Rick Snyder
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder speaks during a news conference as the city of Detroit exited bankruptcy Dec. 10, 2014. Reports emerged Saturday that the Republican is preparing to enter the 2016 U.S. presidential race. Reuters/Rebecca Cook

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder looks to be the latest GOP candidate to throw his hat into the ring as a contender for the U.S. presidency next year. Snyder spoke with contributors Friday at a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas. Also attending the meeting were a couple of Texans: already-declared presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and former Gov. Rick Perry. The Guardian reported Snyder told at least one attendee that he was a candidate.

“I met with Rick Snyder yesterday,” former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota told reporters Saturday. “He’s running, he’s running.” Snyder’s office has not yet commented on the report.

Snyder, 56, was recently elected to his second term as governor. A socially moderate Republican compared with those in the current field of candidates, he has promoted his record as a business-savvy reformer. He won a Republican state primary in 2010 as a first-time candidate, after a career as a chairman co-founder of the computer company Gateway Inc.

Snyder was a prime mover behind the Michigan legislation that put the bankrupt Detroit under emergency management, and he also signed into law a right-to-work bill that severely restricts unions in the state in their collection of members’ dues. The Motor City, which underwent the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy in history, successfully emerged last December, as Politico reported.

Michigan added nearly 400,000 private-sector jobs during Snyder’s first term, after the global financial crisis caused a severe economic collapse in the state. Its credit rating has improved more than that of any other state except California in the wake of the bankruptcy, Politico said.

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