Campaign

Republicans to hand out ‘baseball cards’ mocking Gary Peters in Michigan

by Rachel Frazin - 09/20/19 12:29 PM ET

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, will hand out “baseball cards” mocking Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) at this weekend’s Republican Leadership Conference in Mackinac, Mich.

The NRSC said in a statement that the cards will highlight how Peters “remains the most unknown senator in the country because he has failed to stand up for the principles and priorities of Michigan voters.”

There will be five cards, all of which intentionally give Peters an incorrect first name, including “Jerry Peters, aka The Invisible Man,” “Larry Peters, aka Motorcycle Guy,” “Barry Peters, aka Socialist’s BFF,” “Terry Peters, aka K-Street’s Favorite Hypocrite,” and “Harry Peters, aka He’s Just There.”

{mosads}The NRSC’s statement linked to a Detroit News survey of 600 likely Michigan voters which found that about 36 percent had not heard of him and a Morning Consult poll which found that 40 percent of respondents had no opinion of him.

“Michigan voters are encouraged to collect all five baseball cards to learn more about Peters’ lack of accomplishments, hypocrisy, and associations with the most radical members of his party,” said NRSC spokesman Nathan Brand in a statement.

In response, Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Alex Japko went after a prominent contender in the Republican Senate primary and defended Peters’ record of accomplishments.

“While John James just lost a Senate race last year after declaring his 2000% support for President Trump, Gary Peters is a battle-tested incumbent who was the state’s top vote getter and is on track to win in 2020 because he’s focused on being an effective and bipartisan leader who puts Michigan first and delivers results,” Japko said in a statement to The Hill.

James is running for Peter’s seat as a Republican. He previously ran for Senate in 2018 but lost to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

Peters is up for reelection in 2020. The Cook Political Report has rated the race “likely Democratic.”