Grosse Pointe businessman joins Republican race for U.S. Senate

Nov. 20--WASHINGTON -- Grosse Pointe businessman Sandy Pensler announced Monday that he is joining the Republican race to unseat U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Pensler, 61, who is an economist as well as the founder of Pensler Capital, had been considering a run for some months. His decision to join the field comes after U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, announced last Friday that he would not run for the seat.

Other Republicans in the running are businessman John James, former state Supreme Court Justice Bob Young and historic preservationist Bob Carr. Stabenow is running for her fourth six-year term.

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Grosse Pointe businessman Sandy Pensler preparing to join Republican race for U.S. Senate

Rep. Fred Upton out of U.S. Senate race, will run for re-election

Pensler, who grew up on Detroit's west side, said he is running on a message that "it is time to put Michigan first."

"It's time to make Michigan first in job creation, wages and opportunity," he said. "We put Michigan first by reforming immigration laws, and enacting a trade policy that stops encouraging companies to ship our jobs overseas."

He also said government needs to "put the right incentives and policies in place to provide people with purpose and meaning through good jobs" instead of what he called Democratic "discouragement and dependency through entitlements."

Pensler, according to his venture capital website, "has devoted most of his professional career to the valuation of assets and to performing in the market for corporate control."

He is also a former investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He operates four manufacturing plants, including a plant in Wixom owned by one of his firms, Korex Corp., which manufactures dishwasher detergent and other products.

Immediately after Pensler's announcement, a group called the Faith and Freedom Coalition of Michigan noted that in 1992, Pensler ran for Congress as a Republican who supported abortion rights. A spokesman for Pensler, Tom Shields, said Pensler's position has "evolved" over 25 years and he is against abortion and pro-life.

Contact Todd Spangler at 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.

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