Now that the election is over, we are in lame duck session. This week on MichMash, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow sits down with Detroit News reporter Beth LeBlanc. They discuss how Democrats will move forward after losing the majority in the Michigan House. 

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

In this episode:

• Defining a lame duck session and how this one will compare to others
• Democrats’ lame duck priorities
• Mike Duggan’s announcement that he will not seek reelection

The Michigan Legislature returned to the Capitol this week to set their agenda for their “lame duck” session.

The term refers to an outgoing politician or, in this case, the period of time between Election Day and the end of a legislative session, which is at the end of December. Michigan Democrats will have a short window of time to cross items off their to-do list before the 2023-24 session wraps up and Republicans take control of the Michigan House in January.

LeBlanc compared this lame duck session to 2018, saying that there are similarities.

“When Gov. [Rick] Snyder was leaving office and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was coming into office, there were some late night sessions that year and a lot of legislation that got through,” LeBlanc said. “I think people are kind of preparing for something similar, but it depends on if Democrats are able to find some consensus within their caucus.”  

LeBlanc and Gorchow also discussed the 2026 Michigan gubernatorial election and the rumors of a potential run for the office by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who announced this week he would not seek reelection for mayor next year.

Although there hasn’t been any official announcement, LeBlanc says his chances to run are great.

“I think Duggan has built a name for himself, within Detroit. A lot of the state has looked at what he’s done in Detroit, so I think he has a good chance to get through the primary,” she said. “That has a lot to do with who else is in the primary at that point.

-MPRN’s Rick Pluta contributed to this report.

More from WDET:

• Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announces he will not seek reelection
• View Michigan’s 2024 general election results
• Two term-limited GOP lawmakers have very different takes on lame duck

Democrats were on the blunt end of a very strong message on election day, as Donald Trump flipped many parts of the country and some traditionally Democratic constituencies to win another term in the White House. What’s the lesson for the party going forward? Can it reclaim independents and male voters, who seemed to abandon the party in large numbers? How much is this about issues, and how much of it is about identity?

Debbie Dingell is a U.S. Representative for the 6th District of Michigan, and Jamal Simmons is a political strategist, CNN political commentator and former Communications Director for Vice President Kamala Harris. They joined Created Equal to discuss the future of the Democratic party. 

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

Dingell discussed that the Harris campaign was likely plagued by a lack of awareness of “kitchen table issues” and immigration issues that were affecting voters, as well as a general lack of compassion for the struggles of the average American. She also explained that the campaign was too focused on fundraising and targeting Republican areas as opposed to speaking directly to Democratic-leaning voters in unscripted environments. 

Simmons agreed that Democrats failed to speak to voters in multicultural and welcoming environments. He explained the importance for future Democratic campaigns to focus on change and be on the side of the disaffected rather than defending institutions, but it’s difficult to sell that image when they’ve been in charge of the government for a long time. 

He also discussed how the Democratic Party’s reliance on polling led to a lack of awareness in how rhetoric from the Trump campaign was affecting voters. 

“Maybe the poll or the focus groups say it’s not really having the impact that we thought, but all the real people say it is. So you have to balance it out,” Simmons said. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Guests: 

• Debbie Dingell is a U.S. Representative for the 6th District of Michigan 
• Jamal Simmons is a longtime political strategist, CNN political commentator and former Communications Director for VP Kamala Harris

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

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.

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 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.

Michigan State House - District 3

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Polls suggest the presidential race in Michigan is a toss-up. The U.S. Senate race remains within the margin of error. A few swing Michigan congressional seats will help determine the balance of power in Washington.

And, adding to the existential worries of Michigan politicos, a handful of state House races will decide whether Democrats will continue to control Lansing for another two years, or if Republicans will take the helm for the coming term.

Statehouse Democrats had a good run for the past two years with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on the same team and ready to sign their bills. The Senate also has a slim Democratic majority. But the Senate and the governor are not up for election this year.

State House seats — 110 of them — are on the ballot this year. Facing a two-vote Democratic majority, Republicans only have to flip one seat for a tie or two seats for the slimmest of majorities.

State Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford) is bullish on GOP prospects this year. Posthumus, a leader of the House GOP campaign team, said Democrats are playing defense across the board.

“You have a Biden-Harris presidency and you have complete Democrat control of the state of Michigan,” he told the Michigan Public Radio Network. “This is going to be a referendum on the California-style progressive policies. It’s made our state [a] more expensive place to live, more difficult to raise a family, more difficult to find a job. That’s what voters are going to be voting on.”

Posthumus said he thinks the House races will be won or lost mostly on local candidates and local issues. He expects House control will come down to three or four races in Battle Creek, Downriver Michigan, Macomb County and Traverse City.

Part of the dynamic at play here is districts recently drawn by the state Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission with the constitutionally assigned task of creating as many competitive districts as possible. It appears to have succeeded.

“That’s kind of what these new districts are about,” said Rep. Penelope Tserneglou (D-East Lansing), the House Democrats’ campaign chair. “We’re going to have more competitive districts as we continue to move forward, and the majorities will always be slim.”

Tserneglou said she is looking for Democratic incumbents, in particular, to outperform the presidential and Senate races at top of the ballot.

“So I think we can [keep a majority], even if we did lose one or both of those other seats — although I don’t see that happening either,” she said, “but I do know that it’s going to be close on all counts.”

Democrats have leaned into some marquee accomplishments of this term — repealing abortion restrictions, for example, along with repealing Republican labor laws, including the anti-union right-to-work law.

Those laws were signed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder during a period of GOP control.

Republican Brian Calley was Snyder’s lieutenant governor and is now president of the Small Business Association of Michigan. He said the now-repealed labor laws improved the state’s business climate, and dramatic policy shifts from term to term are not good for business.

“Michigan is not a state that operates on the political fringes,” he said. “This is a purple state. It may be the deepest color purple state in the whole country.”

Michigan was the first state to reverse a right-to-work law since the 1960s. Changing longstanding workplace rules was one of the arguments put forward by unions and Democrats when the right-to-work law was adopted in 2012.

Michigan’s competitive House districts in many ways reflect the state’s political complexion as a whole, said Michigan State University political science professor and director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research Matt Grossman. He also said  tight margins mean the minority party still has the ability to block legislation, which is an important political negotiating tool.

“So part of power is stopping things from going through as well as getting things to go through,” he said.

That small measure of political power could have a longer-term effect of moderating policymaking at the state Capitol, Grossman said, even if that reality is not reflected so much in apocalyptic political campaign messaging.

There have been some longstanding issues with staffing at the Michigan Department of Corrections that have been boiling over the last few months — with some calling on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to bring in the National Guard to help serve as a stopgap. MichMash host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben sit down with State Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) to discuss the state of the department and what needs to be done to make things better. They also discuss voter turnout as we head into the general election.

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

In this episode:

• Staffing issues at the Michigan Department of Corrections
• Criminal justice reform in Michigan
• Voter outreach this election cycle

Earlier this year, Michigan’s corrections officers’ union asked Gov. Whitmer to enlist the National Guard to help staff prisons. Sen. Santana disagreed with the notion that the National Guard is necessary, adding that what the state really needs is “innovation.”

“When you think about corrections officers across the country, this career isn’t as attractive as it once was before,” Santana said. “So we have to become innovative with the way we structure our corrections facility in the state.”

The Michigan Department of Corrections acknowledged it has faced staffing challenges in some of its communities, requiring staff to work high levels of both voluntary and mandated overtime.

The Department said it has responded to the situation with an increased focus on advertising positions, holding hiring events, improving working environments, and negotiating raises totaling 18% since October 2020.

Regarding the Nov. 5 general election, Santana said that elections are also not the same as they were before and that both Democrats and Republicans need to do more in order to reach out to voters.

“Nowadays each voter is unique — even to the household itself. You may have someone who’s more conservative leaning in a household, and maybe you have a younger person who’s a new voter who is more liberal leaning,” she said. “I think that each individual voter has to have that attentiveness as we continue to move forward.”

More from WDET:

• State corrections officers union calls for National Guard deployment amid prison staffing shortages
• Metro Detroiters lay out the issues and candidates shaping their vote
• Does Michigan’s new budget unfairly tip the criminal justice scale?

A bill package getting a hearing Tuesday before the Michigan Senate Labor Committee would create more oversight of child labor in the state.

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

The bills would create a centralized state registry of children in the workforce rather than relying on each school district to keep track. The package would also toughen penalties for having kids work in unsafe conditions.

This isn’t the first time lawmakers have tried to update Michigan’s child labor laws since a New York Times investigation revealed extreme cases in West Michigan.

House bills to add more teeth to the state’s child labor laws have been before the full chamber for almost a year. And another to create a centralized way to monitor children in the workforce received a committee hearing in May but haven’t seen action since.

Opponents to those efforts say they could overcomplicate the child work permitting process.

-Reporting by Colin Jackson, Michigan Public Radio Network

Other headlines for Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024:

• The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education Advancement and Potential is hosting a series of free webinars about the Michigan Achievement Scholarship, with the first set for 6:30 p.m. this evening. 
• The city of Detroit is gearing up for its Halloween in the D festivities on Oct. 31, during which several police stations and fire engine houses across the city will host Trunk or Treat events. on Oct. 31. Visitors are encouraged to come in costume.
• The Detroit Police Athletic League is inviting young people to join its Youth Voice Council. The youth-led program is made up of 13- to 18-year-olds who will receive mentorship and training. 

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

Michigan Democrats currently have a trifecta in state government — with control of the state House of Representatives, Senate and governor’s office. But as November approaches, questions about whether Democrats can maintain their two-seat Majority in the House loom. On this episode of MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben and Zach Gorchow analyze which state House races could potentially tip the scale.

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

In this episode:

• Different strategies for winning votes
• Michigan Democrat’s trifecta in state government
• Top House races likely to flip

As Michigan House Democrats work to maintain their 56-54 majority, campaign ads are working overtime to help Republicans win back enough seats to gain control.

While TV and radio ads are effective, they can also be costly, and Gorchow and Kasben shared how one of the strategies to win votes could be good ole door-to-door petitioning.

“If you are a really aggressive door-to-door candidate, you can go to every registered voter’s house two to three times during the course of an election cycle. That’s free. You don’t have to spend a million dollars on television for that,” said Gorchow. “You just need a good pair of shoes. And it’s really effective.”

When the legislature and the governor are controlled by the same party we’ve seen large changes to gun laws, abortion rights, etc. Some Democrats are sharing fears that if they lose the trifecta in state government, all the legislative work they’ve done will go to waste. However, many Republicans criticize that agenda as steamrolling rather than working for bipartisan solutions in legislation.

Whoever wins control, Kasben says, it “completely changes the landscape for the next two years.”

The general election is Nov. 5, 2024.

More from WDET:

• What’s shaping Michigan’s Latino electorate ahead of the elections
• State leaders fight election misinformation with new Democracy Defense Project branch
• How do we navigate the modern political climate peacefully?

More from Gongwer:

• Some stability, some movement in top 10 House races likely to flip

Supporters of increasing the state’s minimum wage and earned sick leave received a ruling from the Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday that’s in their favor. This week on MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben sat down with Crain’s Detroit Business senior reporter Dave Eggert to discuss the ramifications of the ruling on the state’s businesses. 

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

In this episode:

• The origins of the adopt and amend legislative tactic
• The future of minimum wages in Michigan
• Michigan businesses’ reaction to the increase in minimum wage and earned sick leave

The Michigan Legislature’s controversial “adopt and amend” tactic refers to the legislature adopting a ballot measure before allowing it to go to voters and then amending it significantly during the legislative session.

The Michigan Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling on Wednesday found that the legislative tactic — used by the Legislature in 2018 to gut a voter-approved ballot initiative to increase the state’s minimum wage — was “unconstitutional” because it circumvented the petition initiative process.

“It was very controversial in the moment. The legislature at the time was controlled by Republicans,” Eggert said. “Ballot initiatives generally are thought to generate extra turnout, particularly on those issues, probably for Democrats; for Republicans and business groups, they feel like the laws were unwieldy.”

The ruling, which will allow for an increase to the state’s minimum wage and tipped minimum wage — as well as an expansion of the state’s earned sick time laws — will have a big impact on local businesses.

Some critics of those changes suggest exemptions for small businesses.

“Do they go and try to go back to exempting all businesses with 50 or fewer employees? That could be a pretty tough lift in the Democratic-led legislature” Eggers said.

The new minimum wage law will take effect in February 2025. 

More from WDET:

• How Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling on minimum wage, sick leave will affect workers and businesses
• Michigan Supreme Court sets stage for minimum wage boost
• Karamo forcibly removed from Michigan GOP convention; party chooses Fink, O’Grady for state Supreme Court

More from Gongwer:

• Impossible Or Inevitable? Adopt-And-Amend Fallout Continues