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It’s the last It’s Just Politics newsletter of the year so what else is there to do but sit back, sip some eggnog*, and dig into the top ten biggest Michigan political stories of 2024:
1) Election 2024: We mean, come on, was there any other choice for number one? This year’s election took up nearly all of the political oxygen, and in swing-state Michigan there was absolutely no rest for the weary. The Michigan GOP was ecstatic with President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral college win in the state and with winning back power in the state House of Representatives (setting up divided government yet again in Lansing in 2025). But all was not lost for Michigan Democrats in November. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin won the state’s open U.S. Senate seat (continuing a nearly 25-year run of Michiganders only sending Democrats to the upper chamber), state Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet won the super competitive 8th Congressional District (taking over for retiring Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee), and the two Supreme Court Justice candidates nominated by Democrats both won their seats to build a 5-2 liberal majority on the state’s highest court.
2) The Uncommitted Movement: When more than 100,000 Michigan voters decided to choose “uncommitted” on the Democratic Party’s presidential ballot in February, it should have been a warning sign to the Biden campaign that a significant number of Democrats were angry, frustrated and disappointed in the administration’s stance on the war in Gaza. But time and time again the Biden campaign and, then, the Harris campaign did not, according to the movement, do enough outreach or policy change to win back the disaffected. Trump would go on to be the first Republican presidential candidate to win the majority-Arab city of Dearborn since 2000.
3) ‘Unprecedented’ Lame Duck: It appears that the Democrats’ first-time-in-forty-years complete-control-of-Lansing is coming to an ignominious end. After two years in power, the 102nd Legislature’s lame-duck session (the period of time after a November election but before new lawmakers are sworn in) crashed and burned. It’s being called disastrous, chaotic and unprecedented as one House Democrat failed to show up to vote, House Republicans boycotted the session and angry lawmakers took to social media to vent their frustrations. Some Lansing insiders told us it's unlike anything they’ve seen before (we certainly didn’t have a Democratic lawmaker spending the final hours of a cratering session in the office of the incoming Republican Speaker of the House on our 2024 bingo card). To get caught up on all the drama (so. much. drama), take a listen to this week’s pod.
4) Adopt & Amend: In a major ruling in July the Michigan Supreme Court reinstated major changes to the state’s minimum wage and paid sick leave laws, holding that legislative Republicans in 2018 used “an unprecedented and unconstitutional act,” to undermine Michigan voters’ rights to initiate and adopt laws. Let’s quickly jump in our wayback machine to 2018. That’s when two petition campaigns gathered enough signatures to put questions on the ballot. One would have boosted the state minimum wage and phased out a lower minimum wage for workers who get tips, and the other would have required most employers to allow workers to accrue earned sick leave. Republican legislators, who controlled the House and the Senate at the time, held their own votes on the initiatives and adopted the measures to prevent them from going to the ballot. When the Legislature returned after the election, Republicans altered the provisions to delay and scale back the wage and paid sick leave requirements. Back to 2024 now when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled this so-called ‘adopt and amend’ tactic within one legislative session was unconstitutional. One of the main reasons House Republicans walked out of this year’s lame-duck session? They wanted to negotiate a deal on the minimum wage for tipped workers. Look out 2025.
5) GOP Party Chair: This year saw the extraordinary intraparty fight over who was actually leading the Michigan Republican Party. After a lawsuit, dueling websites, and breakaway factions, former Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo was out and former Republican Congressman Pete Hoekstra was in. As Chair of the Michigan GOP, Hoekstra helped Trump win Michigan’s 15 electoral college votes and was, in turn, nominated by the president-elect to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Canada. The pick could mean another messy battle as Republicans choose a replacement for Hoekstra as party chair early in the new year.
6) Duggan = wide-eyed emoji: It was an open secret that Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was going to run for Governor in 2026. What wasn’t in the grapevine: that he’d announce that he was going to run for the state’s highest office as an independent. The move is a high-risk, high-reward gamble; one that also leaves a wider opening in the Democratic field. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a likely Democratic candidate, quickly tweeted shade after the announcement and names like outgoing U.S.Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist continue to buzz around as primary challengers. Meantime, next year will be the first time in a decade that Duggan’s name won’t be on Detroit’s mayoral ballot. We explored what that will mean for the city (which just this month marked ten years since its emergence from the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy) on last week’s pod.
7) Whitmer-mania: Even before President Biden dropped out of the presidential race after June’s disastrous debate, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was in the national conversation (you know you’ve gone bigtime when you get an entire SNL parody all your own). But, once the conversations began about who would run as the VP’s VP, the Whitmer frenzy reached a new level. It didn’t hurt that her book, True Gretch: What I've Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between, came out just one month before the Democratic National Convention when Whitmer got a primetime speaking slot, solidifying her prominent role in Democratic politics (if that’s what she wants). We reviewed True Gretch and Whitmer fever over the summer (including her Hamlet-esque questioning of running for higher office) and continued to watch her constant presence on late-night television. In a full circle moment, Whitmer was interviewed by SNL-alum Cecily Strong, the comedian who originally portrayed the governor with a slightly-over-the-top (we think) Michigan accent.
8) Law and GOP lawmakers: Republican state Representative Neil Friske was arrested in June on suspicion of committing sexual assault and felony assault after police responded to reports of early-morning gunshots in Lansing. In September the case was referred to the Michigan Attorney General’s office because of the potential of “crimes in multiple jurisdictions.” Friske lost in August to his 25-year old Republican primary challenger Parker Fairbairn who will represent the northwestern Michigan House seat come 2025. The Michigan Attorney General also this year charged former Republican Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield with, as our colleague Colin Jackson reported, “over a dozen felony charges for allegedly misusing state, nonprofit, and political action committee funds. Prosecutors accuse Chatfield of using the money to fund a lavish personal lifestyle, including vacations to the Bahamas and the Universal Studios in Florida, paying off over $100,000 in credit card debt, and purchases of luxury goods. The charges include conducting a criminal enterprise, embezzlement, and violating the state Charitable Trust Act. They range in maximum punishments from five to 20 years in prison.”
9) RFK Jr. Ballot Battles: Would we have been paying so much attention to this guy earlier in the year if he wasn’t a Kennedy? Well, would the anachronism that is the Natural Law Party of Michigan have nominated him as its presidential candidate if he wasn't a Kennedy? The answer to the latter is a definite yes, and the answer to the former is a definite maybe. But RFK’s truly bizarre efforts to get on some state ballots and off in some competitive states after tossing his support to candidate Trump was a real head-scratcher and created havoc for local county clerks. The result for the Natural Law Party of Michigan (not to be confused with the U.S. Natural Law Party) is losing its automatic minor party ballot access in future elections. The result for the country: the possibility of RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
10) Every candidate everywhere all at once: Election 2024 was top of the list so let’s bookend this thing with the fact that the election proved yet again that not only is Michigan a purple state but it is also a must-win for presidential candidates. Nothing evinced that more than the sheer number of times President-elect Trump, Vice President Harris and their respective running mates campaigned in Michigan. In fact the trips became so frequent that data reporter Adam Yahya Rayes built a map to keep track. It’s all to say, aspiring presidential candidates, y’all should really already be practicing how to say Dowagiac, Ishpeming and Bois Blanc Island. And know that Charlotte, Michigan, is not pronounced like the city in fellow swing-state North Carolina.
So, with that, dear friends, from Ocqueoc to Lake Gogebic, from Mackinaw City to Mackinac Island, we send you our happiest of new year cheer!
Yours in political nerdiness,
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
(*Zoe is really not a fan of eggnog).
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Is there a Michigan political story you think we missed in the top 10? Let us know! Or, just want to let us know what you want more of (less of?) in the newsletter in 2025? We always want to hear from you! Shoot us an email at politics@michiganpublic.org!
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