Jason Allen Makes It Official In MI-1 Against "Nation's Most Liberal Republican Congressional Candidate"

By Brandon Hall

(Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com

WMP reported weeks ago that former State Senator Jason Allen would be jumping in to the race to replace Dr. Dan Benishek in Michigan's First Congressional District, and a couple days ago, Allen did just that.

Allen faces State Senator Tom Casperson.

Casperson, who has been called "the most liberal Republican Congressional candidate in the country," faces a heated primary battle after a series of controversial votes. Casperson has been named the most liberal State Senator in Michigan multiple times by the American Conservative Union...

According to the AP:

“Jason Allen, a former Republican state legislator, entered the race Thursday for the U.S. House seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Dan Benishek, who narrowly defeated Allen for the Republican nomination six years ago in Michigan’s northernmost district.

“I want to be a conservative voice for Upper Michigan,” Allen told The Associated Press ahead of his announcement Thursday morning at his family-owned clothing store in Traverse City. “It’s time we had a government that lived within its means, a tax system which was simple, flat and fair, and a regulatory system which fostered job growth instead of discouraging economic development…”

Allen, who planned a series of announcements around the district, said he had signed an Americans for Tax Reform pledge not to raise taxes. He told the AP he had never voted for a tax increase, while Casperson has drawn criticism from some conservatives for supporting fuel tax and vehicle registration fee hikes under a plan to improve Michigan’s deteriorating roads and bridges.

“Washington and Lansing are spending too much and taxing too much,” Allen said.”


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Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.

>>>Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com

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Photo By Darlene Dowling Thompson