Rep. Dan Kildee Explains His Decision Not to Run for Governor in 2018
For Kildee, “the opportunity to make the biggest impact is in Washington.”
The gubernatorial race for 2018 is already taking shape, a year and a half out.
What’s perhaps most interesting so far is one candidate who was expected to be a strong contender has said he will not run for governor next year.
Congressman Dan Kildee is a Democrat from Flint Twp. and has made a name for himself on the national stage advocating for change in Flint after the water crisis. But he won’t take that popularity to the governor’s house in Michigan. He plans to stay in Washington.
“You have to make choices, and the decision I’ve come to is the opportunity to make the biggest impact is in Washington,” he tells Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson. “You can’t always have it both ways.”
Kildee’s name was whispered often as a potential strong candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor. He briefly ran for governor in 2010, but moved to campaign for the congressional seat vacated by his uncle, then-Congressman Dale Kildee.
Though Kildee never announced an interest in running for governor this time around, he says he thought it was important to stop rumors from swirling around his candidacy. He says he didn’t want to affect the field of people in the race, or who would be considering a run for governor.
“Once I decided that I was not going to run, it just didn’t make sense to keep that to myself.”
Click on the audio player above to hear the full conversation.
