State Board of Ed member Nikki Snyder to run for House instead of Senate

Republican Nikki Snyder is dropping her bid for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat and plans to run instead for Congress in the competitive 8th District in mid-Michigan, where Republicans have struggled to recruit a top-tier candidate.

Snyder, 39, of Dexter is a statewide elected member of the Michigan State Board of Education and formerly worked as a lactation consultant and labor and delivery nurse.

She planned to formally make the campaign announcement Friday during two town hall events in Grand Blanc and Saginaw.

"There's a sense that the support is most definitely willing to redirect itself to the 8th District, where we really want to see a win in that seat. And I think when you just sort of stand back and look at where the representation is most needed, the 8th District is it," Snyder said in an interview.

"We need someone who can represent health care and education well, from our state in particular. This is where we continue to lose our rights and freedoms."

Snyder's decision comes a week and a half after former President Donald Trump endorsed former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, in the GOP primary for Senate.

"Once there's been endorsements made in the Senate race that are pretty significant, that does change the shape of the race," she said.

More:Mike Rogers targets China in Senate campaign, but his own connections draw criticism

The 8th District will be up for grabs in November after Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee of Flint Township said he won't seek another term.

Also running for the GOP nomination there is Paul Junge, who lost to Kildee in 2022 by nearly 10 percentage points. Republican Jason Hudson has filed for the seat. On the Democratic side, candidates include state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet of Bay City, Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley, State Board of Education President Pam Pugh of Saginaw, Daniel Moilanen of Flint and Matt Collier, a former Flint mayor in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Then 8th District includes Genesee, Saginaw and Bay counties and part of Midland County, encompassing the cities of Bay City, Flint, Midland and Saginaw.

Snyder is originally from the Upper Peninsula, living there until she was 15. She currently lives near Ann Arbor outside the boundaries of the 8th District but said, "technically I would be the only candidate who represents them right now, from a Republican standpoint, as I’m a statewide elected official who represents them in education and will continue to do so in Congress."

Congressional candidates aren't required to reside in the districts where they're running.

Snyder said setting up an office in Flint will be significant for her campaign, with an emphasis on literacy and Black representation in Michigan.

"One of the biggest issues that is going to drive this next cycle is the concept of local control versus state control, because we've seen, especially in this district and other areas that are being just essentially steamrolled by state level leadership ― taking over decisions that local districts should be able to handle, especially an energy choice," Snyder said.

Snyder is one of two Republicans serving the eight-member state education board. She and fellow GOP member Tom McMillin often disagreed with Democrats who control the board over how schools handled the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Snyder spoke against mandatory masking and medical testing in K-12 schools.

She's also been critical of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's moves last year to strip parts of the Michigan Department of Education — which is governed by the State Board of Education — and move them into a new state education agency the governor directly controls.

The COVID pandemic and the "political narrative" around it was partly why Snyder said she decided to leave nursing, she said. She also anticipated there would be a vaccine mandate, which she objected to, she said.

mburke@detroitnews.com

Staff writer Craig Mauger contributed.