An important state senate race for Michigan’s 35th Senate District was decided Tuesday, and it could have huge implications for the November midterm elections. This week on WDET’s weekly series, MichMash, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben discuss what how the race was decided. They are joined by Alvin “AJ” Jones from WCMU Public Radio to break it all down.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode

• What were the campaign strategies for Democrat Chedrick Greene and Republican Jason Tunney?
• Why did it take so long to call this special election?
• What could this race signal for the 2026 midterm elections?

Jones also pointed to the focus on the race being a reason why Greene won this special election. “The two candidates had very different strategies. Tunny’s campaign really hammered in local issues—talking about reading levels and tax cuts. Greene’s focused on national issues of affordability.” 

Both Greene and Tunney will face off again in the 2026 November midterm elections. 

More from WDET

• MichMash: The 2026-27 fiscal year budget process is outpacing last year
• The Metro: Trust in elections is declining. A Michigan Republican clerk blames politics
• 4 living ex-Michigan governors make case for civility in politics

Last month, hundreds of Oakland County residents packed a Pontiac meeting room. They came to speak against a proposal that would put surveillance drones, built by a company called Flock Safety, into the hands of the county sheriff.

Police nationwide have used Flock cameras to run thousands of immigration-related searches on behalf of ICE.

Many residents did not get a chance to speak. Just before the discussion began, Commission Chair Dave Woodward held a vote to move public comment to the end of the meeting, after the contract had already passed.

When Commissioner Charlie Cavell asked for a roll call vote — to make every commissioner go on the record — Woodward denied it and moved on.

The drones were approved, 14-4.

After that meeting, residents launched a campaign to recall Woodward, and by late April, petition language was approved. 

Yesterday, Woodward appealed that approval in Oakland County Circuit Court. If a circuit judge upholds the petition language, organizers will have 60 days to gather roughly 9,000 signatures across Royal Oak, Birmingham, and parts of Troy.

Woodward has called the recall “a distraction.” 

He joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss the recall effort, his business connections that have prompted ethical concerns, and whether he should have handled that April meeting differently.

Editor’s note: During this conversation, Woodward said some people involved in the recall campaign are advocating for political violence. The Metro reviewed the social media posts Woodward referred to. In one, a person supporting the recall effort praised Luigi Mangione — the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December of 2024 — calling him “the closest thing to a superhero we have.” A leader of the recall campaign says that supporter is no way affiliated with the campaign. 

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Many look at our politics and feel powerless. But they often skip over the decisions that are happening in their backyard, and turn to the actions in Washington. 

For many, that’s not the story in Oakland County. 

On April 8, hundreds of people showed up to protest surveillance technology. And because of the way that meeting was conducted, a number of people decided to organize to try to recall Oakland County Chair Dave Woodward. 

What happened at that April 8 meeting? What would it mean to recall the legislative leader of Oakland County? What might come of all this local political organizing?

Justine Galbraith is a leader of the I Am Oakland County campaign. Justine joined Robyn Vincent to discuss her attempt to recall Chair Woodward.

The Metro called and emailed Oakland County Commissioner Dave Woodward prior to this segment. He later responded and appeared on The Metro on Thursday, May 7, 2026.

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There’s an unusual twist in this year’s race to become Michigan’s next governor.

Longtime Democrat and former Detroit mayor Mike Duggan is running for the state’s top job as an independent.

Duggan says taking the long view of what Detroit needs in the future helped turn his eyes to Lansing.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mike Duggan: I was born in Detroit and the city I grew up in was spectacular. You could get a good-paying job in the auto plants, the neighborhoods were beautiful, the shopping was great. And in the course of my life, everything that we knew was taken away from us. The auto plants moved out, the stores moved out, the banks moved out, the movie theaters moved out. I ran for mayor because I felt like the federal government, the state government and other people had turned their back on Detroit for too many years. And I felt like if we pulled together, we could change the trajectory. And you saw what happened, with all of the factories that came back, the rebuilding of the riverfront, the violence going way down. When the population numbers came in last year and we grew by 7,000 people and led the state of Michigan in population growth, I felt like I’d done what I had set out to do. So really the next question was, do I go back to the private sector or do I try something else in the public sector?

Quinn, you know the biggest problem in Detroit is the public school system. And when we had 7,000 people move back, we weren’t having families with school-aged children. And I think (Superintendent) Dr. Vitti and the school board are doing a good job with the resources they’ve got. But the state has not supported public education. And 60% of all the children in Michigan, not just Detroit, do not read at third grade level. You’re stealing the futures of these children by the time they’re nine and 10 years old if they can’t read. That’s certainly critical.

There is nowhere you go in the state where people are not stressed by the cost of housing. Young people are being forced out of the state because they can’t afford their first home, whether it’s an apartment or a house. There’s no easy way to say this, but the jobs of the future are going to Ohio and Indiana. Our biggest export is no longer our cars, it’s our young people. People said you can’t solve the affordable housing problem. In Detroit, we built 6,000 units. And I understand how we did it. We didn’t do it with a lot of state help. But if you both reduce the cost and put in some subsidy, the problem is solvable, as we’ve proven.

Quinn Klinefelter: When you do go around the state, is what you’ve done in Detroit translating to people outside the metro area? Do they say, “What’s some Detroit guy doing, coming in here trying to tell us what to do?”

MD: It’s so interesting. I’m spending a lot of time on farms. I’ll have 25 farmers who’ll say, “What does the mayor of Detroit know about us? We’ve been ignored. We’ve been forgotten. Our costs for our fertilizer is going up. We don’t have access to markets. Nobody in Lansing cares about us. What does the mayor of Detroit know about us?” I said, “Gee, let me see. What does the mayor of Detroit know about representing people who feel like they’ve been ignored and forgotten? I’d like to take you back to Detroit and introduce you to a mom who is raising two kids on a block with four abandoned houses, no streetlights, parks completely overgrown with grass. The ambulances and police didn’t show up. I didn’t make excuses. We went to work and solved the problem. Let’s talk about your problem.”

And you should see their shoulders actually relax. They think, “Maybe we have a lot more in common with Detroit than we ever thought.” I’m talking to farmers who can’t get permits from EGLE to build a new irrigation system because they don’t have inspectors. And I tell them about the housing projects that got delayed because EGLE couldn’t get inspectors to it. Before long, it turns out there’s a lot more in common in this state than we think.

QK: I know it’s all politics, but you were really a standard bearer for the Democrats for a long time. Now you’re running as an independent. You’re technically the political enemy. They’re running billboards that you’re spreading contaminated dirt all over the city. What’s it been like for you facing that after being for so long a face of that party?

MD: You said it right. They treat me like I’m the enemy. And I think that’s why people are so angry at the two parties. You look at the polling nationally and Gallup says this year 27% of Americans consider themselves a Democrat, an all-time low. And 27% Republican, an all-time low. And 45% independent, an all-time high. It’s because the two parties don’t tell you what they’re going to do, they’re just so toxic tearing each other down. And the Democrats have done me enormous good. Because as soon as I announced I was an independent, they didn’t say he has a bad record on crime or housing or jobs. They say he’s corrupt, he’s MAGA, he’s poison dirt, he’s whatever. It’s all this same stuff. And I’m just saying to people if you think the two parties are working for you, you’re gonna have a Republican and Democratic candidate. But if you think this state is heading in the wrong direction, I’m gonna give you a third choice.

QK: The political pundits will always say that an independent doesn’t have any chance, you’re just gonna waste your vote if you go for them. What’s your response to those kinds of comments?

MD: Yeah, those were the same political pundits that said in 2013 a white guy can’t get elected mayor in an 83% black city. You know how many times I heard that? But it’s different when you sit down with people and talk to them about their situations and how we solve them. I’m doing seven, eight town halls a week all over the state, just the same way I campaigned for mayor. And the people who are showing up, we’re not doing stuff where you rail on Trump, you rail on Whitmer, you talk about the evil folks on the other side. These folks want to talk about what’s going on with the data centers and why aren’t we being protected so that we know if they’re coming here that our rates won’t go up and that our water won’t be damaged. We’re talking through solutions. And it’s Republicans and Democrats sitting in rooms together.

Quinn, this is the most fun thing. We’re in a primary time where the Republicans are going to the Republican clubs. They’re going to the Muskegon Republican club or the Grand Rapids Republican club. The Democrats are going to the Democratic clubs, they’re at the Westland Democratic club or the Alpena Democratic club. I don’t have any clubs. So I’m having open town halls in community centers and restaurants and churches across the state where Republicans and Democrats both come and listen. And they invariably take my petition forms, head out the door and say, “I want to have a third choice.”

This is the thing I found out. No matter where you go in the state, people are fed up with the two parties. It was pretty interesting, last August 200 elected officials endorsed me at a big event at the Michigan Central train station, about 100 Democrats and 100 Republicans. And the Democratic Party chair, Curtis Hertel, was so angry he announced he was punishing the hundred Democrats who stood up with me, shutting off their access to voter lists. You have advantages and disadvantages, but I’m not spending time whining about it. I’m gonna go get far more than the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot. I have to put in 30,000 signatures by July 15th. We’re doing well, we’re gonna make the signature threshold. There’s no doubt about it, the parties have stacked the rules against an independent, which is why you don’t see them. But I’ve dealt with odds before.

Progressives won big at the recent Democratic nominating convention. Eli Savit for attorney general, and Amir Mackled for University of Michigan Board of Regents. 

There were cheers for progressive Senate candidate Abdul El Sayed, and there were boos for more moderate speakers like Congresswoman Haley Stevens, who is also running for Senate.

Progressives organized well, and now there’s a lot of energy at their backs. But some are concerned that they will struggle to win general elections. 

Adrian J. Hemond is one of those people. He’s a longtime Democrat and the CEO of Grassroots Midwest, a bipartisan grassroots advocacy firm. 

Producer Sam Corey spoke with him about the promises of progressive organizing, and the challenges that could await them come November

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A survey finds Michigan voters concerned about an issue that might surprise some political candidates: the use of vaccines.

The data comes from the group Communities United for Smart Policy (CUSP).

CUSP spokesperson retired physician and former Texas Republican Congressman Michael Burgess says Michiganders will have vaccines in mind when they cast a ballot.

The following interview was edited for length and clarity.

Michael Burgess: There is a significant percentage of Republican voters, 35%, who might be less likely to support a candidate if they perceive them as not going to make vaccines available. That is a real concern for people.

It’s the same problem for Republican, Democrat and independent candidates. If their constituents perceive them as someone who’s going to put obstacles in their way to receiving vaccines for them or their children, it’s going to have a very negative effect on the perception of that candidate.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: There’s been a lot of vaccine hesitancy among some people, especially since COVID and when the pandemic erupted. How are you finding voters responding now as to whether or not they trust vaccines? Especially in light of the changes with the U.S. Health and Human Services department, where some vaccines have been pretty well slammed by the current secretary.

MB: COVID messed a lot of things up, I think it’s safe to say that. And when I discuss vaccines, I’m generally careful to separate the two issues. But there was a lot of loss of confidence in our public health system during COVID. And part of the job, as I see it, for people going forward is to regain that confidence.

You don’t do that by calling everything into question and saying nothing that you believed before is actually accurate.

This country has a pretty long history of successfully dealing with what are broadly termed as “vaccine preventable diseases.” And most of the public recognizes that and does not want to go back to a time when those vaccine preventable diseases are prevalent, because they don’t have to be. The vaccines are there, they’re safe and they’re effective. And they will protect against measles, mumps, rubella, meningitis, hepatitis B. There are a number of illnesses that just don’t generally cross the threshold of recognition for people because they haven’t had to worry about them for so long.

QK: As you look towards the midterm elections, there are a lot of people worried about affordability problems, rising prices, the war underway now with Iran, all sorts of other issues. Do you think whether or not someone believes a candidate will either push or put up obstacles to vaccine use is going to really make a difference in how they will vote?

MB: Yes, it will. Maybe not in every voter’s mind in every race, but it will make a difference. Everything’s all about the midterms right now. And there’s a reason for that, because depending upon how the midterms turn out, the direction of the country going forward could look vastly different. And it can hinge on a very few number of votes in selected states. So that’s why there’s so much emphasis on this.

QK: Again, I will hear some people say they just don’t trust what a particular government agency will put out, one way the other, in regards to vaccines and whether they’re usable or not. Do you see a way to rebuild trust in vaccines? Or is it good to have more of a skeptical look at them?

MB: Well, the lack of faith in institutions was going on even before the COVID years. That’s real, it’s significant, and guess what? These illnesses have not gone away. And that’s why you saw the numbers that you did in the polling that say “hey, I might not support someone who would prevent me from accessing what has been broadly perceived as protective for myself and my family.”

Editor’s Note: A typo in the top excerpt listed CUSP as “Communities United for Smart Politics”. It has been corrected to Communities United for Smart Policy” as of 5/8/2026. We apologize for the error. 

In November, voters will choose a new governor.

On the Republican side, the race is shaping up around Congressman John James and businessman Perry Johnson, who’s spending heavily out of his own pocket. 

Last week, one of their competitors became the first to drop out: former House Speaker Tom Leonard. He was running what most observers considered the most substantive policy campaign in the field.

As Speaker of the House, he ended Michigan’s driver responsibility fees, he worked with former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan on auto insurance reform, and he pushed to expand Michigan’s open records law to the governor’s office.

He says he left the governor’s race because it had gotten too negative — that he wasn’t willing to compromise who he was to win. It’s a striking claim. It’s also one worth examining. Leonard spoke about all that and more with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.

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Perceived failures by the Trump Administration regarding affordability and immigration enforcement—plus the ongoing war with Iran—has led to very low approval ratings for the president. Yet, approval ratings for the Democratic Party are somehow still worse.

The Michigan Democratic Party recently held its nominating convention in Detroit and it wasn’t without controversy.

WDET’s Russ McNamara recently caught up with Party Chair Curtis Hertel, who took over leadership following the disastrous 2024 campaign cycle. He says he’s excited by most of what he saw at the convention.  

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Curtis Hertel: I think some of the best moments were people cheering for their candidates, and the energy in the room was, was really great. You know, some of the booing that happened and other things you know, were not my favorite part, and certainly are things that violate our code of conduct and everything else. But I think if you look at it as a whole, we walk out of convention with the united slate of candidates that I think are poised to win in November.

You have Eli Savit, who has a record of being a prosecutor… and was an environmental lawyer taking on corporations. And when you think about what’s the most important thing for the attorney general’s office, it’s a People’s Lawyer.

The powerful, the rich, the corporations—they all have access to lawyers. What we need is people that can actually fight for the people of Michigan, the People’s Lawyer, like Frank Kelly and Dana Nessel—

Russ McNamara, WDET: I wanted to ask you about that booing real quick. Where does that come from?

CH: There’s always going to be people who disagree. You know, we’re a big tent, and it’s important that there’s a place in the party for people that have differing views. I think we can differ respectfully. I think that’s the way it should be.

I think that Republicans behave in a way where they eat their own. We shouldn’t be doing that but, but I don’t think it’s the the few hundred people that were at convention that were doing that we’re not the representative of the 7,250 people who were there who were cheering the people on. And I think we’re united. So, you know, I understand it’s interesting to focus on things where but, but I think it was a small part of it was the noise, not the frequency of what actually happened at convention.

Primaries vs. conventions

RM: There’s been talk by some at the convention about changing to primaries and away from convention endorsements. Is that something you can get behind?

CH: So I’ve always supported that. When I was in the Michigan legislature, I supported that. Primaries are good. Discussions are good. We want people to be able to be part of the choices. A primary would be a better system, but you have to change the Michigan Constitution to do that. I don’t think it’s happening tomorrow.

RM: Why do you think there’s the push right now to get it done? Because there weren’t whispers of this eight years ago…

CH: I can’t speak for those that are talking about it now. I mean, you you might want to have them on the show, but, but I will say that I I’ve always supported the exact same position that more people should be involved in the decision making process and any decisions. I think the more people that you allow in your decision making process, the better that is, because they feel connected to it.

Right now, (Republican candidates) are in a game of ‘who can stand with Donald Trump the most’. Trump is the most unpopular president in the history of this country, who has raised the health care cost on everybody and cut taxes for billionaires that has used a war of choice and tariffs of choice to actually increase the cost for every single American.

I paid $4.20 for gas this morning in East Lansing, before I drove here. They promised people that tax that their lives would be better, that there would be America First, so they’d be sick of winning, that the cost of groceries would go down, that the cost of gas would go down, that they wouldn’t be focused on foreign wars, all of that’s going to lie and whether it’s the Epstein files that they haven’t released, or the foreign wars of choice that they continue to go into, or the focus on billionaires and their bottom line instead of the American people’s, they have lied to the people of Michigan, and I think we got a good story to tell.

How can Democrats work for working people?

RM: Affordability is set to be the big story for the midterm elections, but if Democrats win, what happens after? What’s the plan?

CH: The Democratic Party has to remember that we are the party of working people. And when you look at when Democrats had the trifecta in Michigan, we did things to lower the cost for people. We passed the largest tax cut for working families, brought 30,000 kids out of poverty and gave free breakfast and lunch for every kid. The largest investment in affordable housing in our history, the largest investment in lowering the cost of childcare, we have the record to do that.

We didn’t run on it.

So Democrats have a responsibility to both provide solutions, but also to talk about them to the electorate.

There’s a line Maya Angelou has. “It’s not what you do for people, it’s how you make them feel.” (Ed. Note: This quote in many paraphrased forms is often attributed to Angelou, but there’s no evidence she ever wrote or said it.) We didn’t have the conversation about the things that we had accomplished for people.

This generation right now is the slowest generation in American history to buy a house, to buy a car, to start a family. That is a long systemic problem that we have not fully solved, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that, but they’re only making it worse.

On the other side, there’s a line in the movie “The American President” that if you don’t give people water, they’ll drink sand. Trump is to blame. He is trying to pit people against each other in order to maintain power, but we got to give people water. That’s the history and the soul of who the Democratic Party is, and that’s what we have to do as we’re heading into after the elections.

RM: But there’s always that sense that Democrats are going to get into power and they’re going to raise taxes.

CH: I just told you—

RM: Yeah, but what’s the plan you’re talking about making people ‘feel’ alright…

CH: It’s important to acknowledge the fact that in Michigan, we actually lowered the taxes for most working families and brought 30,000 kids out of poverty. We’re the ones that ended the retirement tax. (Former GOP Gov.) Rick Snyder is the one that put it on. So I do think that there are good examples of that. At the end of the day, I don’t want to raise the taxes on any Americans, except for those that are in the top 1% that I think can afford to pay them in order to provide what is guaranteed to all of us, which is the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

“We’ve got to stop giving up on places.” 

RM: So Democrats are reconnecting with the working class in Michigan. But you know, nationally, that seems like it’s a lesson from 2024. What else can you glean from that election?

CH: Here’s the thing, it’s not just a lesson from 2024 I want to be perfectly clear. We need to build a party that is not just survive on one election alone. Like, like, that’s part of the problem is that we didn’t learn the actual lessons in 2018 because we won. And to me, there’s, there are really important lessons that the Democratic Party has to learn.

Part of it is, we’ve got to stop giving up on places. I was in 32 counties last year working to do the work of a Democratic Party.

It’s hard to sell a Democrat from California in Kalkaska, but it is easy to sell people that are actually from that community. And so we’ve got to rebuild.

So it’s not just about redoing one election and trying to win one election, this is about the structural problem that we have got to refocus back and try to win everywhere. It’s why we have an office in Detroit, because a lot of times, people in Detroit felt like we had abandoned them, that we were showing up in September and asking for their vote. We’re in as part of the community now, because it’s important to do that work.

Trying to bring people together after losing trust

RM: There was a major rift within the Democratic Party about Israel’s war in Gaza. A lot of that affected Dearborn, Hamtramck—metro Detroit’s Muslim and Arab communities. How do you rebuild that trust? Because a lot of them either stayed home or ended up voting for Donald Trump because he was the “peace candidate.”

CH: So I was endorsed for chair by both the Jewish Caucus and the Arab caucus, because there is a real want and need to build spaces where people communicate together.

There’s not going to be a Democratic party where everyone agrees on every single issue that that that that is out there, but there has got to be room for people to have conversation and be able to find places they agree with.

So for example, on ICE and the changing of what ‘America’ means when we have immigrants actually carrying their own papers because they’re afraid… I met with an American citizen who carries his passport every single day because he’s terrified of being stopped in the street.

That’s something the Jewish Caucus and the Arab caucus agree on, and they work together on. I think that’s what’s really powerful, is actually finding the spaces of agreement between people. My job is not to decide where the Democratic party goes. That’s the people’s job. Like the idea that the chair of the Democratic Party is supposed to set the position for all these people is just nonsense.

RM: I’m talking about outreach, really. There was a lot of trust broken. I talked with a ton of people, and we had 100,000 people vote uncommitted in a primary that took place in Michigan.

CH: We actively avoided conversations. And that does not work. I’m spending a lot of time in the Arab community and the Jewish community right now, actually, because I think it’s really important that we actually provide a space.

And I think that really the biggest thing that I am trying to solve is that people have felt forgotten by the Democratic Party. And I can tell you that that’s why I was in 32 counties last year. It’s why I was at more iftars than I’ve ever been in my entire life last year. It’s why finding that space between people is so important, and showing up and being part of the conversation and listening, which I think is probably the most important part politicians and party people have a tendency to talk a lot, but not to listen a lot. So that’s what I’m I’m doing as chair of this party, trying to bring people together.

Democrats need to fight back

RM: You talked about Eli Savit and Garlin Gilchrist being fighters for Michigan.

CH: Yes.

RM: Is that in response to the perception nationally of Democrats not being fighters for what they want? Because there’s a reason why the Democratic Party has a very, very low favorability rating right now. From the people I’ve talked to, especially at protests, they don’t feel like the Democratic Party or Democratic candidates are doing enough to fight for what they want.

CH: I will say that my best days are when Democrats are fighting back. I think we had the most progressive six months in the history of Michigan, when Democrats had the trifecta. But I get it like people are frustrated and they’re angry, and I would say two things about that.

One, we should always push our leaders to do more, and I’m all for that, and that’s important. But I will also say that for each of us, we’re waiting for the calvary to come, and we have to realize that we are the cavalry.

We have got to do the work to change and take the Republicans out of power.

We do these things called “People’s Town Halls.” It’s my favorite thing that I do as chair. We go into Republican districts and we actually bring people in because they refuse to meet with their own constituents, and we listen to people and what they’re feeling and the anger and the frustration.

And I get that people want that to change, but I will say this: right now, unfortunately, Democrats are in minority in the house by three seats, and in the Senate. We can change at this election. Democrats do have to prove they’re willing to fight back, absolutely, but we got to get to the place where in the power to actually change that first. And I have full faith that, when I’m going around the state, that we have Democrats that are ready to go out and do that work.

Activists in Ypsilanti Township keep fighting to halt a data center development associated with nuclear weapons research.

Stop the Data Center members gathered following an anonymous tip about a potential groundbreaking ceremony in South Hydro Park in Ypsi Township. So far, construction details for the $1.2 billion data center have been kept under wraps by University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory officials. 

Elizabeth Jordan is a spokesperson with Stop the Data Center. She says the facility will have several buildings, including one for nuclear weapons research that will need so much energy that a new DTE substation will need to be built on location. 

“One of the buildings will account for 10% of the energy, serving as a small data center for University of Michigan to lease, while the remaining 90% will power a much larger, top-secret military data center authorized for Los Alamos to conduct nuclear weapons research,” says Jordan.

Local officials are also against the data center’s construction in Ypsilanti Township. Jordan says the political influence of the University of Michigan could move the project forward despite existing zoning restrictions and widespread local opposition. 

Jordan says Stop the Data will continue to monitor the site closely, and host monthly public meetings. 

“[Stop the Data Center] is on Instagram…we also have big monthly meetings. The next one is May 9 at 2 p.m… it’s in North Hydro Park, right across the river,” Jordan says. 

Highland Park is a small city that once had a relatively large population for its size. At the height of Detroit’s automotive boom, more than 50,000 people lived within Highland Park’s 2.9 square miles. Today, the population is less than 9,000.

WDET’s Crossing the Lines series features conversations with and stories about Highland Park’s people, culture, and history.

Detroit Public Radio’s Citizen Vox project gives residents a chance to express how they feel about their communities and the issues that matter to them.

WDET’s Pat Batcheller spoke with Highland Park resident Ken Bates at a coffee shop on Woodward Ave. on April 10, 2026.

Bates was born in Detroit but moved to Highland Park with his wife more than 25 years ago. They bought a Craftsman-style bungalow in a historic district of the city. Voters elected Bates to the city council in 2018, where he served until 2022. He chairs the board of an energy nonprofit called Soulardarity. Its mission includes installing solar-powered streetlights in Highland Park’s neighborhoods.

Bates shares his thoughts on housing, poverty, community pride, and development.

Ken Bates: We know that there’s a housing crisis, a housing shortage nationally, affordable housing. Highland Park has an abundance of land that is underutilized, that really could be put forth in terms of development. So, we could look at land trusts. We could look at affordable housing, low-income housing, market rate housing, duplexes to grow the population because that’s what we have in abundance.

Manufacturing? I doubt that will ever come back to the extent that Henry Ford and Chrysler and some of the other manufacturers had here. That’s a bygone era.

And so, we have to look into the future as to what will help Highland Park become sustainable. What kind of industries should we count on?

You have to get education on board. You have to get private development. You have to get your government funding all in order, and you have to have a plan and a vision and the expertise in order to do it.

If not, you’re just maintaining the status quo. And year after year, you’re just one disaster away from some financial calamity, whether it be a natural disaster or something like the Great Lakes Water Authority suing us for $19 million and threatening to put it on our tax rolls.

Pat Batcheller: What do you like about being in Highland Park?

KB: Highland Park is centrally located. It’s convenient. There’s a sense of—like with my block, I never expected it to be so diverse. And yet you’ve got immigrants, you’ve got people of different faiths. You’ve got people who are ascribed to different lifestyles. I mean, it just it goes on and on, different political beliefs, and we all live together in the same community, and we’re able to communicate and talk and look out after each other.”

PB: From the conversations I’ve had with you and some of the other folks I’ve talked to, it isn’t really the borders that define Highland Park, it’s the people. Would you agree with that?

KB: Well, yeah, I would say the people do define Highland Park because, because again, they’ve been here. Most have been here quite a long time. And even if you travel outside of Highland Park and talk to people that formerly lived here, many people will tell you, ‘Yeah, my grandparents lived here.’ They remember it as a great city. They’ve had fond memories.

The historical district is obviously something that has gained attention. People are looking at those homes and, if they have the means to renovate them, are coming in and deciding, “well, let’s renovate this home.” Because you can’t rebuild those anywhere for anything that I would consider reasonable.

Highland Park has just had its own identity for a long, long time. And so, I can’t see that changing because it would be so difficult to incorporate us into the Detroit culture. We’re not Detroit. We’re not Hamtramck. We’re Highland Park.

PB: What’s the most pressing issue facing Highland Park right now?

KB: It’s poverty. You’ve got to figure out how to raise people’s incomes up, so to speak, their standard of living. So, whether it be through employment, homeownership, because poverty impacts everything around us. For example, ALDI is usually out of shopping carts because people abscond with them. If you’re running a business, that’s not helpful. We were fortunate in that Foot Locker moved into the old CVS building because CVS, Rite-Aid, and another drugstore left.

Convincing businesses to come here is a real challenge because the landscape has changed. Brick and mortar stores aren’t necessarily how people are going about retail experiences. You would think that we would have a thrift shop or something of that nature in a community like that. We don’t.

So, trying to look at trends that will allow people to be gainfully employed, increase home ownership, educate their children are things that should be made priority.

The appearance of the city has to change because we have a lot of blight. We had a press conference celebrating the announcement of Highland Towers on Woodward being torn down. We’ve got to have news that is uplifting, that is showing progress now. Yes, the building should be torn down because it’s caught on fire sixteen years ago. But we need to be announcing opportunities for growth projects that will bring about change.

A few years ago, Hamas attacked Israeli civilians, and Israel responded against Palestinians with what many experts call genocide. 

Although the violence — which is still going on — occurrs in the Middle East, the actions have had reverberations for Americans. 

Anti-semitism and Islamophobia have grown worse. After October of 2023, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and CAIR national recorded some of the highest levels of Islamophobic activity seen since September 11, 2001.

The Metro’s Sam Corey spoke to people practicing Islam in the area, and scholars of Islamophobia to better understand why this particular form of hatred is rising.

Click play on the media player above to hear the full story and additional comments by Sam Corey on The Metro.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

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In this episode

• Recap of the 2026 Democratic Endorsement Convention
• What stood out about the filing deadline?

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

According to the team, there were few surprises during this year’s filing deadline. One development that stood out to Oosting was Republican James Hooper entering the race against U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

“James Hooper announced that no one filed, so he was going to give it a go,” Oosting said. “It’s good for a candidate to have at least one challenger. Rashida Tlaib is a lock for reelection, but what if something happens?”

The 13th congressional district in Detroit probably had the biggest news with Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters jumping into the race to challenge Shri Tanadar. Oosting said Waters jumping in may take votes away from state Rep. Donavan McKinney who was already running. “For [McKinney] to be successful you need a small primary field. Mary Waters getting into the race complicates things”. 

The party primary elections will be held on August 4th. 

• More from WDET:
  MichMash: Michigan Democrats hold 2026 state endorsement convention
  
  MichMash: Will the Michigan Senate race forecast other critical races across the nation?
  
  Detroit Evening Report: Shri Thanedar questions validity of campaign signatures submitted by Adam Hollier

For the first time in decades, more people are seeking talk therapy over medication. 

The good news is there’s less stigma preventing people from accessing care. The bad news: A lot of people struggle to access therapy. Some clinicians argue that one of the big issues is private equity. 

Private equity investments in health care have grown to over $750 billion over the past decade.

Linda Michaels says that’s had devastating consequences for both clients and clinicians. People are less likely to get the therapy they need. And therapists are in a worse position to offer it. 

That’s the premise of Michaels’ talk this Sunday at a local fundraiser for a metro Detroit clinic. She is a psychologist in private practice in Chicago and a co-founder of the Psychotherapy Action Network. She spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.

The Metro reached out to two big health insurance providers, United Behavioral Health and Cigna. We wanted their perspective on how their administrative systems have complicated work for therapists, and made getting therapy harder. We did the same for several private equity groups. None of them offered a comment.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

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The Trump administration has cracked down on immigration. President Donald Trump has conducted more ICE raids, signaled tougher security at the border, and has prevented fewer legal immigrants from entering the country. 

The Trump administration is also trying to end humanitarian immigration programs. One of those is Temporary Protected Status or TPS. 

The administration has revoked deportation protections from about one million people in the U.S. Most of them are from Venezuela and Honduras. It’s trying to revoke TPS from other countries but the courts have blocked the attempt.

The Department of Homeland Security says many countries on the TPS list are no longer in crisis. But many representing immigrants in court say otherwise.

Megan Hauptman is a Litigation Staff Attorney for the International Refugee Assistance Project. She is fighting the Trump administration to keep TPS for over 6,000 people from Syria. Over 1,500 of them live in Michigan alone. 

What exactly is TPS status? And what would happen if more people were to lose it? Megan Hauptman spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent about this and more.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

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Large groups of teenagers have been gathering in downtown Detroit organized on TikTok and Snapchat. It’s part of a national trend being called “teen takeovers.” Most of the kids were just hanging out. But some of these gatherings turned chaotic. There have been brawls, vandalism, and an attempted robbery on Woodward. On April 11, a gun was fired, though no one was hurt.

Two of the 16-year-olds who organized the first gathering sat next to Mayor Mary Sheffield at a press conference last week. Daveion Page said he did it because he was bored. Danasha’ Tidwell said the violence that followed was “harmful and very unacceptable.”

Where can Detroit kids go to be safe and have fun? And, what’s the responsibility of a city to help grow and develop young people? 

Jerjuan Howard is the first director of Detroit’s new Office of Youth Affairs. He’s also an Army veteran, founder of the Umoja Debate League, and the owner of a new bookstore on Puritan Avenue. He spoke with The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro