The next Republican facing a primary challenge backed by the former president is a supermarket scion from Grand Rapids whose first ad goes up today
Peter Meijer—a first-term Republican who voted to impeach Trump—on Wednesday debuts his inaugural television ad of the cycle, shared first with POLITICO. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesThe next battle along former President Donald Trump’s impeachment revenge warpath is a GOP primary contest in western Michigan featuring a lopsided fundraising contest that favors one of his biggest congressional enemies — Rep. Peter Meijer.
Meijer, who is squaring off against John Gibbs, a Trump-endorsed former Housing and Urban Development official, has outraised his challenger by a more than 10-to-1 margin in the Grand Rapids-based district. Meijer has a $1.5 million war chest to Gibbs’ $81,000, and the incumbent has reserved $650,000 in television and radio ads through the Aug. 2 primary.
In Michigan, it’s increasingly evident that Trump’s endorsement of Gibbs has failed to spark a fundraising spree. For his main committee account, Gibbs has raised $227,502 since launching his campaign last November, compared to Meijer’s $2.3 million over the election cycle to date. Gibbs’s Great Lakes Leadership Committee—a joint-fundraising committee run by Jason Boles, the campaign’s treasurer who fulfills similar roles for Trump-aligned candidates Herschel Walker for Senate and Rep.