Democrats Choose Gary Peters to Lead Senate Campaign Team

Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) will chair the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) as Democrats seek to hold their one-seat majority in 2022.

Peters, who defeated Republican John James in November, was chosen to lead the Democrat Senate campaign team.

Democrats just gained the Senate majority for the first time since 2014 and have to maintain their one-seat majority after both Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won their respective Senate runoffs in January.

Democrats will have to contend with a competitive cycle in 2022; they will have to defend newly elected senators in Georgia and Arizona and flip seats in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.

Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Rob Portman (R-OH) both announced recently they will not seek reelection in 2022.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the Michigan Democrat a “hardworking, disciplined, and effective member” of the Senate when announcing his decision to tap Peters as the DSCC chair.

Schumer continued:

The DSCC is strongly dedicated to working with grassroots organizations to mobilize voters, and with someone like Gary at the helm, who is battle-tested and understands firsthand what it takes to win challenging battleground races, Senate Democrats will be well-positioned to continue to win and get results that will improve the lives of millions of Americans.

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Chris Hartline said in a statement Thursday that Peters will have a hard time defending Senate Democrats who push for open borders and job-killing policies.

He said:

We are thrilled that Senator Peters was chosen for this position. It is an inspiration to uninspiring people everywhere that even Jerry Peters can reach a leadership position in the Democrat Party.

It won’t be an easy job. Defending the job-killing, tax-raising, open borders policies of the Radical Left while combatting a primary challenger to Chuck Schumer will be tough to juggle. But we’re confident that Jerry Peters will do whatever is needed to be done to help Republicans win back the Senate in 2022.

Peters said in a statement Thursday that they will strive to increase their Senate majority in 2022, asserting, “I look forward to drawing on my own experience winning tough races to continue that work, and I am grateful to Majority Leader Schumer and our caucus for trusting me with this responsibility.”

“We have a great opportunity in 2022 to defend and expand our Democratic majority so we can keep working to protect our health, rebuild our economy stronger than before and deliver real progress for the American people,” he added.