For the past few years, Michigan Republicans have been fractured between the historically small government variety and the Trump fanatics who lean into conspiracy theories.

State GOP conventions have been a flashpoint for controversy and fighting.

“We have had fisticuffs, kicking in the groin—you name it, all videotaped and spread all over the nation,” said Jim Runestad the Michigan Republican Party Chair.

“When I first went to the RNC, they said ‘you’re the groin kickers’ and I was saying, ‘well, this isn’t really a good reputation for a state party to have,’ particularly when people decide where they’re going to put their donations.”

In an interview at the Mackinac Policy Conference, Runestad—who is also a state senator—tells WDET’s Russ McNamara that he feels like the in-fighting has largely stopped.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Russ McNamara: What brought about this change from fighting to relative peace?

Jim Runestad: I said I’m not going to engage in (factional infighting), I won’t tolerate it. We’re going to run a unified party, and the people who want to have drama and fights are going to get thrown out or ostracized. Everybody liked that message. They’d seen what it was like in the past, and it was, it was very unifying. So I’ve been really pleased. That’s what I ran on. This is what I’ve been able to accomplish when I’ve been in front of the convention or the state committee.

McNamara: You’re fairly prolific in getting bills passed through the state legislature. Do you think you brought some of those skills of negotiation to bring everybody together within the Republican party?

Runestad: You’re the first person that I’ve talked to who mentioned that. The last year Republicans were in control (of the state legislature) with the Democrat in control (of the governor’s office), I had the second most number of bills signed into office.

Frankly, I wasn’t exactly the favorite of the majority leader Republican (Mike Shirkey) at the time. That adds to the complication, but a lot of it was reaching out to members of committees, chairs of committees and explaining why this is a good bill.

Sometimes it’d have 20 to 30 people in a meeting, all stakeholders to get them to either yes or neutral. And when a chair sees you have a very complex bill that’s a great idea, and you have no opposition, that’s how you get a bill through. And that’s what I really specialized in doing over the last 10 years in office.

McNamara: You don’t have a lot of control over what happens nationally, but the national perception of the Republican Party, of President Trump, can affect how people vote in the state of Michigan. What are you kind of doing to overcome some of that, because these are the worst poll numbers that we’ve seen for the president since his second term started.

Runestad: A lot of it comes down to the candidates you have running for these particular offices. I’ve never been more excited for what we have in terms of the candidates coming out of our convention. We have just such a great cadre of candidates. Mike Rogers is running by himself, and they’re (Democrats) beating themselves up in their primary. Our primary is going to be a tough one on the gubernatorial side, but we’re going to have a fabulous candidate come out of there.

On the national level, I think what we’re seeing is just a result of price of gas. I believe that that can be reversed relatively quickly.

So I think we’re going to be very, very good going into the November elections. We have fabulous candidates, we’ve raised way more money. If you look at the Democrats, (their) party polling is the lowest it’s ever been in its history, so it’s not like, ‘oh, they have some frustration over gas prices, therefore they love the Democrats’. Oh no. The woke policies that they ran on that were they were destroyed by in 2024 is exactly the same policies they are going run again.

McNamara: Can you explain what you mean by woke policies?

Runestad: I love their policy of having boys playing girls sports, it’s a good one for them. They need to continue running on open borders.

Their Attorney General (candidate and current Washtenaw County Prosecutor) Eli Savit was constantly speaking to the Michigan Senate Judiciary committee when the Democrats are in control. (He was in there) with the most woke leftists, ‘free the criminals’, ‘get the criminals out into society’ as anyone I’ve seen coming through the Judiciary Committee.

I think it’s wonderful that they’re doubling down on those woke policies that I just described. I don’t know how they describe them, but that’s how we describe them.

McNamara: In the race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat who do you want to face Mike Rogers?

Runestad: Well, Abdul El-Sayed performs the worst in in the polling (head to head vs Rogers), but you know that’s temporary.

I know Haley Stevens was booed by 7,400 people going into the (Democratic) convention. You turn on the TV and all you see is Haley Stevens to try to overcome the negativity within the base of the party, They’re (AIPAC) pumping millions into it.

Listen to the full interview using the media player above.

Michigan elects a new governor this year and WDET is talking to the candidates vying to replace term-limited Democrat Gretchen Whitmer.

One of those in the crowded Republican field for governor is former Michigan Speaker of the House Tom Leonard. He wants to lower taxes and reduce government spending.

But Leonard says he’s also running to protect the future for Michigan’s children, including his own kids.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Tom Leonard: There’s three very simple reasons why I’m doing this. And those are Hannah, Thomas, and Danny. That’s our nine-year-old, our six-year-old, and our now 20-month-old.

When you look at the state of our state right now, the unemployment, the lack of income growth, a quarter of our population right now suffers from some type of mental health issue. Half of them are not getting treatment. The list goes on.

We are doing this because the last thing that we want is for one of our kids to come to us in the next 15-20 years and say, “Dad, we’d love to stay in the greatest state in the country. But unfortunately we have to leave because there’s no opportunity for us here in Michigan.” That’s why we’re doing this.

Education serves as a foundation

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: If you were elected governor, how would you try to address some of that?

TL: There are so many things that we have got to get done to turn this state around. One of the biggest issues that I’m focused on right now is education. Fourth graders right now in this state cannot read at a proficient level. Quinn, that is our foundation, that is our base. And I can tell you as a former prosecutor, if somebody has to drop out of school because they’re illiterate, you have created a pipeline to a welfare check or a prison cell.

I believe we need to make Michigan a right-to-work state again. Growth states in this country are right-to-work states. I believe we need to phase out the income tax.

I hear many of these candidates out there gaslighting people across the state, saying that they’re going to eliminate the state income tax on day one. That’s despite the fact that the legislature isn’t even sworn in until nearly two weeks after the governor comes into office.

I would say look at my past track record and my history. That’s what we did when I was speaker. And when I’m the state’s next governor that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to get these big-ticket items across the finish line.

Mental health crisis

QK: You mentioned education. What other issues do you think are vitally important at the moment to Michigan?

TL: I seem to be the one candidate out there right now that’s talking about this mental health crisis. As I said, a quarter of our population suffers from some type of mental health issue. Half of them are not getting treatment.

I believe it starts with ending the stigma that comes attached when somebody is diagnosed with a mental health issue. Think about this for a moment. If you or somebody is diagnosed with something physically, what do they typically do? They go to their friends, they go to their family, they go to their place of worship, they ask for prayer, they start treatment.

Sadly, when people are diagnosed with a mental health issue, they are scared. They don’t know what to do. We’ve got to end the stigma that comes attached.

Energy policy reform

TL: Energy costs. This is a big one right now as I travel the state. I’m hearing more and more of people that can no longer afford their electricity bills. Frankly, we’ve got a broken system. We’ve got a Michigan Public Service Commission that no longer works for the people of this state. They work for two monopoly utilities. They sign off on every single rate increase that they ask for.

Enough is enough. We are the one campaign that has put forth a plan to not only bring choice and competition to the state and the utility monopolies, but also shake up the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Right now those regulators, who dictate our rates, are three unelected bureaucrats appointed by the governor. That is way too much power given to the governor. The governor should never control those appointments. Our plan calls for increasing the Michigan Public Service Commission from three to five members, only giving the governor two appointments.

The other appointments would be made by the attorney general, the speaker of the Michigan house and the senate majority leader. These are the types of bold solutions we are putting on the table to address the problems that the people of this state are facing.

Data centers feed into energy problems

QK: There’s been concerns raised by some people about the possibility of rate increases and energy or water problems from the advent of data centers across the state. From some of your past statements, it sounds like you’re not exactly a fan of data centers.

TL: The one being proposed right now that’s being built in Saline Township is 1.4 gigawatts. That is equivalent to the energy used by a million homes. There’s now one being proposed in Van Buren that’s nearly double that, with energy use equal to 2 million homes. Quinn, there are only 4.5 million homes in this entire state. Two industrial-sized data centers alone that they’re proposing would equal the energy for 3 million homes.

I don’t want these things driving-up our energy rates. We need to end the tax subsidies that come attached with these things.

The legislature a couple years ago passed legislation to give tens of millions of dollars to these big tech data centers. They should not be taking money out of our pockets and putting it in the hands of big tech to go out and buy up our farmland. So, end the subsidies.

We need to ban the use of non-disclosure agreements. You’ve got these local governments that are signing these NDA’s. The local citizens have no idea who’s going to be built in their area. They have no idea who’s going to be running these data centers.

These data centers do not create long-term jobs. Yet there is the risk that they are going to drive up our energy rates. And every time I push back on this energy issue, people say, “Well, they’re going to be regulated.” And then I ask the question, “Who’s going to regulate them?” “The Michigan Public Service Commission.” And I say, “So the same three regulators that have given us some of the highest electricity rates in the country, the same three regulators that refuse to tell DTE Energy and Consumers Energy ‘No,’ we are now going to allow to regulate these data centers?” I don’t think so.

I fear that they’re going to drive up our rates. We’ve already got the highest rates in the Midwest and some of the highest in the country. We cannot afford to pay more on our electricity bills.

What to do about political division

QK: It’s no secret how politically divided not only lawmakers but the country and the state as a whole are nowadays. Do you think it’s possible that anyone who would be governor will be able to bring people together at this point in time? Or is it just simply a matter of, “We’ve got to go forward with our policies and hope the other side comes along at some point?”

TL: I believe Democrats gave Republicans a playbook two years ago for what happens when you wake up every day and you have no vision and your only focus is hatred of one person. You lose. And I believe, as a Republican, if Republicans wake up every day and their only focus is hatred of Democrats, they will lose.

They’ve got to put forth a vision. That’s why every single day I’m focused on tackling problems, not people. I’m going to stay bold in my convictions, I’m a strong conservative. I don’t shy away from that. But there is nothing wrong with working across the aisle when it comes to accomplishing things for our state. We’ve actually labeled it the “Dan Campbell” approach.

You may recall when Coach Campbell became the coach of the Lions and he stood on that stage at the first press conference. He didn’t focus on six decades of failure. He didn’t cast blame. He didn’t point the finger. He just simply said, “We’ve got a problem here. And with a lot of grit, a lot of determination, working together with a positive vision every single day, we’re going to turn this program around.”

If Coach Campbell was able to turn the absolute worst sports franchise in the history of all mankind around with that type of vision, we can do the same thing for this state.