Sen. Gary Peters will not run for reelection in Michigan

Peters’ exit opens a key seat in a battleground state, where Democrats will look to regain ground where President Donald Trump won the 2024 election. Michigan’s senior senator told the Detroit News that he is looking to spend more time with family. Peters was first sworn in as a senator in 2015, but said he doesn’t see the seat as a lifelong role.

Peters, 66, served in the House of Representatives for three terms before moving to the upper chamber. He is currently the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the co-chairman of the Senate Auto Caucus. His term expires in January 2027.

What does this mean for 2026? Michigan boasts a crowded field of well-known Democratic politicians, many of whom are expected to run in the primary to replace Peters. This includes former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind. recently moved to Traverse City, Mich. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will not be running for the Senate seat, according to a statement from her political action committee. Even though a Republican from Michigan has not won a Senate seat for roughly 30 years, Republicans are welcoming any chance to beef up their narrow majority. The race will likely be one of the most hotly contested seats in the 2026 cycle. In the 2024 election, Democrat Elissa Slotkin narrowly won Michigan’s other open Senate seat by only about 19,000 votes, in one of the closest races nationwide.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report in The Sift about Gary Peters’ questioning of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem earlier this month.