Incumbent Democratic Senator Carl Levin decided to retire instead of running for re-election to a seventh term.

[1] Peters defeated Land in the general election, becoming the only freshman Democratic senator in the 114th Congress.

Politicians Newspapers and other media Organizations After Terri Lynn Land declared her candidacy in June 2013, Republicans attempted to recruit U.S. Representative Dave Camp and Oakland County District Court Judge Kimberly Small to run instead.

[33] Republicans were initially reluctant to rally around Land,[34][35] but after Camp and Small declined to run, other Republicans like U.S. Representative Justin Amash and Holland Mayor Kurt Dykstra also said no, and a late attempt to convince cardiologist Rob Steele to run failed, Land emerged as the de facto nominee.

[81] Negotiations between the Land and Peters campaigns broke down over the format of proposed debates between the two candidates.