Gary Peters

 ( 1958 Births ) 

As the Democratic nominee for attorney general, he lost the 2002 election to Republican nominee Mike Cox by about 5,200 votes, a 0.17% margin. Peters decided not to contest the result despite reported irregularities. Several mistakes were reportedly found during analysis, including a precinct in Dearborn that recorded Peters with 96 votes when he actually had 396. The race was Michigan's closest statewide contest since the 1950 gubernatorial race.

In 2003, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed Peters as the Michigan Lottery commissioner.

Knollenberg was considered vulnerable due to an increasing Democratic trend in what was once a classic bastion of suburban conservatism. His opponents in 2002 and 2004 had performed significantly below the Democratic base in the district, but he was nearly defeated in 2006 by Nancy Skinner, a former radio talk-show host who spent virtually no money—the closest a Republican had come to losing the district in almost half a century. This led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to target Knollenberg for defeat.

In the 2002 state attorney general race, Peters performed at or above the Democratic base in 72% of the 9th district precincts. In his 1998 state Senate campaign, he performed at or above base in 99% of the precincts.

Peters won the November 4 election by 33,524 votes, taking 52% of the vote to Knollenberg's 43%. Barack Obama carried Oakland County by 15 points; roughly two-thirds of Oakland County was in the 9th. Peters was the fourth person and first Democrat to represent the district since its creation in 1933 (it was the 17th district from 1933 to 1953, the 18th from 1953 to 1973, the 19th from 1973 to 1983, the 18th from 1983 to 1993, and the 11th from 1993 to 2003, becoming the 9th in 2003).

In September 2011, Peters opted to run in the newly redrawn 14th district. The district had previously been the 13th district, represented by freshman Democrat Hansen Clarke. The redrawn district is based in Detroit, but contains a large chunk of Peters's old State Senate district and portions of his old congressional district. Indeed, Peters had represented most of the Oakland County portion of the district at one time or another. Due to Detroit's dwindling population, it was no longer possible to keep the district exclusively within Wayne County.

In the August 2012 Democratic primary, Peters defeated Clarke, who had opted to follow most of his constituents into the reconfigured 14th even though his home had been drawn into the reconfigured 13th (the old 14th), and Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence. The 14th was a heavily Democratic, 58% Black district, and Peters was overwhelmingly favored in November. As expected, he bested Republican John Hauler in the general election with 82% of the vote. He was the first white congressman to represent a significant portion of Detroit since 1993.

Peters worked with the Obama administration to obtain debt forgiveness for Chrysler. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said Peters was the "single most effective person" in fighting the forces that wanted to let Detroit go bankrupt. In Congress, Peters opposed a plan to provide disaster relief aid, the funds for which would have come from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program.

The Michigan Messenger wrote in 2010 that Peters was "criticizing the leadership of his own party. Peters and three other Democratic legislators... this week formed the Spending Cuts and Deficit Reduction Working Group and proposed a series of bills to cut spending. Peters' bill makes cuts in the federal energy budget." "We have been growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of action and talking about specifics and putting those on the table", Peters said. "We've been frustrated with both Democratic leadership and Republicans."

Peters allied himself with the Occupy Wall Street movement, making an appearance at Occupy Detroit in November 2011. He told reporters: "It's speculation on Wall Street that we're still paying the price for here, particularly in Detroit, that almost brought the auto industry to a collapse because of what we saw on Wall Street. So we put in restrictions, or put in regulations necessary to rein that in, and right now in Washington I'm facing a Republican majority that wants to undo that."

Peters was one of 118 House Democrats who signed a letter to President Obama in 2011 urging him to support the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a multinational organization that provides health services to women, children, and families in more than 150 countries. In 2014, he opposed a Michigan law that prohibits insurers from offering abortion coverage as a standard feature in health plans.

Peters was named senior whip for the Democratic caucus in 2013.

Peters's largest independent supporter was the Senate Majority PAC, which spent almost $3.2million for ads attacking the Republican nominee, Terri Lynn Land. In July 2014, Senator Elizabeth Warren supported Peters at a campaign fundraising event.

While the race was considered competitive early on, various missteps by Land's campaign and her reluctance to appear in public benefited Peters; he had consistent leads in polls late in the campaign.