Sanborn makes it official -- he's seeking Miller's congressional seat.

Alan Sanborn announces his congressional candidacy Tuesday night
 at the Macomb Township Hall as his wife, Lori, looks on.

Running under the banner, “Courage and Conviction,” former Republican state senator Alan Sanborn of Richmond Township made it official last night – he’s a 2016 candidate for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Candice Miller.
“Candice Miller will be a tough act to follow, and it will take someone with courage and conviction to continue and build on her legacy,” Sanborn said in a speech from the steps of the Macomb Township Hall.
“… (This) is not a decision that I take lightly. There exists a sacred trust between elected officials and the people who send them to office, so I weighed my commitment carefully. We are building our grassroots team, and it is coming together. We are going to run, and we’re running to win.”

Sanborn represented northern Macomb County in the state House and then in the state Senate until 2010, but his name has not been on the ballot in nine years. The Sanborn name is well known across Macomb County as the family patriarch, the retired Kenneth Sanborn, was a prominent attorney, a state legislator and a longtime Macomb County Circuit Court judge.

A former state House member, Alan Sanborn’s career path in politics was a curious one, as he faced criticism in the 1990s as a too-liberal Republican with ties to the Michigan Education Association but was named as the most conservative member of the Senate several times during his eight years there.
In addition, Sanborn first ran and lost for the House in 1996 to incumbent Dave Jaye. He then succeeded Jaye when the controversial legislator was elected to the Senate. Sanborn then succeeded Jaye a second time in a 2001 Senate special election after Jaye was expelled by his colleagues in the upper chamber.

The other GOP candidates who jumped into the 10^th Congressional District race at this early stage, following Miller’s surprise retirement announcement last month, are state Sen. Phil Pavlov of St. Clair and Shelby Township Treasurer Michael Flynn. Sanborn had previously formed an exploratory committee to consider a run.
Flynn got out of the gate fast by mailing campaign literature to 10^th District voters last week, 16 months before the August 2016 primary election.

The Republican-majority congressional district spans from Sterling Heights, through all of north Macomb County, to the tip of the Thumb Area. It includes St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola and Lapeer counties.

To build his support in St. Clair County, Sanborn included a comment from Pavlov’s predecessor, former state senator Jud Gilbert of Algonac, in the press release announcing the Sanborn candidacy. Gilbert said his former Senate colleague “has the credentials, lineage, and reputation to nobly serve the people of the 10^th District.”

Sanborn currently works as a probation officer for the Macomb County Juvenile Court, a position he had held for more than 20 years prior to his election to the House in 1998.