“Brink’s qualifications set her apart”

“[Brink] is most likely to achieve Democrats' goal of attracting independent and crossover support, and flipping the sharply divided district from red to blue in November.”

LANSING, MI – Today the Detroit Free Press editorial board endorsed Democrat Bridget Brink for Michigan’s 7th congressional district. 

As more than $2 million in dark money super PAC spending flows into the race to prop up her opponents and smear Bridget’s lifetime of service, the Detroit Free Press endorsement highlights how Bridget is the only one in the race who has stood up to Trump, is focused on lowering costs for families, making health care affordable, and holding Trump accountable, and has the strongest qualifications to win in August and November.

Key Points: 

“How about someone rooted in the area who has a demonstrated commitment to public service, a record of success and a proven ability to stand firm amid adversity… Democrats also have shown consistently in polling that they want candidates willing to stand up to Donald Trump. It is hard to imagine someone who checks more of those boxes than BRIDGET BRINK, who wins our endorsement for the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District.” 

“[H]er campaign is focused on the domestic issues that can affect the daily lives of her constituents in the central Michigan district, centered on Lansing and encompassing mostly rural surrounding areas.”

“Brink's qualifications set her apart”

“[S]he is most likely to achieve Democrats' goal of attracting independent and crossover support, and flipping the sharply divided district from red to blue in November.”

Detroit Free Press: Freep nod for Michigan's 7th U.S. House District | Endorsement

July 1, 2026

Democrats in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District are in a rare position: They have the opportunity to flip a Republican-held House seat in the midterm elections.

Because of polarization and gerrymandering, the respected Cook Political Report rates just 36 of 435 House seats — 8% as competitive and only 18 as toss-ups — including Michigan’s 7th.

The Aug. 4 primary presents these mid-Michigan Democrats with three credible candidates from whom to choose.

What qualities might they want in a nominee to take on first-term Republican Rep. Tom Barrett?

How about someone rooted in the area who has a demonstrated commitment to public service, a record of success and a proven ability to stand firm amid adversity? And given the frayed state of American diplomacy and alliances, a little bipartisan foreign policy experience couldn’t hurt.

Democrats also have shown consistently in polling that they want candidates willing to stand up to Donald Trump.

It is hard to imagine someone who checks more of those boxes than BRIDGET BRINK, who wins our endorsement for the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District.

An advocate for democracy

Brink, a career diplomat with six generations of ties to Eaton County, was nominated by former President Joe Biden to be ambassador to Ukraine in May 2022, shortly after Russia invaded. She is the first woman to lead a U.S. diplomatic mission in time of war.

​​After 28 years in the Foreign Service, serving under five presidents — and three years of living amid nightly threat of Russian missile attacks — she resigned the post in April 2025 in protest of Trump’s troubling shift toward Russia.

Having traveled to Washington D.C. with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February 2025, she was shut out of the infamous Oval Office meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelenskyy and cast deep doubt on U.S. support for Ukraine.

Rather than carry out directives pressuring Ukraine that she thought amounted to appeasement of an evil aggressor, she resigned, ending a long career promoting freedom and democracy in Europe in the post-Soviet era.

In addition to her role in Ukraine and numerous Foreign Service postings, she served on the National Security Council in 2009-10, and in 2018 Trump nominated her as ambassador to the Slovak Republic, a post she held until Biden nominated her for the Ukraine ambassadorship. In both cases, she was approved by unanimous voice vote in the Senate.

Brink, 51, is seeking the Democratic nomination against Matt Maasdam, a former Navy SEAL who was a military aide to Barack Obama during his presidency; and Will Lawrence, a community organizer whose causes include fighting hyperscale data centers and who has been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Despite Brink’s foreign relations bona fides, her campaign is focused on the domestic issues that can affect the daily lives of her constituents in the central Michigan district, centered on Lansing and encompassing mostly rural surrounding areas.

Brink's qualifications set her apart.

The Democratic nominee will face Barrett of Charlotte in the district that previously was represented by Elissa Slotkin, who won a U.S. Senate seat in 2024. Brink cited health care availability and costs, general affordability and inflation, and policy uncertainty under Trump as top concerns.

For example, she said, Trump’s chaotic trade policies and his war with Iran have hurt Michigan farmers by closing Chinese soybean markets and causing spikes in fertilizer and diesel prices.

On health care, which she said she hears about at every campaign event, she wants to reverse Medicaid cuts, stop direct pharmaceutical advertising and, like Maasdam, wants to ensure affordable insurance options. She is not in favor of Medicare For All, which Lawrence supports.

Lawrence and Maasdam are serious candidates, with Lawrence further left than Brink and Maasdam on issues such as health care and the U.S. approach to Israel, which Lawrence accuses of genocide in Gaza. Brink stresses that our ultimate goal is to ensure “a secure and democratic Israel living side by side with a free Palestine." Maasdam has talked about the need to hold Israel to the same standards of conduct we expect from ourselves.

From Democrats’ perspective, Brink’s qualifications stand apart. Given her bipartisan foreign policy experience and long record, she is most likely to achieve Democrats' goal of attracting independent and crossover support, and flipping the sharply divided district from red to blue in November.

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