By Zachary Gorchow
President of Michigan Operations
Posted: April 27, 2018 2:58 PM

When Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sandy Pensler filed his petitions for ballot access Monday, he declared, “I’m a Trump Republican.”

Republican candidates are generally embracing President Donald Trump, who despite overall low job approval ratings with all voters, is hugely popular among Republican voters, aka the voters who choose Republican nominees for offices and the voters whose support is essential for a Republican candidate to win election. Ask U.S. Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona how taking on Mr. Trump worked out for them (Republican voters turned on them, their approval ratings fell through the floor and they decided not to run for re-election).

So as Mr. Pensler seeks the Republican nomination against fellow business executive John James for the right to face U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) in the general election, his branding of himself as a “Trump Republican” is not a surprise.

Except, well, it is, based on what he had to say about Mr. Trump last year at the Michigan Republican Party’s Mackinac Policy Conference.

During a late September interview, I asked him about why he was considering running. At that point, he had not formally joined the race. He said he saw a need to get involved.

“There’s a battle going on in Washington. I may not love everything about Donald Trump, but he’s leading a good battle,” he said.

Whoa there.

Now, he was hardly blasting away at Mr. Trump, but saying, “I may not love everything about Donald Trump” is a world apart from “I’m a Trump Republican.”

In that interview, Mr. Pensler credited Mr. Trump with trying to limit regulations and fostering energy independence as well as showing strength in international relations.

I asked him what about Mr. Trump he doesn’t love.

“He’s a good counterpuncher,” Mr. Pensler said. “I’m stylistically very different than he is. I’m comfortable with my style. He’s comfortable with his.”

Again, it’s not like Mr. Pensler went “Never Trump” on the president. He seemed to appreciate what Mr. Trump’s administration is trying to do on policy.

But a “Trump Republican”? He stopped well short of that back then.