Washington ― Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, who resigned her post under President Donald Trump, said Wednesday that she is running as a Democrat for the U.S. House in Michigan, her home state.
Brink, 55, recently moved to Lansing after 28 years as a diplomat whose career spanned five administrations, including the last three in the war zone of Ukraine. She aims to challenge first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett in Michigan’s 7th District, which is rated a tossup by political handicappers and is among the most competitive districts nationally.
“I’ve dedicated my life to fighting for our country, serving overseas for almost 30 years, fighting for freedom and trying to protect democracy. I’m a public servant at heart. It’s more than what I’ve done ― it’s really what I do and who I am,” Brink told The Detroit News.
“We need people who have clear principles and integrity to step up and help us manage what is a very difficult political situation in a way that is going to be positive for every working family, for Americans, and I think I can help in that way,” she added.
“I think right now, one of the most important aspects that’s needed are people who are willing to stand up to the Trump administration and have principled leaders that are in Congress and able to find common-sense solutions that are going to benefit Michigan.”
Her campaign launch video tells the story of her resignation from the foreign service over Trump’s Ukraine policy and emphasizes her family’s roots in Michigan.
Brink is the first high-profile Democrat to jump into the 7th District contest, though others are mulling bids, including Matt Masdam of Ann Arbor, a retired Navy SEAL and former military aide to President Barack Obama; and former House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski.
Both parties are targeting the mid-Michigan district in 2026. Barrett, a former Army helicopter pilot and state lawmaker, defeated Democrat Curtis Hertel last fall by 3.7 percentage points when the seat was open because Democrat Elissa Slotkin of Holly ran for the Senate.
After it was reported that Brink was looking at the race last month, Jason Cabel Roe, an adviser to Barrett, said his team is confident Barrett’s record will earn him election to a second term.
“In his first four months in office, Congressman Barrett has already established himself as a bipartisan leader who is getting things done. He’s already had two bipartisan bills pass the House, successfully reopened a Social Security office which had been closed to residents for most of the year, helped secure the release two Michiganders imprisoned in Mexico over a timeshare dispute, and brought the VA Secretary to visit two key VA hospitals that service 7th District veterans,” Roe said.
Brink’s bid for the U.S. House campaign in Michigan following years of public service in Washington and abroad is reminiscent of Slotkin, who won election to Congress in 2018 after years of service in the CIA and the Department of Defense, noted consultant Adrian Hemond, a Democrat and CEO of the firm Grassroots Midwest.
After three terms in the House, Slotkin is now representing Michigan in the U.S. Senate.
“It’s certainly doable. Much like Slotkin when she first ran for Congress, this person is starting from zero in terms of name ID, political connections inside the state, a local fundraising network and a volunteer base,” Hemond said.
“That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but you’re starting from behind.”
Brink, 55, grew up in west Michigan, raised by a single mom on the lakeshore in Spring Lake and, “to make ends meet,” they lived in Grand Rapids with her grandparents.
The Lansing area, however, is the home to six generations of Brink’s family, she said. Brink’s grandfather grew up in Charlotte in Eaton County and her grandmother in Lansing ― both cities within the 7th District. They met at an ice cream shop in Lansing.
Brink attended Michigan public schools and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science from Kenyon College in Ohio. She speaks Russian and holds master’s degrees in international relations and political theory from the London School of Economics.
Her career has centered on European affairs, with assignments in Belgrade, Greece, Georgia, Turkey and Uzbekistan. She served on President Barack Obama’s National Security Council, where she helped coordinate U.S. foreign policy and advance U.S. interests with Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
Brink later was appointed deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs in 2015 to oversee issues related to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and regional conflicts in Europe.
She attained the rank of ambassador twice: Trump nominated Brink to be ambassador to Slovakia in 2019, where she served until shortly after Russia began its war on Ukraine in 2022, when President Joe Biden nominated her to be ambassador to Ukraine.
She spent three years in Ukraine ― the first American female ambassador to serve in a war zone. Brink resigned her post in April, citing her opposition to the policies of the Trump administration ― “specifically the pressure that was being put on the victim, Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor Russia.”
“Appeasing a dictator never has, and never will, achieve a lasting peace,” she says in her launch video. “And it’s just not who we are.”
Now, she’s taking aim at Trump’s domestic policies, including “reckless” tariffs that are raising prices for working families, she said, and Trump’s “big beautiful” agenda budget bill that she said threatens the earned benefits of Social Security, Medicare and specifically Medicaid.
“And also the slash-and-burn tactics to try to make government more efficient, and what they’re doing is cutting services for seniors, for veterans and for children, and so that’s why I’m running for Congress,” she said. “I think there’s too much at stake at home and also abroad.”
Brink said she had options to consider when she returned home from overseas with her husband and two sons, including business, non-governmental organizations or academia, but chose to run for elected office.
“I could do a lot of different things, but this is the really important moment in our country, and I think we’re at a crossroads. This particular race, I think, is incredibly important to show who we are and what kind of country we are ― what kind of country we want for our children and our children’s children,” she said.
“I think I’m a person who will be able to make the case in a way that can help us remember what this country is and what we care about. You know, respecting freedoms, following rule of law, delivering for the people of our community and through the United States. I think this is what we have to do now.”
Asked how she might respond to potential carpetbagging attacks, Brink said she would be happy to talk to people about questions about her background.
“I think this election is going to be about the future and what what candidate can deliver for the people of my community. I believe that my experience, especially three years in the war zone dealing with presidential-level challenges and under direct fire from Russian missiles and drones, I think I have a proven ability to deliver, and I think that’s what’s going to be important,” she said.
“But I’m so happy to be here. This is my home. I’m delighted to be back and especially now at this really important point for our country and for future generations.”
mburke@detroitnew.com
