Gov. Eric Greitens is hitting the road yet again this month, traveling to a resort town in Michigan to speak at an event known to draw those with presidential aspirations.
The event, known as The Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference and held Sept. 22-24 at Mackinac Island, bills itself as one of the top GOP events in the Midwest. It meets every other year and typically draws elected officials with eyes on the White House.
Sen. John McCain, the GOP’s 2008 nominee, spoke in 2007. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee, spoke in 2011. A handful of Republican presidential hopefuls spoke in 2015.
Greitens is a first-term Republican governor with widely known aspirations for higher office. And since taking the oath of office in January, he’s traveled all over the country.
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He’s trekked to Washington, D.C., at least five times, first to attend President Donald Trump’s inauguration, then again a few weeks later to attend the glitzy Alfalfa Club dinner, a gala described by the Washington Post as “the most insidery bastion of inside Washington.”
A few weeks after that he was back in D.C. for conferences of the National Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association, and he returned in March for a closed-door gathering of donors to the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.
A June trip to D.C. focused on a meeting with the president and seven other governors to discuss workforce development.
July was a busy travel month for Greitens. He traveled to Colorado Springs, Colo., to speak to donors at a private event sponsored by conservative mega donors the Koch Brothers. Later he was in Aspen, Colo., participating in a Republican governors’ panel hosted by a nonprofit think tank called The Aspen Institute. He also attended the National Governors Association summer meeting in Rhode Island.
Last month he traveled to Nashville, Tenn., for another National Governors Association event.
Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser called Greitens a “rising star in the Republican Party.” Greitens will be a featured speaker at the event.
Jason Hancock: 573-634-3565, @J_Hancock
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