Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan Joins GOP Race
Thaddeus McCotter, U.S. Representative from Michigan, is the latest to join a wide-open Republican presidential field. McCotter will officially announce his candidacy Saturday evening at a music festival.
McCotter will likely gain some support from the Tea Party movement. He voted against the Targeted Assets Relief Program (TARP), supports repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, and wants a balanced budget amendment added to the Constitution.
Reflecting the blue-collar district he represents, the five-term congressman has also been supportive of the U.S. auto industry, which received government bailout money, and opposes free trade, a position that sets him apart from the rest of the Republican field.
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He is known for his quick wit and, sometimes, scathing remarks. In a post on his campaign website, McCotter calls Democrats “educated idiots.”
“Embodying the arrogant intellectuals unacquainted with real life who foist their insane ideas on the rest of us, these ideologically addled Democrats: 1. feel they are smarter than you; 2. believe they can run your life better than you; and, 3. consider themselves your masters, not your servants,” writes McCotter.
The Michigan congressman is known to not use a teleprompter or prepared remarks, and “he’s widely regarded as one of the smartest members on the hill,” according to a campaign source interviewed by The Hill.
It has been over 130 years since a member of the U.S. House of Representatives won the White House. The last time that happened was when James A. Garfield, who was shot 130 years ago, won the election in 1880. That hasn't, however, discouraged McCotter from entering the presidential race.
McCotter joins Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) as the third House member to run for president this election cycle.
Reflecting his style, McCotter will make a formal announcement tonight at a music festival in Michigan.
McCotter plays the electric guitar and his campaign website, McCotterRocks.com, includes a photo of an electric guitar in its banner.
When he appeared on Fox News’s Huckabee show last Saturday, McCotter played guitar alongside Mike Huckabee, who used his skills on the electric bass to attract attention and crowds during his 2008 run for the presidency. McCotter, who favors classic rock, also talked about Led Zeppelin once in a speech on the House floor.
McCotter was a lawyer, county commissioner, and state senator before joining Congress in 2003. He is Catholic and attended a Catholic high school. He later went on to graduate from the University of Detroit and the University of Detroit Law School. McCotter and his wife, Rita, have three small children.
