The Club for Growth PAC endorsed Rep. Tim Walberg (R) for a second time last week.

“Since Tim Walberg was elected to Congress in 2006, he has stood up for Michigan taxpayers with principle and integrity,” Club for Growth President Pat Toomey said in a statement. “With his excellent record, we are confident Rep. Walberg will emerge victorious again.”

Walberg defeated then-Rep. Joe Schwarz in the 2006 Republican primary with the club’s support. Schwarz, viewed as a moderate in his party, said in a phone interview last week that the May filing deadline was still months away and he had not ruled out running for the seat as either a Republican or Independent.

“I’m still undecided,” Schwarz said. “I haven’t ruled anything out.”

Schwarz held onto the south-central Michigan seat for just one term after winning a crowded Republican primary in 2004 that included both Walberg and Brad Smith, the son of the incumbent who then was retiring.

However, Democrats believe they have a chance at putting the seat in the blue with their preferred candidate, state Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer.

The 2006 Democratic nominee, Sharon Renier, also is running again. Despite being heavily outspent, the organic farmer received 46 percent of the vote to Walberg’s 50 percent in the 2006 general election.
— Shira Toeplitz