Contest to replace Conyers promises to be brutal, long

DETROIT» The morning after Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-mich., announced his resignation from Congress on her radio show, host Mildred Gaddis remained livid about his swift political demise. She questioned the veracity of a woman who accused Conyers of sexual misconduct, raged about the racism that led fellow Democrats to demand his ouster and spoke of how disrespectful the episode had been to a 52-year congressman considered a civil rights icon.

At the same time, she also she meticulously avoided showing any support for Conyers’ handpicked successor, his 27-year-old son John Conyers III, whom the elderly lawmaker attempted to anoint on her airwaves the day before.

That balancing act — revering and defending the fallen man while shrugging off his judgment about who should carry on his life’s work — was performed throughout Detroit’s African American political world this week. As smooth as the 88-year-old Conyers hoped his succession would be, his departure creates a once-in-a-half-century vacancy for, as Gaddis put it on the air, “an overcrowded field of opportunists who have been waiting for the congressman to retire or die.”

That field may or may not include Conyers’ son; he’s yet to declare his candidacy and has been slammed with news of an arrest connected to an alleged domestic assault earlier this year in Los Angeles. But even before Conyers’ announcement on Gaddis’ program on Tuesday, another relative — state Sen. Ian Conyers, the congressman’s 29-year-old great-nephew — had announced his own candidacy. And State Sen. Coleman Young II, son of Detroit’s first black mayor but fresh off being clobbered by incumbent Mayor Mike Duggan last month, declared his bid Friday.

The campaign promises to be brutal — and long. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, announced Friday he would leave Conyers’ seat vacant until the already-scheduled November 2018 election “to reduce the financial burden on local taxpayers.” Under state law, he could have scheduled a special election as soon as May. The decision aligns with the recommendation of the district’s Democratic chairman, Jonathan Kinloch.

“To have a congressional seat open for the first time in a half-century, that’s going to uncork an awful lot of ambition in southeast Michigan,” said Susan Demas, editor of Inside Michigan Politics.

Perhaps, but Conyers’ hopes for a political dynasty won’t come easy, especially with the family divided as to who the heir apparent should be. Conyers III, who said he was unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight by his father, is a political unknown who told the Detroit News on Thursday he remains undecided about a run and will decide next month. Conyers III describes himself as a hedge fund manager who lives in Detroit and Los Angeles.

In February, he was arrested but not prosecuted in an incident in which his girlfriend accused him of cutting her with a knife and body-slamming her on a bed, NBC News first reported Wednesday. He denied the accusation in media interviews Thursday, but such an allegation may be politically toxic after his father’s downfall amid multiple allegations of inappropriately touching female subordinates and a taxpayer-funded settlement to one former employee amid an internal House probe.

One person who hopes to undermine the case for Conyers III is his own second cousin, Ian Conyers, who on Tuesday liked a tweet containing a link to an Mlive.com article about a 2010 scandal in which Conyers Jr. paid the Treasury Department $5,600 for Conyers III’S unofficial use of a Cadillac Escalade bought by the congressman’s office. Conyers III had extensively documented his alcohol-soaked exploits in the vehicle on social media.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Ian Conyers downplayed internal family friction. He insisted his great-uncle encouraged him to run for the seat in a phone call a few days before he resigned.

Ian Conyers said he aims to make his own case for election while embracing a political legacy in Michigan that dates back to his greatgrandfather, John Conyers Sr., who was a pioneering black leader for the United Auto Workers union. Ian Conyers does not question the veracity of the women who have accused his greatuncle of sexual misconduct.

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