Gary Peters will co-lead what USC says is the country's only bipartisan political center

Outgoing Michigan Sen. Gary Peters is taking a job at the University of Southern California, where he will co-lead a political center with a Republican strategist after his term ends in January.

Peters announced in January 2025 that he would step down after his current term in Congress, making way for a nationally watched race as Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed vie to replace him in the November election.

He will serve as director of the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California's Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the university announced on Monday. Republican strategist Mike Murphy remains co-director. The university said its political center is believed to be the only one in the country jointly led by a Democrat and a Republican.

Peters is stepping into a role currently held by Robert Shrum, the center's founding director, who is retiring at the end of 2026.

He will also hold the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Endowed Chair in Practical Politics.

"I look at this as a capstone of my years in public service at the local, state and federal level," Peters said in the announcement. "It's never been more important to bring people together, and there's no better place to start than working with students and getting them engaged in civic activism."

Peters plans to expand the center's presence in Washington, D.C., using USC's Capital Campus, and will teach at both the Los Angeles and Washington campuses, the university said.

Peters has represented Michigan in the U.S. Senate since 2015, after serving in the House. He chaired the Senate Democrats' campaign arm through the 2022 and 2024 election cycles.

The nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking ranked him the most effective U.S. senator in each of the last three Congresses, according to USC.

The above video originally aired on Jan. 28, 2025.