[4] Hoekstra targeted Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow with a television ad[26] which ran statewide during the 2012 Super Bowl.

The 30-second ad opened with the sound of a gong and showed an Asian woman riding a bike in a rice paddy and talking in pidgin English.

The ad is critical of government spending by Stabenow and mocks her name with the Asian woman saying "Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow".

[27] The commercial asks viewers to visit Hoekstra's website which has statistics about federal spending beside images of Chinese flags, currency and stereotypical Chinatown font.

[30] The ad was called "blatantly racist" by Michael Yaki, former aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

"[32] Some warned the ad would revive discrimination against Asian-Americans in Michigan where smashing imported cars was common in the 1980s, and in 1982 Chinese-American Vincent Chin was beaten to death by two unemployed autoworkers angry about Japanese competition.

[34] In April 2012, Stabenow's campaign reported that she had had her best fundraising quarter ever, taking $1.5m from January to March 2012, which they say was in part due to the advertisement.

[49] The exception being the Romeo Area Tea Party Forum, on May 21, 2012, which included Scotty Boman after he changed his affiliation from Republican to Libertarian.

[51] There were debates in Dewitt,[52] Zeeland,[53] and Dearborn[54] which were attended by both Pete Hoekstra and Scotty Boman who both qualified for the general election.

[61] On October 9 Scotty Boman issued a press release in which he claimed polling results[62] qualified him for the debates.