Tonight on The Detroit Evening Report, we cover Michigan State Police’s new campaign to encourage residents to sign up for emergency alerts; Detroit PAL’s annual Thanksgiving Food Drive and more.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

MSP launches ‘Know Your Plan. Be Alert’ campaign

The Michigan State Police has launched the “Know Your Plan. Be Alert.” campaign, encouraging residents to sign up for alerts to stay informed during emergencies. Alerts would send information during severe weather, active shooter incidents, missing or endangered individuals and more. For more information or to sign up for alerts visit michigan.gov/miready and click on local alerts. 

State holds hearing on child care licensing rule changes

The state is updating its child care licensing requirements and wants to hear from residents. The proposed rules would tighten regulations on drinking water and add standards for outdoor nature-based childcare centers. They would also make it easier for teachers to qualify for a job at a childcare center. The state held a public hearing on the changes in Lansing on Tuesday. People can submit questions or comments on the changes by mail or email until 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22.

Cycling at the Velodrome

The Lexus Velodrome and Detroit Parks and Recreation are teaming up to offer an indoor cycling program for youth ages 13-17. The six-week program will be held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays starting on Jan. 7 and running through Feb. 11. Youth will learn the fundamentals of indoor track cycling from experienced competitors and coaches. Registration is open now and costs $10. For more information about this and other Parks and Recreation sports programs, visit dprdathletics.com. 

Detroit PAL hosting Thanksgiving Food Drive

Detroit PAL is partnering with APEX Leadership Academy and the Detroit NFL Former Players Chapter to offer thanksgiving meals to 500 families next week. Turkeys, dressing, cornbread, cranberry sauce and more will be distributed from 10 a.m.-noon on Tuesday, Nov. 26, at Detroit PAL’s headquarters, 1680 Michigan Ave., Detroit.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will pause work on Segment 9, the final extension of a paved, multi-use trail through the park.

The decision comes after growing opposition to the four-and-a-half mile trail extension, including from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

Sleeping Bear Superintendent Scott Tucker said conversations with the tribe ultimately influenced the park’s decision to pause the project.

“The Grand Traverse Band, through all of our consultation conversations, were opposed to the route through this section of the National Lakeshore,” Tucker said at a news conference on Wednesday.

In August, Grand Traverse Band tribal Chairwoman Sandra Witherspoon penned a letter of opposition to the proposed route.

“Our opposition is grounded in serious concerns regarding the potential impacts on wetlands, tree removal, and the treaty gathering rights of our Tribal members,” she wrote in the letter addressed to U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), U.S. Secretary of the Interior Debra Haaland and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Superintendent Scott Tucker.

Tucker said the tribe’s concerns are the reason the park is putting the brakes on Segment 9.

“Out of respect to the [tribe’s] ancestral homelands, we are pausing that project,” Tucker said.

Tucker said the pause is indefinite and the park will prioritize other projects.

“We look forward to continuing the consultation process with the National Park Service and appreciate their willingness to work with us,” the Grand Traverse Band’s Witherspoon told IPR in an email.

TART Trails, a Traverse City nonprofit focused on non-motorized transit, was leading fundraising for Segment 9.

TART CEO Julie Clark said roughly $2.6 million has been raised and that those donations are restricted for use on the project. Clark said the nonprofit will talk with donors on what “possibilities may be” for the money.

Clark said TART respects the decision to pause the project but is disappointed that the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail might remain uncompleted.

“We lose safe access, right?” Clark said. “It is not a safe place to bike or run along M-22 and that section of the park, it is not comfortable. We know that the community wanted [a] separated trail, so we lose this opportunity to build a facility that provided safe, responsible, managed access to the Lakeshore.”

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore had contracted with a construction firm through the Michigan Department of Transportation for an initial design.

Tucker said that the design draft is still expected this winter but the park won’t act on it.

He said it will serve as a foundation for future conversations with the tribe if the park chooses to revisit the project one day.

Michigan and Ohio are both struggling to reduce the fertilizer runoff getting into Lake Erie which feeds cyanobacterial blooms, also called harmful algal blooms. Those toxic blooms can be hazardous to people and animals.

Both states are working toward a 40% reduction goal set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Canada is working toward that same amount of reduction. So far, the efforts are not meeting the goals.

Michigan cautious but steady

Michigan is spending a lot of effort on determining where the greater sources of phosphorus and nitrogen are getting into streams in the watersheds that ultimately flow into the western basin of Lake Erie.

Last January, the state used some American Rescue Plan Act money to conserve, acquire or restore some small wetland areas in targeted regions in an effort administered by Ducks Unlimited.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy have tried to determine where there are hydrogeological choke points where it would make sense to prevent or filter nutrient pollution.

One of those sites is in Lenawee County, not far from the Ohio border. Michigan is in the process of restoring one 300-acre wetland as a pilot project.

Michigan also offers incentives to farmers at those choke points to encourage grass buffer zones, small constructed wetlands, and other approaches to prevent nutrients from getting into streams. The state often goes through third-party partners such as local conservation districts. That’s because some farmers are suspicious of federal and state government agents and embrace Ronald Reagan’s quote, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

The Michigan approach presumes it’s more cost effective to be selective about incentives for farmers, choosing sites that could be the most beneficial.

Ohio goes deep and wide

Ohio’s approach has been to offer incentives to all farmers who are willing to use conservation methods that could reduce nutrient pollution.

Beyond that, through its H2Ohio program, the state has 183 wetland projects underway, encompassing 16,000 acres of wetlands and associated habitats. Ohio has invested more than $147 million in that effort.

As explained later in this article, Ohio has spent a lot and done a lot, but it is not yet certain whether it has had successful results in reducing the nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that causes the expansive growth of cyanobacterial blooms over a large part of the western basin of Lake Erie.

It will take several years to determine because so many factors go into each season of harmful algal growth in the lake.

The State of Ohio has launched a decade-long project to monitor those wetlands to see how well they’re working to filter out agricultural nutrient pollution. It will make adjustments as it goes.

Michigan’s data gathering plan

The watersheds in Michigan that drain into Lake Erie are not as large as those in Ohio, but they still contribute a substantial amount of agricultural runoff. There are other sources, such as wastewater treatment plants which release nutrients, but those are easier to identify and rectify.

So far, tackling farm field nutrient runoff has been expensive in both Michigan and Ohio and has been ineffective in reducing the pollution in Lake Erie.

The Alliance for the Great Lakes proposed that Michigan gather more information so that the state can take action that will make a difference without over-spending taxpayer dollars.

The goal is first identifying what creeks and rivers are carrying the biggest loads of nutrients to Lake Erie and what conditions cause those releases.

Recently, a few researchers, politicians, and government workers gathered on a small bridge over the Saline River, where it is little more than a channeled creek. The group had to move to the side of the bridge to allow farm equipment and pickup trucks traveling the gravel road to cross. They were there to learn about a data collection plan.

“This project is a really important kind of first step in getting better information and better data on water quality in the headwaters of the western basin of Lake Erie for hopefully the ability to make kind of different and improved decisions on how to manage that issue,” said Tom Zimnicki, Agriculture and Restoration Policy Director at the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Zimnicki invited the group to see some of the monitoring equipment that’s being used to track precipitation, water flow, soil moisture, and other factors that affect nutrient runoff. The equipment samples and analyzes right on the site, and the data can be observed online in real time. Fifty sites are being monitored, paid for by about $5.5 million in grants. ($600 thousand from the Erb Family Foundation and $4.86 million from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development).

Tim Boring is the Director of MDARD. He said the agency needs to better understand how, when, and where nutrients are washing off the land and into ditches, creeks, and rivers, such as the Saline River site.

“I think a piece of getting on track with that and having a better path on how we’re prioritizing investments is having a more complete picture of exactly where losses are coming from and being able to correlate that back to the management practices on the land,” Boring said.

And that starts at monitoring stations placed in those streams running through farmland, taking samples and analyzing them on-site in real time.

“We’re prioritizing, making sure that we’ve got more monitoring in streams so that we can understand and apply this not only on a specific, smaller watershed level like we’re standing in here today, but how do we relate that across a few different watersheds and scale that up, so we’ve got just a more complete understanding across the entire basin,” he said.

Among the handful of people who came to learn about the project was a legislator from the area, Democratic Senator Sue Shink. She said the approach of suggesting to farmers they might be able to do more to reduce nutrient runoff doesn’t mean much if there’s no information to back it up.

“I know that there’s a lot of sophisticated equipment in terms of farming and how people apply fertilizer. This equipment is sophisticated, (and it) is going to tell farmers how much is coming off of the field. And that’s really important information for everybody,” Senator Shink said.

Shink believes that once farmers understand they’re losing nutrients, which means losing money, they might take a second look at their farming methods.

“And that information is going to give farmers the information they need to change their practices to keep the nutrients and the soil on their fields,” she noted.

Ed Verhamme is with the consulting group LimnoTech and the President of a subsidiary Freeboard Technology which built the monitoring stations. Michigan State University’s Institute of Water Research is also providing technical assistance.

Verhamme is working with both Michigan and Ohio. He said Ohio’s wetlands monitoring program is much larger and twice as expensive. But that more expensive monitoring project is a pittance compared to the money Ohio has already spent on wetland restoration.

“They’ve chosen a large investment in wetlands and they want to understand the performance of those wetlands. So, a lot of instrumentation and lessons learned, we’ve applied to wetlands in Ohio and now agricultural streams here in Michigan,” Verhamme said.

He added, the immediacy of the data gives Michigan an advantage in its efforts to plan and invest in the nutrient pollution reduction effort.

“I think the project is going to generate data that we can see what’s happening right now. For scientists and researchers, there is usually a one-to-two year delay in gathering, analyzing, and publishing results,” he said, adding that this system will be much faster because of that on-site and real time sampling.

Ohio’s data gathering plan

Under the state’s H2Ohio program, the main strategy is restoring or constructing wetlands to filter out the nutrients from fertilizer used on farm fields. Plants and the soil in wetlands can absorb some of the nitrogen and phosphorus that gets into streams headed for Lake Erie.

Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Associate Professor at Kent State University, is the Research Team Lead of the H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program. She said in themselves, nitrogen and phosphorus are not bad.

“Every living thing needs these nutrients, but it’s too much of a good thing, especially in places like the western basin of Lake Erie. It leads to an overabundance of growth of photosynthetic organisms like algae and cyanobacteria. It produces a toxin called microcystin that’s harmful to people’s health and is really costly to treat for drinking water purposes.”

More wetlands should help filter out the nutrients before they get into the lake. At least, that’s the expectation. But, like a lot of things in nature, it’s more complicated than that. 

Kinsman-Costello said teams around the state from several universities are studying how well that’s actually working. They’re finding every wetland is different. Some of them might be doing very little when it comes to keeping nutrients out of Lake Erie.

“Are there even nutrients coming in to this wetland? For the wetland to prevent nutrients from going downstream, it has to have some nutrients going into it in the first place. So, things like that have been some of the early lessons that we’ve been able to communicate because we work with them (Ohio Department of Natural Resources) really closely,” Kinsman-Costello said.

That agency has only recently shifted its thinking about wetlands.

“For a very long time, wetlands or restorations were conducted in a way to focus on biological health, which is really important,” said Janice Kerns with ODNR. She oversees the Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program for the state.

Now, when Kerns says restorations for “biological health,” she basically means human-made wetlands that were designed to attract ducks and geese for hunters.

“But focusing now on nutrients and water quality is a little bit of a change from a restoration manager designing a restoration project,” she said.

Is this working?

At a wetland that was restored near Lorain, Ohio, Kinsman-Costello and a small team are taking samples and measurements.

Connor Gluck is a Field and Lab Research Technician. He monitors several wetlands in one region of the state.

“You can build a wetland and just be like, ‘Okay, cool, we’re filtering nutrients,’ but that’s just assuming that it’s working. You don’t know that it’s working until you’re going out here and routinely collecting these samples,” he said.

He’s checking wetlands every month to see if they’re doing the job or not. If they’re not, researchers need to learn why so they can recommend changes for future constructed or restored wetlands.

Helping Gluck take samples and measurements, Daiyanera Kelsey, a graduate student at Kent State University, said in the past, she’s studied how road salt flows into wetlands, but it doesn’t flow out. She said wetlands are “really cool systems” and this research is reinforcing that for her.

I’m learning how to look at soil phosphorus storage capacity, which is basically like how much phosphorus can a soil hold? And I want to see if a wetland is going to release it or if it’s going to basically hold on to this.”

The H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program is planned to be a ten-year long effort, assuming the Ohio legislature continues to fund it. At a total projected cost of ten million dollars, it’s relatively cheap compared to restoring or constructing future wetlands.

Janice Kerns at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said the program will eventually have enough information to make solid recommendations. Understanding what works and what does not work could really help the state in the future.

“So, now we can either go back to the restorations we’ve already done to maybe tweak them to make them even better or how we plan moving forward in terms of project selection and how we engineer those projects,” Kerns said.

If the existing wetlands that need it can be redesigned to do a better job of filtering out nutrients, Ohio could go a long way in reducing the phosphorus getting into Lake Erie by the 40 percent the U-S Environmental Protection Agency wants.

There are pros and cons to the different approaches Ohio and Michigan are taking. But, their options are limited by law. Unlike so-called point source polluters such as factories with pipes releasing gunk into a stream, there are no laws to regulate non-point sources of pollution such as farms, except in cases where there are direct effects such as fish kills that can be traced back to a specific site. It’s impossible to show cyanobacterial blooms in Lake Erie are caused by a particular farm.

One of President-elect Donald Trump’s key promises to the American public has been the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

In Michigan, tens of thousands of migrant workers and their dependents contribute significantly to the agriculture and food processing industries each year, according to the state health department.

Advocates say the mass deportation plan threatens not only the lives these individuals have built in the U.S., but also the workforce in states like Michigan, where they play a critical role in local economies.

Susan Reed, director of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said deportations could drive up the cost of produce.

“Employers are very likely to face employer-focused raids, and I would expect that to impact prices as businesses struggle to replace a workforce that is either no longer migrating or no longer present in the community,” Reed explained.

The logistics of Trump’s deportation plan remain unclear, although he has stated he would rely on local law enforcement and the National Guard to carry out the operations. How this will unfold is uncertain, particularly given that local law enforcement agencies operate under a separate leadership structure and do not report directly to federal authorities.

Moreover, said Reed, many local communities have implemented protections to safeguard their vulnerable residents.

“Many local communities have adopted resolutions or ordinances stating that local resources can only be used to cooperate with immigration enforcement to the minimum extent required by law,” Reed said. “I certainly expect new federal laws or proposals aimed at forcing more cooperation. But for now, many local communities already have policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.”

Despite these local protections, Reed said her office continues to field calls from concerned people in Michigan—both documented and undocumented—who worry that their lives will be upended once Trump returns to office.

“I’m hearing from my clients who are on the path to citizenship—some who have been granted asylum but don’t yet have a green card, others who have a green card but haven’t yet become citizens, and some who are citizens but are so traumatized by the process and by the rhetoric that they’re terrified of losing their status,” Reed said. “I try to reassure them, while being honest about the uncertainties ahead.”

While the future remains unclear, Reed emphasized that deportation is often described as a “civil death,” and said she advises vulnerable individuals to prepare for the worst—especially those whose children have birthright citizenship.

Reed said parents should have power of attorney, or, in Michigan, a delegation of parental authority, in place. She said this legal document can help ensure that children are not placed in the foster care system if their parents are deported.

She also recommends that parents obtain and keep updated passports for their U.S. citizen children.

Although Michigan has historically been a “blue wall” state, there were several Republican victories in Michigan in the recent election. Democrats may have won the open U.S. Senate seat and increased their majority on the state Supreme Court, but they lost a Congressional seat and control of the Michigan House of Representatives. What does it mean, politically? And what does it mean going forward, in terms of policymaking? 

Zoe Clark, Michigan Public’s Political Director, Colin Jackson, a Capitol reporter for Michigan Public Radio Network (MPRN), and Chad Livengood, a politics editor and columnist at The Detroit News, joined the show to discuss the results of Michigan election races and what they mean for the future of the state. 

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

Jackson explained that although Democrat Elissa Slotkin won against Mike Rogers in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, it was a very close race and very expensive for Slotkin. He also explained that Democrats had lost Slotkin’s old position as U.S Representative for Michigan’s 7th District to Republican Tom Barrett. Jackson attributed Democratic losses in Michigan to messaging from state Republicans, framing recent reforms made by the Democrat-controlled state House as overreaches.  

Livengood explained that although Michigan has historically been a part of the “blue wall” for presidential elections, many districts are seeing changes in demographics. This combined with Trump’s focus on low-propensity voters may have given him an advantage in the state. He also discussed Michigan’s recent redistricting and how it made some formerly blue districts harder to defend. 

Clark explained that although Trump won Michigan, the former President has never gotten over 50 percent of the state’s vote. She also explained that the state had a large voter turnout this year — and while this usually translates to sweeping Democratic victories, this election was more split and had much smaller margins. She attributed this to a lack of excitement about Democratic policies across many traditionally Democratic-voting demographics.  

“Whether we’re talking about folks who are concerned about what is happening in Gaza, or whether you’re talking about folks who were pro-Israel, whether you’re talking about union voters, whether you’re talking about Latino men — these groups that used to vote for Democrats are voting for Democrats less,” Clark said. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Guests: 

• Zoe Clark is Michigan Public’s Political Director 
• Colin Jackson is a Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network (MPRN) 
• Chad Livengood is a politics editor and a columnist at The Detroit News  

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

President-elect Donald Trump won Michigan this week in what was expected to be a very close presidential election. In this episode of MichMash, Zach Gorchow of Gongwer News Service speaks with Senior Capitol Correspondent Tim Skubick about how the former President defied the experts and secured a victory in Michigan on election night.

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

In this episode:

• Why Donald Trump over-performed in Michigan
• The sea change in the Michigan House of Representatives
• What’s to come in Michigan politics in 2026

Trump made a surprising comeback, handily winning 74 ​counties in Michigan despite losing the state in 2020. Skubick says this shift was largely attributed to high turnout among male voters, especially in regions outside of the typical “Trump country.”

“What ​Mr. ​Trump ​was ​able ​to ​do ​is ​he ​defied ​the ​experts ​who ​didn’t ​think ​he ​could ​get ​enough ​of ​those ​couch ​potatoes, ​men ​mostly, ​off ​of ​the ​couch ​and ​into ​the ​polls. ​And ​that’s ​exactly ​what ​he ​did,” he said. “​He ​overperformed ​by ​500,000 ​votes ​compared ​to ​what ​he ​did ​in ​2016. ​I ​mean, ​game ​over.”

Skubick also noted that Vice President Kamala Harris’ late entry into the race and her focus on critiquing Trump rather than promoting her own platform may have hurt her chances significantly.

“Ms. ​Harris, ​I ​think, ​made ​a ​huge ​mistake,” he said. ​”You ​have ​to ​give ​people ​a ​reason ​to ​vote ​for ​you ​rather ​than ​a ​reason ​not ​to ​vote ​for ​the ​other ​guy ​or ​person. ​How ​they ​missed ​that ​is ​incredible.”

More from WDET:

• MichMash: Jemele Hill on the changing dynamics of the Black vote in Michigan
• Created Equal: Examining the future of conservative politics under Trump
• The Metro: Retired UAW member shares why he proudly supported Donald Trump

Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) will step aside as the Democratic leader as Republicans take control of the chamber next year. 

Tate, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer led a Democratic trifecta as their party held all three offices during a consequential session that included strengthening abortion rights and restoring unions’ bargaining power by repealing Michigan’s right-to-work law.

“Come January, we will look for every opportunity to work with our Republican colleagues in a bipartisan manner to put the people of Michigan first,” Tate said in a statement released Wednesday. “We will fulfill our duty as the voice of reason and do our best to make our mark on legislation that moves through the state legislature.”

Tate, who was easily reelected, will continue to represent his Detroit House district.

Representatives Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) and Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor) quickly announced they will run for the position of House minority leader. Others could still join the race. The decision will be made in a closed-door meeting of members of the House Democratic caucus in the new term.

The current Republican leader, Representative Matt Hall (R-Richland Township), is widely considered the frontrunner to be the next House speaker. But he could face a challenge by Representative Tom Kunse (R-Clare) or other Republicans interested in leading the House under a GOP majority.

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DETROIT (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin has won Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, giving Democrats a bittersweet victory in a swing state that also backed Republican President-elect Donald Trump in his successful bid to return to the White House.

Slotkin, a third-term representative, defeated former Republican congressman Mike Rogers. Democrats have held both Senate seats in Michigan for decades, but were left without retiring incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow this year.

Michigan’s was among a handful of Senate races Democrats struggled to defend. They lost their U.S. Senate majority despite Slotkin’s narrow win.

The race was incredibly close. Just minutes before it was called for Slotkin, she addressed supporters in Detroit, acknowledging that many voters may have cast their ballots for her while also supporting Trump, who won the state’s electoral votes over Democrat Kamala Harris.

“It’s my responsibility to get things done for Michiganders. No matter who’s in office, just as I did in President Trump’s first term,” said Slotkin. “I’m a problem solver and I will work with anyone who is actually here to work.”

Slotkin’s win provides some solace for Democrats in the state, many of whom entered Election Day with high confidence following sweeping victories in the 2022 midterms. Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer still controls the executive branch and Democrats held onto the Senate, but Republicans won a majority of state House seats this election.

And Republicans also captured a mid-Michigan seat vacated by Slotkin, considered one of the most competitive races in the country.

The presidential race at the top of the ticket was expected to heavily influence the outcome, but Slotkin became the second Democrat to win a U.S. Senate race in a battleground state that also backed Trump for president, following Wisconsin incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin earlier Wednesday.

Trump won Michigan in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes, marking the first time a Republican presidential candidate had secured the state in nearly three decades. This time, he expanded that margin to about 80,000 votes.

Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, launched her Senate campaign shortly after Stabenow announced her retirement in early 2023. With a largely uncontested primary, Slotkin built a significant fundraising advantage and poured it into advertising. Her high-profile supporters included former President Barack Obama and Stabenow, who helped her on the campaign trail.

On the Republican side, Rogers faced multiple challengers for the party’s nomination, including former Reps. Justin Amash and Peter Meijer, the latter of whom withdrew before the Aug. 6 primary. Rogers served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2015 and chaired the House Intelligence Committee.

Rogers called Slotkin to concede soon after The Associated Press called the race, both campaigns confirmed.

“Congratulations to Congresswoman Slotkin on her victory, I wish her the best as she serves the people of Michigan in the Senate,” Rogers said in a statement.

Slotkin’s victory extends the Republicans’ losing streak in Michigan U.S. Senate races, where no GOP candidate has won since 1994. Michigan’s other Democratic senator, Gary Peters, is serving a term that ends in 2027.

Slotkin and other Michigan Democrats focused much of their campaigns on reproductive rights, arguing that Republican opponents would back a national abortion ban, although Rogers said he wouldn’t. How effectively the issue motivated voting in a state where reproductive rights were enshrined in the constitution by Michigan voters in 2022 remained to be seen.

About 4 in 10 Michigan voters said the economy and jobs is the top issue facing the country, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 110,000 voters nationally, including about 3,700 voters in Michigan. About 2 in 10 Michigan voters said immigration is the most pressing issue, and roughly 1 in 10 named abortion.

Slotkin used her funding advantage to establish her narrative early, aiming to connect both with her base and disillusioned Republicans.

“We all know that it’s been a tough election season,” Slotkin said Wednesday in Detroit. “I believe in my bones that America is at its best when we have two healthy parties that push and pull and debate on issues of policy and substance and make our laws better.”

She added, “That’s what our founding fathers intended, and it’s what makes our country great.”

Reporting by Joey Cappelletti, Associated Press

All 110 state representative seats in Michigan will be on the ballot this November, with Democrats hoping to hang on to the party’s two-seat majority in the House.

WDET is committed to bringing you accurate, up-to-date election results from each state representative race in Macomb County. Results from uncontested races are not included.

Be sure to bookmark this page or tune in to WDET 101.9 FM for live updates on election results. Last updated at 4 p.m. Nov. 6.

Michigan State House - District 13

Precincts reporting: 34 of 34 (100%)

No Data Found

All 110 state representative seats in Michigan will be on the ballot this November, with Democrats hoping to hang on to the party’s two-seat majority in the House.

WDET is committed to bringing you accurate, up-to-date election results from each state representative race in Oakland County. Results from uncontested races are not included.

Be sure to bookmark this page or tune in to WDET 101.9 FM for live updates on election results. Last updated at 2 p.m. Nov. 6.

Michigan State House - District 8

Precincts reporting: 70 of 70 (100%)

No Data Found

All 110 state representative seats in Michigan will be on the ballot this November, with Democrats hoping to hang on to the party’s two-seat majority in the House.

WDET is committed to bringing you accurate, up-to-date election results from each state representative race in Wayne County. Results from uncontested races are not included.

Be sure to bookmark this page or tune in to WDET 101.9 FM for live updates on election results. Last updated at 4 p.m. Nov. 6.

Michigan State House - District 3

Precincts reporting: 37 of 37 (100%)

No Data Found

More than three million people have already voted in Michigan’s general election, but officials say they’re still expecting a busy day on Election Day as voters head to the polls.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Shira Roza is the election protection director at Promote the Vote. She says her group is ready to help.

“Our nonpartisan election protection boiler room has in the past week alone responded to over 100 voting-related issues, from long lines at early voting sites to a lack of accessibility for voters with disabilities to voter intimidation,” said Roza.

To report issues or get assistance from Promote the Vote, you can call their hotline 866-OUR-VOTE. If you feel physically threatened at a polling place, call 911. 

Polls close at 8 p.m. in Michigan — excluding the Upper Peninsula counties of Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron and Menominee, which are in the Central Time Zone and will close their polling locations at 9 p.m. ET. Follow along with WDET on-air and online at wdet.org/electionresults for local, state and federal election results updated in real-time by the WDET News team.

—Reporting by Russ McNamara, WDET

Other headlines for Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024:

• Polls across Metro Detroit are open until 8 p.m. If you’re in line by 8, you will be allowed to vote no matter how long it takes.
• Poll workers are keeping an eye out for possible disturbances, so don’t wear campaign-related clothing to the polls, and make sure to listen to the instructions that poll workers are giving you.
• At the top of today’s ballot, Republican former President Donald Trump faces off against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. The candidates and their running mates have made several trips to Detroit in the past few weeks, making their cases for your votes. There are also several other presidential candidates on the ballot, from a wide array of political parties.
• In the race for U.S. Senate, Democrat Elissa Slotkin and Republican Mike Rogers are battling for the seat left open when incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow decided not to run for reelection.
• Here in the city of Detroit, there are two Congressional races. The 13th Congressional District covers the eastern half of the city and parts of Downriver.  In that race, Democratic incumbent Shri Thanedar faces Republican challenger Martell Bivings.
• On the city’s far west side, Democratic incumbent Rashida Tlaib faces Republican challenger James Hooper for the 12th Congressional District.
• Among the many other races on the ballot are contests for the Michigan Supreme Court, the 36th District Court, the Detroit School Board, and the Wayne State Board of Governors. There are also two educational millages.
• If you have questions about the general election or what’s on your ballot, visit the WDET Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide. 
• And be sure to follow along with WDET on-air at 101.9 FM and online at wdet.org/electionresults for local, state and federal election results updated in real-time.
• In non-election news, ESPN is reporting that the Detroit Lions have made a trade for Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Za’Darius Smith to bolster its defense.  The team plays the Houston Texans Sunday night. 

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Voters will decide who will serve on the next University of Michigan Board of Regents on Tuesday, Nov. 5. There are six candidates running for two spots that expire in January 2025. 

WDET is committed to bringing you accurate, up-to-date election results from each state representative race in the metro Detroit area. Results from uncontested races are not included.

Be sure to bookmark this page or tune in to WDET 101.9 FM for live updates on election results.

With so many closely contested races in Michigan, authorities are on the lookout for efforts to meddle with elections or harass election workers.

A new state law creates new penalties for election interference. That includes threats to election workers, disrupting polling places and attempting to interfere with absentee vote counting boards, which happened four years ago in Detroit.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Monday that state and local law enforcement agencies are ready.

“We’ve done tabletop exercises for a while and I feel confident that we are prepared, and I remain hopeful that all of this preparation is not necessary, but should it be, we will be on top of it,” she told the Michigan Public Radio Network. “We, of course, are living in unique times and that’s why we have done a lot of work with the Secretary of State’s office and the Attorney General’s office as well as local clerks’ offices to make sure that there are severe penalties for people that mess around, that there’s accountability for those who want to undermine the election.”

The U.S. Department of Justice also announced that it will have election monitors in 27 states, including Michigan. The cities include Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Ann Arbor, Warren and Hamtramck where officials will be on the lookout for voting rights violations. The DOJ has done this sort of monitoring in previous election years.

A pro-Trump Michigan attorney faces a criminal trial starting next month for allegedly tampering with voting machines following the 2020 presidential. Another new law in this election cycle also clarifies that local canvassing boards are required to certify election results based on the numbers provided by local clerks.

This election season, voters across the state will fill two seats on the leadership boards of Michigan’s three largest universities, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University.

The state constitution gives statewide elected boards general supervision over each institution’s finances, as well as over the hiring of top university positions — including its president. Each board’s eight members serve staggered eight-year terms, with candidates nominated at party conventions.

Wayne State University Board of Governors

Incumbents Mark Gaffney and Michael Busuito are running to keep seats that expire in January.

Gaffney is a Democratic nominee. He’s a retired Teamster and former president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. He teaches in Wayne State’s labor program.

He says he’s proud of the work the board has done during his tenure and wants to continue that work.

“We want to continue to raise the graduation rates,” Gaffney said. “We want to increase the diversity. We want to be more welcoming to all kinds of students, and we want to better market the wonderful news about Wayne State University.”

Gaffney points to Wayne State’s status among research universities and says he wants to make sure it’s accessible to students who face both economic and academic challenges.

He says all students should feel they have a place and a voice at the university, adding that recent student protests around the conflict in Gaza and university investments have challenged the university to strike a balance between sometimes competing viewpoints.

Suzanne Roehrig, the Working Class Party nominee, says she visited the pro-Palestinian student encampment on campus in the spring and feels the university should work harder to protect student rights.

Roehrig says she was eight months pregnant when she started at Wayne State, making it difficult to juggle the responsibilities of single parenting and school work. Roehrig studied education and library science and has worked as a teacher and librarian in Detroit and Ferndale.

She says her education came at a financial cost, and believes college should be free.

“In the wealthiest country in the world, there is more than enough money to make this a reality,” Roehrig said. “The working class produces what is needed to run our society. They have a right to a free education.”

Rasha Demshkieh, the other Democratic candidate in the race, came to the U.S. from Syria when she was 19 years old. She is an alumna of Wayne State’s pharmacy school; served on the Port Huron Area School District board for 13 years; and served for eight years on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.

Demashkieh says she’d like to see the diversity of Wayne State’s student body and faculty reflected on the board, and wants the university be a bigger part of the cultural and economic development in Detroit.

“I wanted to be a part of being able to push in that direction where we provide different opportunities to our students,” Demashkieh said. “When you provide them with a good job that helps the economy of Michigan… we want our students to stay in the area.”

Republican businessman and Wayne State Alumnus Sunny Reddy is also on the ballot, along with Farid Ishac from the Libertarian Party, William Mohr from the U.S. Taxpayers Party, Sami Makhoul from the Green Party, and Kathleen Oakford from the Natural Law Party.

Voter Guide: Learn more about the candidates running for WSU Board of Governors.

Michigan State University Board of Trustees

There are no incumbents running to keep their seats on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees this election cycle. Eight candidates are vying for the two spots left vacant by outgoing board members Democrat Dianne Byrum and Republican Dan Kelly, whose terms expire in January.

Rebecca Bahar Cook, a 1992 MSU graduate and parent of two Spartans, is the Democratic Party nominee. She’s worked for several political campaigns and served on the Ingham County Commission and on nonprofit and public boards. She says one of her big concerns is the cost of tuition.

“Michigan State was founded to be the university for ordinary, everyday Michiganders who want a higher education,” Bahar Cook told WDET. “I think there has to be sort of a recommitment to keeping college affordable.”

Mike Balow says he has probably been to every board meeting for the past four years. The Republican candidate jokes some people call him the “ninth trustee.”

“Michigan State’s had its own very public and particular set of challenges over the last decade,” Balow said. “I became very dissatisfied that the administration there and the board was dealing with the problems in an open, honest, transparent and forthright way.”

Balow says the university’s handling of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal and its survivors was “abhorrent.” And he also says tuition is too high.

Green Party candidate John Anthony La Pietra says the party believes college should be free.

Though not a former Spartan himself, he took a training there when he was preparing to teach English as a second language in Japan decades ago — and he says he later joined protests on campus against the war in Iraq. He wants to make the university a place he would be happy to send his own young daughters one day.

La Pietra suspects he’s pretty different from current and typical board members.

“I am someone who is independent of the big money or big influence that seems to be prevalent on University Board,” he said. “It’s almost like legacy positions in some ways.”

La Pietra says the university has handled recent student protests poorly and that he opposes the way students were “punished.”

Democrat Thomas Stallworth III says he was politically active when he was a student at MSU and thinks it’s important to provide students space for that.

Stallworth served two terms in the state House. He says MSU helped him find his talents and led him to a successful life and career.

He says he’s concerned that recent crises have caused conflict among board members. He hopes to bring some stability to the body.

“We’re at a point in time where we really need to learn from the experiences that we’ve had,” Stallworth said. “The Nassar incident, the shooting on campus, the firing of the football coach… These are all occurrences that have resulted in significant, traumatizing experiences for students, staff and the state. We need to be focused on understanding how we can perform better.”

Julie Maday is also on the ballot for the Republican Party, along with third-party candidates Janet Sanger and John Paul Sanger of the U.S. Taxpayers Party, and Grant T Baker, representing the Libertarian Party.

Voter Guide: Learn more about the candidates running for MSU Board of Trustees

University of Michigan Board of Regents

Republican candidate Carl Meyers has run for the U-M Board of Regents several times before. He says with six of the eight current members being Democrats, it’s hard for Republicans to win a space on the board.

Meyers says one of his concerns is how expensive a U-M education is, and how much debt students and families take on to fund it.

“My mission is to increase access to the university system by controlling costs, which will increase diversity,” Meyers told WDET. “If the University of Michigan is something made up of the Uber wealthy, it’s a bad thing.”

Democrat Denise Ilitch is the only incumbent running for reelection. Ilitch has held her seat since 2008, and says she has been “laser focused” on affordability. The program that makes tuition free to most families in the state was created while she served on the board.

She says her work on the board has also included advocating for an independent office to report sexual misconduct.

Ilitch says when students complained that it was hard to get mental health services on campus she advocated for the expansion of Counseling and Psychological Services.

“I have advocated for putting more resources towards that so that students can see therapists and counselors much quicker, particularly if they have an emergency or crisis on hand,” Ilitch said.

Republican Sevag Vartanian graduated from Michigan in 1991. His son graduated from the school last year. He says to lower tuition, the university will have to have different priorities.

“It’s got a huge budget, especially with the medical system,” Vartanian said. “We really need to look at what is essential to the student experience and what is not. And you have to make hard decisions, and you have to cut programs that don’t have a positive net present value return on them.”

Vartanian also says the university has too few spots for Michigan residents, relying on higher out-of-state tuitions to fund its projects. He points to the Ross School of Business expansion planned for California.

There are six candidates running for two Regent spots that expire in January.

Other candidates in the race include Democrat Shauna Ryder Diggs, Libertarian Andrew Chadderdon and Donna Oetman of the U.S. Taxpayers Party.

Voter Guide: Learn more about the candidates running for U-M Board of Regents.

The general election is taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. For the latest election information, visit WDET’s Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide.

The general election is on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.

In addition to the presidential, Congressional, and state House races, voters across the state will be casting their votes for who they’d like to serve on the boards of Michigan’s three largest universities.

There are two seats up for reelection on the University of Michigan Board of Regents in November. University board members oversee financial operations at the institution, and are responsible for the hiring of the university’s president and other key responsibilities — per the state constitution. Board members serve staggered eight-year terms, and serve without compensation.

There are six candidates running to join the U-M Board of Regents, including Democrats Denise Ilitch — an incumbent who has served on the board since 2008 — and Shauna Ryder Diggs. They’ll face Republican candidates Carl Meyers and Sevag Vartanian, as well as third-party candidates Andrew Chadderdon (Libertarian Party) and Donna Oetman (U.S. Taxpayers Party).

WDET distributed surveys to university board candidates on the Michigan ballot in November to gain a deeper understanding of what’s motivating them to run. Below, you’ll find candidate bios and their answers to WDET’s questions about their platform and political priorities.

For more information about the November election, visit WDET’s election guide at wdet.org/voterguide.

Responses have been edited for clarity and length.

Read more:

• Michigan State Board of Education candidates highlight their priorities 
• U-M Board of Regents candidate sues Michigan Democratic Party over convention results
• Why university boards are key to accountability in higher education

Editor’s note: This story includes a reference to sexual assault.

In a follow-up to our story about rural Democrats, we ask four Republicans in Kalamazoo what it’s like to be a red drop in a blue pond.

At the edge of a wooded lot on a busy street in Kalamazoo, there’s a collection of Republican signs. What’s unusual is that some are not on the ground.

“I put all my signs up on Howard Street, up in the trees, because I had 25 Trump signs stolen in the last election,” Ron Wiser, the owner of the signs, said.

I met Ron at his office at the financial group he founded in 1960. Wiser actually votes in South Haven, but he works and has a home in Kalamazoo. Trump supporters were relatively rare in the city in 2020; in the city’s best precinct for the then-president, just three in 10 voters cast their ballot for him. In half of city of Kalamazoo precincts, Trump got 20% or less of the vote, and in one he got just 5%.

Wiser said he supports Trump because like him, Trump’s a financial conservative and a businessman.

“I want somebody who’s actually worked and ran a business, and their livelihood depended on what they produce.”

Wiser thinks Trump would spend more prudently than his rival, Democrat Kamala Harris. His focus on government spending made him the most traditional of the Republicans I talked to. But Wiser suggested that he doesn’t think the former president is perfect.

“I would like to see Trump tone down some of his rhetoric. I hope some of the Democrats would tone down some of the rhetoric, and we could get back and — to a point where we can talk.”

And though Wiser’s a financial conservative, he doesn’t want the U.S. to pull its support for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.

Trump has been less than resolute in his support of Ukraine. And while Wiser said he’s fine with nudging the country toward a negotiated peace, he would not support abandoning it to Russia.

“We did this with Hitler. We let him have one country after another and waved our finger at him. And he kept going, kept going and going and going.”

Wiser’s wife Ruth also supports Trump, and like her husband, she supports him for economic reasons, but her other core issues vary from Ron’s.

I met Ruth at the Wisers’ home south of downtown. She said people don’t always see the nuances in her views.

“I think people look at me because I’m voting for Trump, and they think that she’s against abortion or something. No, not at all.”

But Ruth said it’s okay with her that the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to set their own abortion policies.

“That is our democracy, that we have the opportunity as citizens to vote and our representatives to represent us, to make those laws for your state.”

Trump critics say he could restrict abortion nationally by changing Food and Drug Administration rules, enforcing the Comstock Act or signing a ban. But Ruth doesn’t think he’ll go against the states.

Before she retired, Ruth was an engineer, then a business executive. Now she tutors at a dual-language school in Kalamazoo. Some of her students are from immigrant families.

Trump said if he’s reelected, he’ll mass-deport undocumented people, and end some forms of legal immigration.

Ruth said she would be heartbroken if her students or their families were deported, but she added the law must be followed.

“The idea that our border is open and people are coming across, criminals, rapists, murderers, but rapists primarily is terrifying.”

Ruth said she survived rape as a child, informing this belief.

“I heard on the news today, 420,000 criminals have come across our borders and are living around the US. Of those 13,000 have committed murders.”

There are more than 400,000 convicted criminal immigrants in the US, including 13,000 convicted of homicide, according to an NBC report. But most did not just arrive in the US. Some came as long as four decades ago. And many of them are serving jail or prison sentences, the Department of Homeland Security told NBC.

Additionally, the Department of Justice released a report last month looking at how often undocumented people are arrested in Texas.

It found that the rate was less than half that of American-born citizens for violent and drug crimes, and even lower for property crimes.

In Ruth’s view, the media gives Democrats a pass while unfairly scrutinizing Trump. She’s not the only one who thinks so.

‘They get away with it’

“The whole thing is to take him out. And it’s not working so far. And I pray to God it doesn’t work,” Patricia Melluish said.

Patricia and her husband Jim live in the Winchell neighborhood, about a five-minute drive from the Wisers.

Patricia was a stay-at-home mom; Jim is a retired ophthalmologist.

In their yard they have signs for Trump, state and local Republican candidates, and one more, which Jim reads: “Do you like law and order, secure borders, prosperity for all? Then vote Republican.”

Jim said he feels accepted by his Harris-supporting neighbors. But he recalls confronting a group of teenagers back in 2020 after they knocked down his Trump sign.

“They were very ashamed, and they were, said they wouldn’t do it again and all that. And I think they learned a little bit of a lesson, but it’s, I don’t see any Democrat signs get getting damaged.”

Patricia Melluish says that Trump says things that are true but uncomfortable.

“I think he says, a lot of times, the things that people agree with but won’t say.”

And the Melluishes said the media, government and Democrats are the ones pushing lies, not Trump.

Myriad investigations found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, but Patricia said that’s just another one of the lies.

“There was a lot of research done, and there was total evidence of it. But the mass media, the mainstream media, as my understanding just refused to cover it.”

In Jim’s view, Democrats are rarely checked on what they say.

“Because they’re saying it nicely and they’re happy, and they don’t throw in personal digs, they get away with it.”

And Jim thinks the media is unfair to Trump over the things he does say.

The recent baseless claims by Trump and his running mate JD Vance that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio? Jim said he doesn’t see it as racist, or even necessarily false.

“If you go back to their island that they came from, they live in dire poverty, and they do have to sometimes resort to that sort of eating. Those people are starving, and so it’s not, it’s not putting the Haitian down,” Jim said.

“Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. I don’t really care,” he added. “It’s a small point when I think about how many wars have started with Trump versus with Biden, the Biden-Harris administration.”

And a New York jury finding Trump guilty in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records? Jim said it shows the courts are corrupt.

“It tells me it’s all the more reason to elect him so he can clean at least the federal judiciary up and the prosecutors and all that.”

With people so divided on what is true and what isn’t, Jim doesn’t see the political divide healing any time soon.

“I don’t think it’ll ever happen. I don’t think we’ll get back together for a couple hundred years or whatever it is.”

Campaigning in Battle Creek

Steve Frisbie has not given up on talking across the divide. He can’t afford to.

Frisbee’s a Republican running for Michigan’s 44th house district against Democratic incumbent Jim Haadsma. It’s a seat Republicans think they can win.

I followed Frisbie as he knocked on doors in Battle Creek’s Washington Heights neighborhood.

On his front steps, Wendell LaGrand told Frisbie he’s a teacher, and a fan of his opponent. But he and Frisbie ended up talking for nearly 20 minutes.

“I can say I’ll remember you. I’ll look down that list of people, I’ll see Mr. Steve Frisbie, and Mr. Steve Frisbie might get a vote,” LaGrand said.

Frisbie said he appreciated that LaGrand was open to the idea of voting for him.

LaGrand said he liked the interaction, and Frisbie’s “boots on the ground” campaigning.

“He’s got to care about something, because go door to door in this neighborhood is, well, that’s impressive.”

Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.

WMUK also spoke with rural Democrats. That story can be found here.