U.S. House of Representatives (2009–2015)
Elections 2008 |upright=.65 On August 7, 2007, Peters ended months of speculation by formally announcing he would run against eight-term
Republican congressman
Joe Knollenberg in the 9th district, which included almost all of
Oakland County. Peters resigned as state lottery commissioner to devote his full energy to the campaign. 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).
2010 in 2010 In November 2010, Peters defeated challenges by Republican
Andrew "Rocky" Raczkowski,
Libertarian Adam Goodman, Independent Bob Gray, Independent Matthew Kuofie, and
Green Douglas Campbell.
2012 since 2013 Due to the state's population decline, as reflected by the 2010 census, Michigan lost one congressional district. As a result of the subsequent redistricting of House seats, much of Peters's 9th district, including his home in Bloomfield Hills, was merged with the
12th district, represented by fellow Democrat
Sander Levin. The new district retained Peters's district number (the 9th) but geographically was more Levin's district. 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.
Tenure Peters was sworn into his first term in January 2009. During his time in office, he voted for the
Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus, the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the
American Clean Energy and Security Act, which would have established a national emissions trading plan, but was not passed by the full Congress, the
Paycheck Fairness Act, also not passed into law, the
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the
DREAM Act to provide conditional permanent residency to certain immigrants. 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. ==U.S. Senate (2015–present)==