The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, and David Beard.
Leading Off
●MI-11: On Monday, Rep. Dave Trott, a Michigan Republican serving only his second term in the House, announced he would not seek re-election, making him the third House Republican to retire in a competitive seat in just the last five days. Trott's 11th Congressional District, which awkwardly loops around the Detroit area to take in Troy, Novi, and Livonia thanks to one of the worst GOP gerrymanders in the country, backed Donald Trump 50-45, not much different than Mitt Romney's 52-47 win here four years before. This area is quite red down-ballot, but it's not impossible turf for Democrats. In 2014, as Democrat Gary Peters was winning his Senate seat 55-41, he carried this district 49-47.
Campaign ActionTrott won his second term 53-40 in a race that attracted little outside attention, but Democrats were already showing more interest in what is Michigan's best-educated congressional seat before Trott called it quits. Haley Stevens, a former chief of staff to Barack Obama's 2009 automotive industry task force, entered the race in late April and raised a credible $320,000 over the following two months, while Fayrouz Saad, a former director of Detroit's Office of Immigration Affairs, kicked off her campaign in July. Other Democrats could also eye this seat now that they won't need to run against Trott, a wealthy former foreclosure attorney.
It didn't take very long for local Republicans to start expressing interest in this seat. State Sen. Marty Knollenberg says he's considering getting in. Knollenberg's father, Joe Knollenberg, represented the old 9th District from 1993 until he lost to now-Sen. Gary Peters in 2008. Plymouth Township Supervisor Kurt Heise tells the Detroit News's Melissa Nann Burke that he's "looking at it very seriously." State Rep. Mike McCready, who is termed-out next year, also says he'll consider.