“Pimp of the Nation.” Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

There are plenty of reasons to think the recent launch of Kid Rock’s U.S. Senate website is a publicity stunt, including his upcoming restaurant launch and Warner Bros. hosting the site. But on the off chance that he throws his backwards fedora into the ring, several Democratic senators want to make sure they’re prepared to fight back.

Both Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer have made fundraising pleas in response to Kid Rock’s website. And both are trying to stuff their own coffers, along with those of Senator Debbie Stabenow, the senior senator from Michigan, who’s up for reelection in 2018.

“I know a lot of people are thinking: this is some sort of joke, right?” Warren wrote in an email that linked to fundraising pages for her and Stabenow. “Well, maybe this is all a joke — but we all thought Donald Trump was joking when he rode down the escalator at Trump Tower and announced his campaign, too …”

“Kid Rock — yes, Kid Rock — tweeted that he’s running for Senate in Michigan,” Schumer wrote in an email. “He even launched a Senate website operated by a record label. So, I’ll be honest, we don’t know if this is real, a joke, or a bizarre publicity stunt. But I’ll tell you this: I don’t find it funny.”

Stabenow kept her response short enough to fit into a tweet.

I know we both share a love of music. I concede he's better at playing guitar and I'll keep doing what I do best: fighting for Michigan. https://t.co/CUaGqPu7AB — Debbie Stabenow (@stabenow) July 12, 2017

And if it all ended there, this story would likely die until Kid Rock’s chicken-wing warehouse opened. But Kid Rock responded to Stabenow last week and sounded like a real politician in the process.

“Senator Stabenow and I do share a love of music, although probably not the same kind. I concede she is better at playing politics than I am so I’ll keep doing what I do best, which is being a voice for tax paying, hardworking AMERICANS and letting politicians like her know that We the People are sick and tired of their bullshit!”

Then, on Monday, the self-described “Pimp of the Nation” tweeted this. Stabenow might need that money after all.