Kid Rock said on Wednesday (July 12th) that he plans to run for the U.S. Senate in 2018, according to Billboard and other media reports. Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, intends to run as a Republican in his home state of Michigan against Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow, who is up for re-election next year. Rock has launched a campaign website at kidrockforsenate.com and also tweeted, “I will have a major announcement in the near future.”
- A possible run by Rock was floated earlier this year by a local Republican activist named Wes Nakagiri, who suggested that Rock would make a good candidate because he “has name I.D., is an out-of-the-box idea, and would kind of get rid of that stodgy Republican image.”
- After the campaign website went live with the slogan “Are you scared?” featured on the homepage, Rock wrote on Twitter, “I have had a ton of emails and texts asking me if this website is real…The answer is an absolute YES."
- Some on Twitter were wondering if the campaign was real, since clicking to buy merchandise on the site directs you instead to a Warner Bros. Records page -- suggesting that the whole thing could be a ruse to promote a new album.