June 18 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wants to unseat incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., during the 2026 mid-term election.
Brink, 55, announced her candidacy on Wednesday after serving as a career diplomat under Democrat and Republican presidents, the Detroit Free Press reported.
A video announcement of Brink's candidacy largely focuses on the Ukraine War, but she also mentions "unaccountable, unelected billionaires trying to slash and burn our government and our democracy."
Brink is a native Michigander who lives in the state's capital and said Trump administration policies are raising the cost of living for U.S. taxpayers.
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"Extremists in Washington [D.C.] are sticking up with reckless tariffs that are raising the cost of living for working families, cutting critical services, including funding for our schools, veterans' care and healthcare and taking away our freedoms [by] restricting reproductive rights and women's healthcare," Brink says.
Brink began her career in the State Department in 1996 and was the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia from 2019 to 2022 and ambassador to Ukraine from 2022 until resigning earlier this year.
In an op-ed published in May by the Detroit Free Press, Brink said she resigned her ambassadorship due to President Donald Trump's policy toward Ukraine.
"The policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than the aggressor, Russia," Brink said.
"As such, I could no longer in good faith carry out the administration's policy and felt it was my duty to step down," she wrote.
"I cannot stand by while a country is invaded, a democracy bombarded and children killed with impunity."
She called the Trump administration's policy "appeasement" that "leads to more war and suffering."
Brink is the first Democrat to announce her candidacy for the House seat that formerly was held by current Democratic Party Senator Elise Slotnik.
Other potential Democratic Party candidates include former Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski and retired Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, the Michigan Advance reported.
