Dwight Brady

MARQUETTE — Dwight Brady has withdrawn from the race for Michigan’s 1st Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Brady, a Northern Michigan University professor, officially announced that he would no longer be seeking the Democratic Party nomination for the seat and was withdrawing from the race Tuesday.

“Over the past several months, key endorsements and financial support in this primary have not tipped in my favor. Considering these events along with a very serious illness in my family, I felt it was best to step away,” Brady said in an official statement. “I got into this race a year ago because I felt we should be represented in Congress by someone who is actually from here, not from Louisiana. Unfortunately, my deep roots in northern Michigan and a record of service to my community and the state of Michigan were not enough.”

Brady said he knew the congressional race wouldn’t be easy.

“Running for Congress, unfortunately today, takes a tremendous amount of money to be successful,” Brady said. “It’s a monumental task … I wish we had a system that would allow for candidates to still have a viable campaign and not have to raise that kind of money.”

However, Brady said that the experience of running was “very memorable and very positive,” noting that he was able to visit 28 of the 32 counties in Michigan’s 1st District during his campaign.

“It was very enriching and I met some very inspiring people around the way,” Brady said. “I didn’t spend a dime on hotel rooms, people have opened their homes to me.”

Brady, who announced his candidacy for the U.S. House on April 24, had sought to address a number of issues facing the district in his campaign.

“We have a president who has essentially declared war on the Great Lakes and on rural America,” he said in a press release announcing his candidacy.

Brady, who grew up in the Upper Peninsula’s Schoolcraft County, had noted his passion for working on local and regional issues during his campaign.

“As someone who was born and raised in Michigan’s 1st District, I will not stand idly by and watch people in Washington hand huge tax cuts to corporations while cutting funding to keep the Great Lakes clean and taking away heating assistance programs for senior citizens in our district,” Brady said in a press release announcing his candidacy.

His one regret, Brady said, is that he won’t be able to publicly debate Republican Jack Bergman, the 1st District’s incumbent representative.

“Our present Congressman, Jack Bergman, supported the failed Republican health care bill that would have put many of our district’s critical-access hospitals at risk,” Brady said in the statement announcing his candidacy. “In a political environment hostile to rural areas like Northern Michigan, it is especially important to have a representative who is truly from here to be truly for here.”

While Brady is disappointed that he will not be able to continue his candidacy and publicly debate Bergman, he looks forward to continuing his work in the Upper Peninsula.

“While withdrawing from the race is disappointing, I do look forward to returning fully to my family,” Brady said in a statement on his campaign webpage. “I also look forward to continuing my work at Northern Michigan University and producing new documentaries of importance to this region. I might even have some original music coming out later this year about a special place we call northern Michigan.”