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April 23, 2012

Bailey drops out of Congress race to run for state House

By BILL O'BRIEN bobrien@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY – Grand Traverse Band Tribal Chairman Derek Bailey won’t run for Congress. Instead, he’ll seek election to the Michigan House of Representatives.

Bailey had planned to run for Congress as a Democrat in Michigan’s 1st District, but today said he’s shifting course and will run for the 101st state House seat held by Republican Rep. Ray Franz, of Onekama.

The 101st District includes Leelanau, Benzie, Manistee and Mason counties.

“After a six-month campaign where we were successful in reaching out to many voters in the District, we are withdrawing from the congressional race,” Bailey said in a statement. “There are several factors that went into my decision. The biggest one is that my campaign got into the process late in the game, resulting in not having enough time to effectively raise dollars in a campaign that is going to require a million-plus dollars to be competitive.”

Manistee County resident Allen O’Shea also plans to seek the 101st District seat as a Democrat.

See tomorrow’s Record-Eagle for more on this story.

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