutenant governor in 2014, was one of the delegates from the state for the 2016 Republican National Convention, and was recently elected to the state party’s central committee—it seems safe to say that Kid Rock’s potential candidacy for Senate is just a rumor that, three days after it began, still hasn’t been addressed by Rock’s representatives.
That said, we hope he runs, if only so we can all relive the glass dildo Insane Clown Posse controversy.
