Brenda Jones files papers suggesting she's running against Rep. Rashida Tlaib

WASHINGTON — Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones appears to be running for Congress again this year, though she hasn't made any formal announcement.

On Saturday, a political tracking website called Poltics1.com posted on Twitter that Jones, who lost a close race to U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, in 2018, had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission indicating she is a candidate in 2020.

The paperwork was dated Wednesday.

Former state Sen. Ian Conyers, D-Detroit, who also ran against Jones and Tlaib for the Democratic nomination to Michigan's 13th Congressional District, noted Jones' apparent entry into the race on his own feed on Twitter, saying it was "great news" for the district.

Jones' own campaign website and Twitter feed were silent on her possible aspirations, however.

Two years ago, Jones lost in the Democratic primary in the predominantly Democratic district to Tlaib, a former state representative and civil rights lawyer, by 900 votes — about 1% of the total — to be the nominee for the full two-year term in Congress beginning January 2019.

That race, however, included a crowded field of six candidates that split the vote, causing some analysts to believe that if the field had been more narrow, Jones' chances would have been better.

That expectation was supported by the fact that in a somewhat smaller four-person field in the race to succeed former U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, for a two-month partial term, Jones beat Tlaib by about 2%, or 1,648 votes, and ended up serving briefly in Congress herself at the end of 2018.

Jones has been a member of City Council since 2005 and entered the nomination fight in 2018 as a potential front-runner, having the backing of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and establishment Democrats. But Tlaib put together an aggressive campaign, raising more money than Jones.

More: Rashida Tlaib likely to face challenger in 2020 — but beating her won't be easy

More: It's been quite a month for Rashida Tlaib; here's what's coming next

Tlaib may be an even more formidable candidate now, having thrust herself into the national spotlight with early calls for President Donald Trump's impeachment and becoming a campaign surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in his run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

If Jones is running, she will have until 4 p.m. April 21 to file at least 1,000 valid signatures from the district in support of her candidacy. While it is not normally difficult to get that number of signatures, efforts to collect them this year could potentially be made more challenging by the spread of coronavirus.

Contact Todd Spangler at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.