GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — About two weeks remain for congressional candidate Peter Meijer to campaign for votes in Michigan's 3rd District. Monday, his team made their presence known by setting up a Quonset hut in downtown Grand Rapids.
Located at 50 Monroe Avenue in a parking lot near Rosa Parks Circle, the cylindrical steel hut is reminiscent of the WWII era. It also harkens back to one of Meijer's political heroes: Gerald R. Ford and his 1948 campaign for Congress.
"He erected a similar Quonset hut downtown as his campaign headquarters. So we've kind of taken it right down to the styling to the font," said Meijer.
Meijer, 32, is the Republican in the race to fill U.S. Rep. Justin Amash's seat in Congress. After leaving the GOP and toying with a presidential run, Amash decided not to re-run after representing the 3rd District for the past decade.
Bearing the same name as the grocery store chain, Meijer is the grandson of the founder of Meijer. Also set up outside the hut was Sandy the horse, which is an icon of the Meijer stores. After serving one tour in the U.S. Army as a non-commissioned officer and working for NGOs in humanitarian relief, Meijer is now looking to launch his political career.
Joining Meijer at the hut was Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany. Grennell endorsed Meijer on behalf of the Log Cabin Republicans, a national LGBTQ group.
"We are really excited to endorse Peter Meijer for Congress because we know he's going to be the authentic voice that brings the Grand Rapids values to Washington D.C.," Grenell said.
Meijer said the Republican Party today is "growing more diverse" and "growing more inclusive."
"That's focusing on really living that ethos of limited government, and that doesn't just mean cutting taxes--though it obviously means that. But it also means not having a government that's trying to impose its values," he said.
The general election is on Nov. 3, and Meijer is competing against another newcomer. Grand Rapids-based Hillary Scholten is running to try to be the first Democrat to represent the region in decades. She was also campaigning in Grand Rapids on Monday, joined by former presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Pete Buttigieg.
Meijer says the next few weeks will be crucial.
"For the next two weeks we'll be out knocking on doors focusing on talking to the voters and doing everything we can to get out and maintain the strong momentum our campaign has had over the past 15 months as we've been running," he said.
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