Clark Durant Annouces Candidacy For U.S. Senate

GROSSE POINTE (WWJ) - Charter school magnate Clark Durant kicked off his Republican campaign for U.S. Senate with a jab at the GOP front-runner and the Democrat he wants to replace.

A Grosse Pointe Farms attorney, Durant has been a candidate for weeks but he made a public announcement Friday in front of hundreds of supporters at Cornerstone Schools in Detroit, which he co-founded in 1991.

Speaking to the crowd, Durant blamed former congressman Pete Hoekstra and incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow for the trillions in government debt. He said it's time to give them a "retirement party."

"The biggest issue facing us today, and why you must work hard and be prepared, is only one major issue ... and it is this whole question of the role of our government and all of the spending and debt that has been piled upon your back, the backs of all these people, and for the children that you will have," said Durant.

Durant said he knows he is in a tough race because most of the well-known Michigan Republicans including the current governor are backing Hoekstra.