James Tate is the latest in a long line of Detroit city council presidents as of January.  He attended the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island last week and sat down to speak with WDET’s Jerome Vaughn.  

Tate has been on the city council for years, but now he’s learning how to perform in his new role as president. He’s had conversations with current Mayor Mary Sheffield about her transition from council member to council president.

The city council president says he looks forward to working closely with Sheffield on an issue that he sees as Detroit’s biggest challenge: poverty.  Tate hopes potential opportunities posed by transit could help ease some of the effects of Detroit’s income gap.

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.

Women-led organizations marched on Washington to be heard during their historic efforts to achieve social, political and economic equality. Yet, not all women were included in the conversation. Many of the early women’s suffrage groups excluded Black women and women of color.

Discrimination in the movement led to the formation of Black-led organizations like the Detroit Association of Women’s Clubs (DAWC).

Founded in 1921 at Ferry and Brush at the height of the women’s suffrage movement, the DAWC made it their mission to fight for their own version of equality—one that included both gender and racial parity.

So what happened to the DAWC, its founders, and its mission?

Every year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation compiles its list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in America. 

This year, in honor of our nation’s 250th anniversary, the organization is centering its selections around the theme of equality—protecting and preserving spaces that have advanced the idea that all people are created equal.

The DAWC earned a place on this year’s list. Executive Director Candace Calloway joins the show to share what the designation means, and why its essential to preserve this historic space.

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

In this episode:

• Why did Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz leave to go to Clemson?
• What was the general theme of this year’s policy conference?
• Who gave standout speeches during the conference?

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

The Mackinac Policy Conference had a couple of surprising moments from lawmakers, leaders, and political candidates. This week on WDET’s MichMash, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben give a glimpse of some of the news happening on the island. Gongwer reporter Liz Nass joins the conversation from the conference to share her coverage of the annual meeting. 

Unlike other years, the conference was focused more on where Michigan ranked in comparison to the rest of the nation. “It’s very stat heavy. Everybody is really focused on numbers, specifically Michigan’s rankings. There isn’t specific legislation being spoken about, but more so about competition with the rest of the country,” said Nass. 

The conference had its fair share of news-breaking moments. One of the biggest was Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz leaving his position to become the 16th president of Clemson University. Nass said his departure points to a larger story.

“It follows what the MSU Board of Trustees have been dealing with for a while. A while ago, they had a special emergency meeting discussing [possibly] changing the code of ethics because of rogue trustees writing op-eds, which they expressed created a bad environment for our president.”

There is a conversation about changing how these positions are nominated. 

• More from WDET:

  2026 Mackinac Policy Conference

  ‘No!’ Whitmer shoots down presidential run, looks back at career at Mackinac Policy Conference

  Mackinac Policy Conference: Sen. Peters comments on Iran, state Rep. Puri on budgeting and DTE announces battery storage for data centers

Democrats are locked in a three-way primary battle in the race for US Senate. The candidates are Abdul El-Sayed, Congresswoman Haley Stevens and Senator Mallory McMorrow.  

McMorrow spoke to WDET about how she is campaigning across Michigan, talking with voters about their frustration with the current administration. 

McMorrow: The campaign is going great. I feel really excited about all of the events that we’re doing. We stopped in Saginaw and Bay City on the way up here, and people are really starting to tune into this race. Once you get past the politicos and the people who’ve been paying attention for the last year, the only thing that’s been consistent in this race is the number of people who are undecided. So, we are reaching out to those people every single day. The response is amazing, and it is our ninth oil change on the campaign, so we’re putting in a lot of miles, meeting a lot of people, and it feels awesome.  

McNamara: You’re a car lady, so are we doing the 3,000 mile oil change or the 5,000 mile? 

McMorrow: Oh gosh, we’re probably somewhere in between, we’re not trying to burn it out. 

McNamara: Earlier today, I talked with Jim Runestad, the Michigan GOP chair. I asked him who he wanted to face in the general election. He brought up Abdul Elsayed. He brought up Haley Stevens. You did not get mentioned. How do you receive that news? 

McMorrow: Well, Jim knows me better than anybody else as his colleague every day, and I take that as a compliment. 

McNamara: So, you’ve seen the latest round of polling. There’s always new polls coming out. I hate polls, honestly, because they’re just a snapshot of that particular day, right? What are you seeing, and what are you hearing from the community when it comes to this polling? Is it matching up with what you’ve been getting back from the people you’ve been talking to? 

McMorrow: Like I said, the only thing that’s been consistent is the number of voters who are undecided. So, we have been out on doors all across the state, we have been doing dozens of events. Our brewery tour is still ongoing, and what we hear from voters is people are nervous, they are scared, they are pissed off at this president, who apparently can just tell us that the war with Iran is over, when it isn’t. That’s not how it works, and they want somebody who’s going to fight for them. So, once I’m able to have a conversation and say, “I get it, I Googled how to run for office in 2018 on my very first try, I defeated a Republican incumbent helped build real power, and look at what we’ve been able to get done in Michigan.” Once they hear that, they’re excited, and they’re in. 

McNamara: What’s your base? Because I was talking with Congresswoman Stevens, she’s drawn quite a bit of support from the Black community. Abdul El-Sayed has the built-in Arab American and Muslim community, but what’s your community? 

McMorrow: Michiganders. As many people as possible who want a good life for their family, and the one thing that is a good note in the polling is I am up with independent voters against Mike Rogers by 12 points. 

McNamara: Mike Rogers, he doesn’t have the benefit of a primary. So, how do you go after somebody like that? Because you have to take aim at him, and you have to take some aim at your opponents. 

McMorrow: You do, and it’s a good point on how we frame all of this, because it is a Democratic primary to decide who will face Mike Rogers in November. All eyes are on this race. The Republicans know that control of the U.S. Senate runs through Michigan. If they can get Mike Rogers into the Senate, they block any path that Democrats have of flipping the Senate, and there is a real path. So, they are dumping tens of millions of dollars into this race.

And this is a moment where any Republican in the Congress or the Senate who has decided to stand up to Donald Trump has now lost their seat. Donald Trump has taken on retribution to primary any Republican who doesn’t bend the knee, and that’s how we’re going to go against Mike Rogers, because he’s making a bet right now. He’s got Donald Trump’s full backing. Is he going to stand up for Trump, or is he going to stand up for Michiganders? 

McNamara: The overall theme of the Mackinac Policy Conference is about unity, it’s about two sides coming together, bipartisanship. When you have a president that asks nothing but fealty from the people that are members of his party, how do you do that? Do you buy into slogans like that? Is bipartisanship always necessary?  

McMorrow: It has to be the goal. I sat down with seven Trump voters in Macomb County a few weeks ago and wanted to just get to know them as people first. Everybody wants to put everybody in boxes. You just asked me who’s your base, and I think it is true. It’s Michiganders. I went around the table and I asked, tell me in one word, how you feel about this moment. One woman said great. The others said scared, angry, anxious, pissed, and they are pointing at the president as a lot of the reason why. That he promised to end wars, he has started a number of wars and keeps us in wars, while telling us we can’t afford daycare, we can’t afford Medicare, we can’t afford Medicaid, and to your point has completely remade the Republican Party in his image, and if you don’t have loyalty to Trump, you’re out of the party. 

For us, I think it is critical that Michigan starts to show the way forward. I talk all the time about relationships that I have on the other side of the aisle that I really admire, whether it’s John Damoose or Roger Victory, Senator Bumstead in the Appropriations Committee. We’ve shown that we don’t have to agree on every issue, and we will debate each other passionately, but on areas where we can and want to work together, we do, and we do for the benefit of Michiganders.

Now, that is a rebuke in and of itself of what Trump is selling. Trump is selling a burn it all down, build up a party that is power above anything else to do what he wants to do, and what he wants to do is enrich himself and his family, and “who cares what it does to regular people?” So, yeah, I do believe in bipartisanship, and we have to get there with a Republican party that is not loyal to Donald Trump, and that means anybody who is bending the knee to Trump, we got to defeat. So hopefully we start to get Republicans who recognize that their constituents are the ones that matter and not this president. 

McNamara: To make it to the general election, there’s been some mudslinging. It comes with the territory. How comfortable are you with that? Because your opponent, Haley Stevens completely avoided the question, and, she says she wasn’t overly comfortable with it, essentially when pressed. So, I’m just wondering, does it come with the territory, and you get to move on, you guys can all be friends? Because as I was talking with somebody who follows Michigan politics quite a bit, there’s not a huge gap between yourself and your opponents. 

McMorrow: That’s exactly right. We’re going to have a debate tomorrow, and when you have three Democrats on stage, the policy differences are pretty minimal. Every single one of us wants Michiganders to have health care and wants that to be a guarantee, every single one of us wants to get out of the war with Iran. We have differences of opinions in how we do those things, but there is a stark contrast between the three people on stage and Mike Rogers, who is praising everything Donald Trump does, whether Trump attacks the Gordie Howe Bridge and threatens it to open, and Mike Rogers said, “Good, the President needs that for leverage against Canada.” When he threatened to annihilate all of the people of Iran, Mike Rogers said, “Good, peace through strength.” And that is the thing that I make want to make sure none of us lose sight of. I think that the primary does come with the territory. We should expect that the Republicans are going to unleash everything they have on any of us, so we’re all being put through our paces right now. Every detail about our lives, how we present ourselves, is going to be criticized. The voters will decide, and I believe that makes any of us much better positioned to win in November, because we will have been put through our paces, and the most important thing is that no matter what happens on August 4, we all come together on August 5 to defeat Mike Rogers. 

Democrats are locked in a three-way primary battle in the race for US Senate. The candidates are Abdul El-Sayed, Congresswoman Haley Stevens and Senator Mallory McMorrow.   

El-Sayed spoke with WDET about how he sees himself reaching key demographics among Democratic voters. He says his experience leading health departments in Wayne County and Detroit steers his views on policy.

El-Sayed: Well, you have to ask Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons about the MD they gave me. I might have have gotten duped. Maybe it was just a fake one, but I did put in the work. And then there was also the matter of the doctorate from Oxford University. But honestly, I don’t really care as much what people think about my education. I care that people in Michigan get a good education. I don’t care if you think I’m a doctor, I want you to be able to see a doctor. And those are the issues that we really ought to be talking about. 

McNamara: Stevens, yourself, McMorrow, you’re all very polite in person. Everybody’s really, really nice. It seems like there’s a lot of dirty work being done in the media right now. Every once in a while, stories will appear in Politico. Are we gonna actually take some of this mudslinging to each other, or are we just going to work through the media? 

El-Sayed: I will tell you this, I’m not here to sling mud, and when you see those stories, they’re not coming from our team. We’re a lot more focused on getting our message out to the people. I’ve been to 96 different cities now. On the way up here, we were in Cheboygan and Gaylord, and I want folks to understand what I’m about. I want to get money out of politics, put money in your pocket, pass Medicare for all. I think part of what people hate about the politics is that too many politicians run with no message at all, so instead their message is about how the other candidate is so much worse. You don’t have to do that when you actually have a message about what you want for people in our state. 

I’ve known exactly what I want for people, because I took the time to listen through my 10 years in public service, leading Detroit’s health department, running for governor back in 2018, leading Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human, and Veteran Services. People tell me it shouldn’t be this hard to afford a second bag of groceries, shouldn’t be this hard to send your kid to a dignified school, should not be this hard to see a doctor in the richest, most powerful country in the world, and I agree.

And so our politics is not about slinging mud at other people, our politics is about trying to bring ease to the 10 million people in this state who have had a bad go of things as a function—frankly, of deals that are being cut right behind us on that porch between corporations and corporate ball politicians. I don’t play that game. I don’t think anybody should. I’d like to make it illegal, and that’s a big reason why I’m running for U.S. Senate. 

McNamara: Your message has been resonating with younger voters, according to polling. What are you doing to reach out to Gen Xers, boomers who are hesitant? 

El-Sayed: Look, we’ve been talking to everyone, going everywhere, and I think what we’re seeing is overwhelming support among young people and very strong support among millennials, Gen X and baby boomers, and I think what’s always interesting to me is when I was in Cheboygan, I had this older woman come up to me. She said “You’re the first candidate about whom my granddaughter has been excited, and she turned me on to you.”

I think the most important thing any of us do every single day is care for our future that gets manifested in the in the bodies of our kids and our grandkids. We spend so much time taking care of them, and I think when young people are inspired by something, by a movement to actually bring politics back to the problems that we want to solve with them, I think what happens is you start to see older folks take note and take heed, and we’ve been seeing that up and down the state. 

McNamara: Black women make up the base of the Democratic Party, the most consistent voting bloc. What are you doing to reach out to them specifically? 

El-Sayed: I think the most important thing you can do is have listened, and as I said, we spend a lot of time in local communities, whether it’s Bible study, whether it is church on Sunday, whether it’s block clubs, whether it’s local democratic groups listening and learning. I think the most important thing is a message that is resonant. You think about the challenges facing Black women in our state, there are many of the same challenges everybody faces—the affordability of housing, the affordability of groceries, whether or not you could see a doctor, but those problems are exacerbated by structural racism in our state. The fact that too often Black women are left to Medicaid, which reimburses at half the rate, which is part and parcel why we continue to have the kind of maternal and child health epidemics that we see in our state, issues that I worked on.

My background is as health director for the city of Detroit, health director for Wayne County. Our work has been about trying to care for Black moms and babies. We led the single biggest expansion of Rx Kids in state history, built a program called Sister Friends back when I was in the City of Detroit that did things like provide free lift rides for prenatal care, so these are communities that I’ve been thinking about, listening to and delivering for for most of my career in public service, and you see that reflected in what we’re running on.

When I talk about Medicare for all, everybody focuses on the “all” part, because I want everyone in, nobody out. But ask yourself, for whom that Medicare for all is going to be the most important. Yes, it’s going to be in rural communities, very close to here, but it’s also going to be in urban communities, where too often, even if you are covered on Medicaid, your Medicaid reimbursement is so low that you can’t actually find a primary care doc, and you know that you’re going to be discriminated against at the point of care. These are all issues that come up when I’m in communities, and issues that we’re talking about and bringing to the fore in this campaign. 

McNamara: Do you have TV ads? Because the only ones I’m getting are for Haley Stevens and for Shri Thanedar. Those make up most of my TV watching experience right now. 

El-Sayed: I’m sorry to hear that, and I’ve seen those ads. They are very boring, but I will also tell you this: I don’t have AIPAC behind me, and AIPAC moves its money through a whole system of shell PACs, and those are the ads you’re seeing. So, we’ve seen what $7 (million), $8 million are spending already on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens by AIPAC–not telling you about her record on sending your tax dollars to a foreign government, but instead talking about, I don’t know what they’re talking about now, but, but that’s exactly how they work.

They flood the airwaves with ads, disinforming you about a particular record, because what they really care about is making sure that our foreign policy is driven by the interests of a foreign government, rather than for you. And I am going to be the biggest opponent that they have in the 2026 cycle, and they’ve already said I’m the single biggest danger to the U.S.-Israel relationship, and it has nothing to do with my position on any one group of people, because frankly, I don’t think we should be sending foreign military aid to Egypt either, where my family came from.

It has everything to do with the fact that I was the health director in a city, Detroit, watching kids try to go to school in classrooms with icicles hanging off of them, trying to provide kids glasses, trying to make sure that people didn’t fall into medical debt, and I happen to think that we should be using our tax dollars here to invest in health care here and education here, rather than sending it over there to buy bombs and tanks that get used to drive apartheid and genocide there. That should not be a difficult opinion to hold, but that kind of money is what gets spent on you when you say things like I just said. 

Democrats are locked in a three-way primary battle in the race for U.S. Senate. The candidates are Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Congresswoman Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow.

Stevens spoke to WDET about her plans for Michigan’s issues and her campaign for Senator.

Stevens: Oh my gosh, I’m writing a love letter to Michigan, and I’m having a blast, so something must be going well. But it’s obviously also a serious moment. We’re talking about the future of Michigan after kind of getting hammered these last couple years under the Trump administration, and we all know that Michigan needs a fighter and also someone who’s going to win for Michigan, and that has been me every step of the way. I’m frustrated by what I’m hearing from Michiganders, what we’re experiencing: rising gas prices, job insecurity, job loss in some instances, rising health care costs because of cuts coming down from Donald Trump. But then we can also look at how we’re going to create the economy of the future. I’ve got a vision for that, around 21st century industrial policy, things that I want to do for Michigan’s supply chain, ways in which I believe we can immediately lower costs like no tariffs on groceries and taking on the utility companies who are raising rates.

McNamara: DTE Energy had an announcement today talking about how they’re putting over a billion dollars into battery energy storage. Is that part of the clean energy future that you’re talking about? Because they’re promising to not raise rates or at least ask for a rate hike for two years.

Stevens: Well, one of my deep frustrations, and something that Mike Rogers, who’s also running for US Senate as a Republican, will go along with is the bad tax policy that is coming out of this administration. They got rid of the clean energy tax credit that left the consumers holding the bag. I’m deeply frustrated that rates continue to go up, and I don’t appreciate when Michigan taxpayers dollars are going to federal agencies that then give money to companies like DTE or consumers, and then they turn around and raise our rates. That’s actually a double tax. So I have written legislation to say, hey, if you’re going to get federal funds, then you’re going to either have to lower rates or cut executive pay, that is written legislation that I put forward as a House member that I will take to the United States Senate. I have also written legislation from the 118th session of Congress into this session of Congress focused on power outages and power outage relief, because what happens is power goes out, and consumers are again left holding the bag on the cost. There’s no insurance that’s going to bail them out. The utility company will send them maybe $35 when they’ve been out of house and home, their food has been spoiled. Small businesses have also been deeply impacted, and that’s where I started with my legislative solution, but I will just tell you that the tax bill that Trump and Co. passed last year, they called it the big beautiful bill, we called it the big ugly bill. It was voted on on party lines that didn’t work for Michigan consumers, that did not work for our energy future. In terms of battery storage, I’ve been proud to pass bipartisan legislation, actually going back to my first term in Congress as a member of the Science Committee on that front, and that was picked up by the legacy of the previous administration in terms of how we do a clean energy future.

McNamara: I want to talk about polling. You, so far, have been polling very well among African Americans in the state of Michigan. You had a couple of events in Detroit the other day. If the whole Senate thing doesn’t work out, would you consider running for Detroit mayor?

Stevens: Well, I love Detroit, and it’s been kind of going down memory lane. I was on the Avenue of Fashion on Memorial Day for the 100 men fashion event put on by the Bartells, and I was talking to my mom about it, and she’s like, your aunt, who I’m really close to, it’s my mom’s sister, she lived right off of Stoepel, and my aunt had a business for years in Detroit, and she loved the Avenue of Fashion, and there’s incredible history, obviously. There’s Motown, Motor City, the sports, all that, and I very much believe Michigan deserves a hands-on senator, and that means Detroit needs a hands-on senator.

McNamara: A couple years ago, you had a tough primary battle with Andy Levin, you’re in another tough primary battle. How does that differ from something like the general election? Because you’ve won contested general elections before, now it’s back to back tough primaries. How do you like some of the sort of mudslinging that comes along with that?

Stevens: Well, look. The deliberation of our democracy, the process of putting your name on the ballot and being out there, as you know, in our 250th year of existence as a nation, is still one of the purest forms of civilian service, right? You put up your hand to run, and I love it. I love campaigning. I’m grateful to be up there for Michigan. I’m proud of my record. I’m proud that I put up my hand to fight for Michigan, and I win for Michigan. I’ve been recognized as one of the most effective Democrats in the Congress, the most effective for Michigan, and this is something we need to think about. When Mike Rogers says that he wants to rubber stamp Donald Trump, well, then that means he’s not going to stand up to him when he’s saying that he’s going to keep the Gordie Howe Bridge permanently closed, or he’s going to put into place all these erratic tariffs, a different tariff announcement every day that has serious impacts on jobs and continuity, and of course costs, and so I’m just Michigan’s workhorse, doing the best I can to fight for us and to deliver for us, and that’s why I’m putting out my hand in this moment, and look, at the end of the day, we all know that there has been a rise and an uptick in extremes in politics, I mean, even with the senators from Minnesota, the state representatives getting ambushed, and just the governor – they were going to kidnap her—and that’s in some respects been sobering for people, and I go back to a lesson that my dad taught me, he was a small business owner, but he was also a kindergarten and first grade teacher, and his mantra, when he taught in Detroit Public Schools, was “Give out love and love comes back.” And you know, I do want to exude this love of Michigan, this love of community, something that we see all around us. I’m certainly not going to be giving a rubber stamp to an administration that’s hurting our state and hurting people who I care about, and that’s another reason why I’m standing up in this moment.

McNamara: So, as someone who likes to give love, you sound like someone who’s not overly comfortable with the whole primary process.

Stevens: Oh gosh, I knew we were going to have a tough race. I’m no stranger to them, and that’s what I’m getting at. It’s actually an amazing thing to be up there. I had a six way primary when I first ran for Congress, and I remember at the end I just thought, hey, we need to nominate the person who will get the nomination, whoever gets it, and then we got to go and win, and I’m in my heart of hearts a dedicated public servant. I will say, I do love nerding out and walking out for Michigan, and you gotta campaign too, and so I put my messages out there, just like the best of them.

Michigan picks its next governor in November, and the Democratic frontrunner is Jocelyn Benson.

Benson made her name as Secretary of State when she refused to overturn Michigan’s 2020 election — even when armed protesters showed up at her Detroit home while she decorated a Christmas tree with her four-year-old son. The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award followed. So did the Presidential Citizens Medal.

Now she wants to replace Gretchen Whitmer in a state that voted for Donald Trump just 18 months ago.

Her path got easier last week when independent Mike Duggan dropped out, citing low poll numbers and fundraising struggles. She has also faced scrutiny along the way: her own Democratic attorney general ruled she’d broken state campaign-finance law launching her bid, and the Trump Justice Department sued her for Michigan’s voter rolls — a suit a federal judge dismissed in February.

The Metro’s Robyn Vincent had 15 minutes to find out what this all means.

This article has been updated to note that the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit against Michigan over voter rolls was dismissed in February 2026.

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

There’s a lot going on in the state of Michigan, and compounding that there’s a big election that assures new leadership in the top three offices. At the helm is Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has led the state over seven uneven years. 

Whitmer spoke to WDET about her plans after she leaves office and reflected on her time as governor. 

McNamara: I don’t want to focus on looking back but what was the weirdest thing you had to navigate?

Whitmer: A pandemic, we’ve had incredible weather challenges from floods to tornadoes that have taken the lives of Michiganders and taken their homes. We’ve had a plot to kidnap and to kill me. We have had to navigate righteous demonstrations for racial justice that played out and a number of communities across Michigan during the George Floyd year, and I think we’ve had incredible challenges that that we’ve had to navigate, and yet, I’m always reminding myself, my oath is to the people of Michigan. I’ve got to show up and fight to make sure that we deliver for people and stay focused on fixing things like roads and helping people keep money in their pockets, and that’s always kind of centered me, even with all the chaos in our environment right now. 

McNamara: And you know, providing for the people of Michigan. To that end, I have to give you some credit. You might not remember this, but last year at this time, people were talking about you holding the blue folder over your face in the Oval Office. You cracked the code, because in Trump’s second term, flattery will get you everywhere, I guess. So, is there more milk to be gotten from that bell cow? Can you bring more money to the state? What can we do to get more federal money flowing into the state of Michigan via the federal government? 

Whitmer: Well, I’m going to continue to work at it. The Trump administration, we’ve got a litany of differences, right? But at the end of the day, my job is to show up for the people of Michigan. And while that was a moment in the Oval Office, I was there to advocate for a new fighter mission at Selfridge, and yesterday I signed a bill that ensured that Michigan’s aerospace and defense sector is solid and is growing, but the linchpin is this fighter mission.

So the fact that we got this done with Donald Trump in the White House and me as the governor I think is a testament to the fact that if I stay focused on delivering for Michigan, I can find common ground with just about anybody on some really important things for our state, and that’s what this job is all about.

McNamara: Last year it was difficult finding common ground with Matt Hall, House Speaker, getting a budget deal done. It’s an election year this year, somehow the budget process is moving more smoothly. From your perspective, how is it shaping up? 

Whitmer: Well, it’s not unusual in an election year for the legislature to want to get home and campaign, so budgets sometimes do move faster in election years. I think there are lots of things that are difficult for Michiganders in the Michigan economy right now—the tariff chaos, and coupled with the Iran war, it’s tough—and so I think it’s very important that we deliver a budget on time that actually helps people keep money in their pockets and makes the critical investments in our workforce and our infrastructure, the things that impact Michiganders every day, and help them get ahead. So I can’t open up the Strait of Hormuz unilaterally, but I can deliver a budget on time that helps Michiganders get ahead and defray some of the costs that we’re all bearing, because of the chaos coming out of DC right now.

McNamara: Because of that chaos, there are federal cuts looming for your time out of office. Does Michigan need more revenue, aka taxes? 

Whitmer: I don’t think that there’s really a great hope of getting anything on that front done with a split legislature in an election year. That will be a question for the next set of leaders that come in January 1. 

McNamara: You tried. 

Whitmer: Yeah, and we were successful. We raised $2 billion for our road infrastructure, so I ran on fixing the damn roads. We can say yes, we actually got the biggest investment in that infrastructure in 40 years in the state. But I do think that it is going to be incumbent on the next set of leaders to deal with all the cuts that are coming from the Trump administration and the Republicans in DC, with that house bill one, the Big Beautiful Bill, whatever the hell you want to call it, we know that there is more stress coming on all those fronts because of the actions that they took last year. 

McNamara: You spent a lot of time and effort trying to build the state’s population and build the economic base for people to come here. How are you feeling about that? 

Whitmer: We have seen more people move into Michigan than out for the first time in decades. We see Detroit’s population growing three years in a row. There are a lot of good things happening. Yes, there’s more to do. There’s always more to do, but to make Michigan a place where our young people want to stay, where businesses can find the workforce that they need, where we have a growth mentality, is going to be a continuing effort, needs to be a continuing effort, no matter who follows me in this role. 

McNamara: Two years ago, at the Democratic National Convention, you told me, kind of talking post plans, you wanted to go visit some national parks. Are those plans made?  

Whitmer: They’re not made yet. I leave office January 1, so I’m gonna take a little break, but yeah, I think maybe next spring, summer, my husband and I and our two dogs will hit the road, and I’m looking forward to that. Although I have not driven in eight years, so state police are gonna have to take me out to the state police drag and teach me how to drive again. 

McNamara: There are no national parks in Iowa. Will you visit anyway? 

Whitmer: No! 

Editor’s Note: Iowa is the traditional first stop for any potential presidential candidate. The early nature of the Iowa caucuses make an early success there a springboard to a successful run.

Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin is one of the most closely watched politicians in her party right now.

A former CIA analyst, she took three tours in Iraq alongside the military, and spent years in national security under both Republican and Democratic administrations before she ran for office. Then she won a House seat in a Trump-led district, followed by a Senate seat in a state President Trump carried. When her party needed someone to deliver the Democratic response to President Trump’s address to Congress, they picked her.

She’s been called a centrist. A pragmatist. A rising star. She’s also been called too cautious — not progressive enough, not tough enough — at a moment when many Democrats argue the party must get louder. The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent spoke with her at the Mackinac Policy Conference.

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, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

With war brewing abroad, Michigan is looking at bolstering defenses close to home.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill Wednesday that provides $150 million in state money to support upgrades to Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Southeast Michigan. 

Michigan U.S. Senator Gary Peters spoke to WDET about how the bill will strengthen the National Guard Base and his views on the war with Iran, as well as his upcoming retirement after almost two decades in office.

Peters: We’re looking forward to having that signing and you know this is a key element. We needed to have the state make this investment, $150-plus million dollars. But for your listeners, the really important exciting thing about it is that because of the seed money, we’re going to bring in nearly $800 million from the federal government, so we’re going to have the best Air National Guard base in the country. In fact, I had the general part of the Joint Chiefs say on the record that Selfridge will now be the finest Air National Guard base in the entire country, and I said, ‘thank you, that’s right. It will be.’

McNamara: Explain, for people who don’t really follow it, the strategic importance of Selfridge. 

Peters: It is absolutely strategic for national security, our geographic location, for one,  and when we think about INDOPACOM (Indo-Pacific Command), a lot of the ways to get there is over the Arctic, and so having a base in the northern area is why a lot of the strategic bombers back in the day were in Michigan. We had two major air force bases for that, so it continues to be important.

But from a training aspect, we’re going to have the KC-46, which is the next generation tanker, replacing a very old platform out there, now. They’re going to be around for 40, 50, years. We’re going to have the F-15EX, which is the advanced fighter jet that will be working off that platform, and then most people don’t realize, but in Northern Michigan, when you head up into the Grayling area and over in the Alpena area, we have the largest training area for the military east of the Mississippi. So it’s a very large area, we got aircraft coming in from [all] around. We’ll team up with our aircraft from Selfridge and train, it just puts Michigan in a key location. When people think of national security, we’re going to be one of the places people think about in terms of bases in the United States. 

McNamara: How important is the national defense industry to the economy of southeast Michigan?  

Peters: Incredibly important. It’s getting more important and this helps actually drive that, too. So, there’s the economic driver. You have the driver of the fact the base is there, you have a lot of people there… we may even potentially have some active-duty folks that will be coming into that base as well. So, that’s an economic driver, but it’s really about advanced technology. Where are things going?

When people think of national security, we’re going to be one of the places people think about in terms of bases in the United States. 

Everybody knows we’re the place for manufacturing cars, but the aerospace industry is realizing if you know how to make cars, you can make aerospace components as well. In fact, one area that I’ve been spending a lot of time on now is trying to think of another aircraft squadron we can bring there, and those are called collaborative combat aircraft. Those are not crewed, there’s no person in it, but they’re controlled by an operator somewhere else, and actually those KC-46 tankers, they have capability, not just as a gas tank, they also have command and control capabilities. And you could see them commanding a squadron of collaborative aircraft, and then launching those aircraft forward. That’s another mission I think Selfridge could win, and that would definitely put us at the very cutting edge of advanced aerospace research. 

McNamara: We’re talking about this like it’s the future and eventuality. We’re also at war currently with Iran. What are the impacts on that for the average Michigander? 

Peters: Significant from an economic standpoint. We’re seeing it at the gas pump right now, but that inflation is all through because of energy prices that we’re paying higher prices at the stores and groceries because the Strait of Hormuz is closed, and it’s pretty outrageous that that was not secured at the beginning of this war, it tells me it was rushed, that we needed to secure. Everybody has known that, this is not a secret. The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic place.

I served in the Navy. I was in that area. I remember standing on the shores of the United Arab Emirates. You could look across, you could just see a line of tankers going through a very tight area, choke point. The Navy knew how critical it was. They had plans to deal with it, and this is the question I asked. You know, they have plans. You have very detailed plans about how you deal with strategic places like that, but you need to prepare to actually execute that plan before you go to war. That didn’t happen, and in fact, I’ve raised this issue to folks in hearings. 

I’m on the Armed Services Committee. I said, I know you probably had plans. I learned how to do those plans in War College, and yet you had things like mine sweepers, which are essential. Your mine sweepers were in Japan when the war started. If you were prepared, the mine sweepers would have been near the straits, ready to go into action immediately. It takes weeks for them to get over there. That didn’t happen. I’m sure the president was advised by his military advisors that we’re not quite ready to do what you want us to do, and he pulled the trigger, literally pulled the trigger beforehand, and now we’re in a mess. 

McNamara: How do we get out of it? 

Peters: If you look at it from a military perspective, it’s difficult. It’s hard to clear mines unless you have a secure environment. You’re putting navy ships in a very constrained area. It’s a high-risk operation. So, militarily, it’s a lot easier to do that at the outset, the beginning, than trying to come back into it right now. And during this ceasefire, which is really a stalemate, the Iranians have been able to position more of their drone aircraft in the area, they’re going to be leases are public sources, they have more missile capabilities as well, so military, it’s tough, so it’s going to be negotiation, but President Trump put himself with his war of choice in a very difficult situation, and who’s actually paying for it? The American people are. People here in Michigan. We’re paying high prices. Just the war itself has been estimated, just from a military standpoint, so far well over $30 billion, and I think that’s underestimating it. That’s all the taxpayers are paying.

But then look at the impact of the entire global economy, and just our economy here in Michigan. What people are paying, you’ve got a third of the fertilizer goes through the Strait of Hormuz. That’s why food prices are going up dramatically. Farmers are scrambling to try to get fertilizer, and it’s a whole lot more expensive. The ripples through the economy are something that we’re going to be paying for for a long time, and so far, it’s a stalemate.

The nuclear material is still there, even though the president told the country he destroyed everything. Clearly, that wasn’t the case, and that material is still there. And now we have an economic crisis because of the Strait of Hormuz. So that’s where we are. The President created this mess. It’s not going to be easy to get out of it. 

The ripples through the economy are something that we’re going to be paying for for a long time.

McNamara: I mentioned you’ve been in public service for 35 plus years. You’re not yet 70, you’re not running for reelection, are you allowed to do that? 

Peters: Yes, I think so, and it’s a good thing. When I leave here in seven months, it’ll be 18 years in Congress, both in the House and Senate. I believe in what our founders said, that Congress was a place where you would go and serve, and then you go back to your private life, not spend your life in Congress. So, I don’t believe in spending my life in Congress, so I’ll go back to private life. I’m not going to retire, going to still stay very active and be part of public policy, but I don’t need to be in the Senate. I think it’s time to pass the torch to the next generation. 

McNamara: So, this time next year, when it’s time for a motorcycle tour, are you going to have the entourage or is it just going to be you and the road? 

Peters: I am going to have one more entourage this summer, so in August we’re riding. My Harley’s getting ready to go, and we’re going to go to places all around the state, the places that I worked on. But I think… when you ride together, those are long-term friendships. So, I’m sure I’ll still have friends that I can ride with. 

McNamara: What’s your white whale? What’s something that you didn’t get done that you really wanted to during your time in Congress? 

Peters: Well, this has evolved over that time that I’m there, but I think this is the biggest thing that we’ve got to figure out, and that’s how we deal with AI, with what’s happening with artificial intelligence that I’ve been engaged in. 

I’ve engaged in cybersecurity for a long time. I chaired, and now am the ranking member, Homeland Security. So, cybersecurity is a big threat that I’ve been working on for all these years. That threat has just gotten a whole lot bigger with AI. I’m sure many of your listeners know about Mythos, the AI system that Anthropic put out, that could basically attack systems all across the country, make them vulnerable to cyber attack. It is absolutely frightening the power that this technology has. And Mythos is the first, but it’s not the last. And we’re going to see others coming out that we’ve got to stay ahead of, and the whole AI system, we’ve got to be thinking about how do we put guardrails, understand the power of AI to do incredibly wonderful things, but also know that there’s a downside to it, dual use, both from a military perspective and just cultural and economic, it’s going to be incredibly disruptive. How do we work that?

So, I’ve been working through that over the last few years, we got a lot more years to go to try to figure it out, but the problem is time is not on our side, because it’s moving so rapidly that if we don’t have a full court press on this, it’s going to get ahead of us, and it’ll be tough to put any kind of genie back in the bottle. 

McNamara: You said you’re not going to endorse essentially in the primary for your replacement in the Democratic Senate side, so I’m not going to impress you on it, but I’m going to ask you, what are the qualities that are needed, and let people read the tea leaves from there. 

Peters: I don’t know if you read the tea leaves, I think you should just be asking this question of all the candidates. Something that I’ve prided myself on is that I work across the aisle and find common ground, and you know the last three congresses I’ve passed more bills signed into law than any US senator. In fact, I even passed more laws signed into law when Donald Trump, in his second part of his first term. The Center for Effective Lawmaking, that really evaluates us on getting stuff done, which has said I’m the most effective senator. Trump actually signed more of my bills into law than any Republican senator. They said that’s never happened in the 50 years that they’ve been following this, and I think that’s the way you need to govern, especially a purple state like Michigan.

Michigan, we have the broad spectrum of politics and it can swing back and forth, and I’m blessed as a US senator to represent all of Michigan, not just the blue parts of it, the red parts too. And so, you’ve got to figure out ways to work and just solve the problems that we face as a country. And what I’ve seen over the years is that people can’t get out of campaign mode. Campaign mode is about hyper partisanship. I ran the Democratic Senate campaign committee for two cycles. I know what that’s about, and it’s bare fisted, and you got to fight. But once you get elected, you have to govern now, and you have to figure out how do we solve problems that the American people want to see solved. They want to see their democracy actually working to help them each and every day, and if we don’t do that, then we start losing something very special. When I’m in campaigns, I’m campaign Gary, then I turn off the campaign Gary, and now I’m governing Gary. 

I’m not in a campaign right now, so I can totally focus on trying to deal with these big issues like AI and Great Lakes protection and all the other things I care about, but that’s what we’re going to need, someone who’s willing to turn off the partisanship and turn on the problem solving in a common sense way. 

With the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference underway, politicians, policymakers and journalists are gathering on Mackinac Island this week to discuss major issues facing Michigan and metro Detroit. 

WDET’s Russ McNamara heard about how Michigan’s leadership is handling big issues like gridlock in the state congress, data centers and international conflict. Read some of the key takeaways from today’s interviews and press conferences. 

Gary Peters on the war in Iran 

The ongoing war with Iran has led to a substantial rise in the cost of living. Oil prices rose sharply after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz 

Michigan U.S. Senator Gary Peters says higher diesel prices are only one part of the problem. 

“You’ve got a third of the fertilizer that goes through the Strait of Hormuz. That’s why food prices are going up dramatically,” Peters said. “Farmers are scrambling to try to get fertilizer, and it’s a whole lot more expensive.” 

Peters says the U.S. will be dealing with economic fall out for a long time, and that the attack on Iran was poorly thought out and hastily executed.  

Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill today that provides $150 million in state money to support upgrades to Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Southeast Michigan. 

According to Peters, the money will help support a new mission for the base and unlock federal funding for further improvements.  

“The really important, exciting thing about it is that because of this seed money… we’re going to bring in nearly $800 million from the federal government,” says Peters. “So we’re going to have the best Air National Guard base in the country.” 

The base is set to get a new fighter jet and air tanker mission. The defense industry adds more than $30 billion to the state economy each year, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. 

Ranjeev Puri wants to see programs continue under next state budget

The budget process in the Michigan House is on a much better track than last year. 

House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri says the political will is there to get the budget done on time this year.  

“Last year, noticeably, the speaker dragged the budget out well past the constitutional deadline into September, October,” Puri says. “This year, I think there is a motivation to try to get it done on time.” 

Republican Matt Hall held up a lot of the process during his first year as speaker of the House, hoping to send a political message and drive cuts. The deadline to present budget bills to the governor is July 1. 

Representative Puri says Hall is motivated to get a budget done this year so legislators can hit the campaign trail. 

Democrats have a two-seat advantage in the Michigan Senate and Republicans have a six-seat advantage in the House, so a drawn out budget fight is unlikely. 

Democrats are ready to fight to keep things like the RX Kids program for infants and new moms, states Puri. “If we’ve gotten to a place in our political discourse that’s saying that newborns are waste, fraud and abuse, we’re just not going to agree.” 

Puri says another program Democrats see as a sticking point is universal free school meals. 

He praises the state for setting a standard by guaranteeing breakfast and lunch to public school students. “I think that’s something we should take a lot of pride in, just being able to make sure that kids are learning on a full belly.” 

Hall has been critical of the free meal program, and tried to have it cut last year. He targeted mostly social programs for cuts while championing a rollback of the state’s property tax and education tax as a broader drawdown of state spending. 

DTE Energy plans energy storage for data centers 

DTE Energy is using battery energy storage to help provide power for planned data centers – including one in Saline Township.  

LG Energy Solution Vertech will provide energy storage with batteries manufactured in Holland, Michigan. DTE Energy CEO Joi Harris says they’re hoping to get the project completed by the end of next year.  

“It’s not a matter of if these projects will come to fruition – it’s when,” says Harris. “And when the first data center project we’re supporting comes online, expected by the end of 2027, our intention is to pause rate increase for at least two years.” 

Harris said the battery storage facilities will be located near the data center. 

“It’s not going to be on the Saline footprint. It will be built outside the Saline area. And this is clean generation,” Harris said. “What this does is allow us to take excess electrons off the grid and dispatch them as needed.” 

Residents in Saline Township and nearby areas have largely been against the data center despite potential economic benefits. The project was approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission and has moved forward with construction after Saline settled in a lawsuit.

DTE Energy says the battery energy storage represents a $1.6 billion investment. 

The Mackinac Policy Conference is officially underway. The annual event brings together politicians, policymakers and journalists to discuss issues affecting the state and Metro Detroit.

The theme of this year’s conference is “A Quest for Common Ground.” Key speakers include Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. Dozens of other speakers are also on the agenda.

A debate between the three Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate takes place Thursday afternoon. The conference can be streamed live at detroitpbs.org.

Detroit receives rating upgrades

The city of Detroit has received two upgrades to its financial rating.

Moody’s raised Detroit from Baa1 to A3, while S&P moved the city’s credit rating from BBB to BBB+.

Detroit officials say it is the first time the city has been in the A range since 1999. Mayor Mary Sheffield says the upgrades reflect the city’s strong financial practices. Detroit has now had 11 consecutive years of balanced budgets.

Small businesses asked to leave Millender Center

Big changes are planned for the Millender Center in downtown Detroit this summer.

The Detroit Free Press reports that small businesses in the building are being told they need to move out by August. Bedrock owns the building.

The Free Press reports that the IHOP restaurant will remain, along with the building’s 338 apartments. The Millender Center opened in 1985.

Gas prices fall

Gas prices in Metro Detroit have fallen in the days since the Memorial Day weekend.

The average price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded is now $4.57. That’s down 17 cents per gallon from this time last week.

AAA says it expects gas prices across the country to remain elevated as consumer demand stays high. Gas prices are also being affected by continuing tensions in the Middle East.

The U.S. launched strikes against Iran over the weekend, placing prospects for a peace agreement in jeopardy.

Sheffield appoints director of Civil Rights, Inclusion & Opportunity

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield has appointed a new director of Civil Rights, Inclusion & Opportunity.

Jade E. Mathis will lead the department. Sheffield says the department plays an important role in making sure all Detroiters have access to city services and opportunities.

Sheffield also named Megan Moslimani deputy director of the department.

Roads closed for Grand Prix prep

Several downtown Detroit roads are closed as the city prepares for this weekend’s Detroit Grand Prix.

Woodward Avenue is closed between Larned and State streets. Randolph Street is closed between Larned and Jefferson Avenue, along with several other road closures in the downtown core.

Drivers should expect detours and extra travel time in the area. Race events begin Friday and continue through Sunday.

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

How much has politics changed in the last 20 years?

That was a different time — a time before President Trump and MAGA, before the wealth gap continued to expand, before the country became as polarized as it is today, and before algorithm-driven media took hold.

But how different were things, really? What can we learn from that era of politics? And what should we be glad we’ve left behind?

Jennifer Granholm was Michigan’s governor from 2003 to 2011. She also served as energy secretary under the Biden administration. Granholm is on Mackinac Island for this year’s Mackinac Policy Conference, where she 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, YouTube, or NPR or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Life is becoming less affordable for Michiganders. And in Lansing, despite the constraints they face, many believe lawmakers are not doing enough to change that for residents. 

With state Senator Erika Geiss term limited out of her seat, two Democrats are now vying to improve life for residents in parts of Detroit and Downriver.

Justin Onwenu is running as a Democrat for District 1’s state Senate. He spoke about what he wants to change 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

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

With less than six months until the midterm elections, independent candidate Mike Duggan has dropped out of the race.

This week on WDET’s MichMash, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben discuss the factors that led the former Detroit mayor to make his decision and the reactions from both Democrats and Republicans.

Even though Duggan faced an uphill battle running as an independent, the general consensus was that if anyone could win in that position, it would be him. Kasben said the current political climate did not allow for that possibility.

Later in the episode, we discuss earmarks, a way to secure funding for local government projects. Following a decision from the Michigan Court of Claims, what lawmakers consider an earmark could change. Gorchow and Kasben also discuss how the evolution of this type of funding led to current criticisms. Patrick Wright, vice president for legal affairs at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, joins the conversation to help explain the decision.

Wright said the Mackinac Center felt it was the right time to file the lawsuit that led to the Court of Claims decision.

“We thought the grant process was being abused because the voting threshold wasn’t being met,” Wright said. “We looked at the constitutional history and we tried to put a stop to it.”

The Mackinac Center’s challenge focused on two specific grants: one for a minor league baseball stadium in Lansing and another for a baseball stadium in Utica.

• More from WDET:

  MichMash: What are earmarks? A breakdown of the 2026 state budget

  Detroit Evening Report: Mike Duggan drops out of Michigan governor’s race

  MichMash: Why the MEA is withholding its endorsement; Inside Michigan elections

Money is getting tighter.

The cost of life can be even more daunting if you have a kids. Children are expensive — diapers, food, clothing, and so much more. 

We don’t have paid family leave in Michigan, but a public-private partnership has tried to ease the cost burden. Rx Kids provides unrestricted cash to mothers who are at least 16 weeks pregnant or to guardians who have a child who is six months or younger. 

It began in Flint two years ago. Now, Rx Kids has expanded to dozens of communities across Michigan. 

What have the impacts been for moms and kids? And, why is Rx Kids popular among people and places across the political spectrum?

Nushrat Rahman is the Economic Mobility Reporter at the Detroit Free Press and BridgeDetroit. She 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

Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced the end of his independent campaign for Michigan governor. Duggan said he aimed to ease “the toxic two-party atmosphere in Lansing that’s holding this state back.”

At a press conference in Detroit, Duggan said the two biggest components of the race that held him back were dropping poll numbers and a lack of funding.

“The truth of the matter is, when you’re down 11 points and you’re down in the fundraising, the path is not realistic,” Duggan said.

Duggan launched his campaign in December 2024, one month after Donald Trump won the state in the presidential election.

Duggan said his plan at the beginning of his campaign was to earn 20% of Republican votes and 20% of Democratic votes. This idea, he said, was based on polls that showed 65% of both Republicans and Democrats in Michigan were open to supporting an independent candidate.

“There is a national clamor for someone who will stand up and say ‘I’m tired of these two parties fighting with each other’,” Duggan said.

According to Duggan, his fundraising team raised “more money than the major party candidates,” and 94% of it came from the state of Michigan. However, he said that national funding for independent candidates is still in its infancy. He believes that person will need to be an independent – and independently wealthy.

“Somebody is going to break through, but I’ll make a prediction. It’s somebody who’s got the wealth to be self-funded,” Duggan said.

Duggan’s advice for the remaining partisan candidates is to make sure their platforms are not based on attacking the other side. Having “something that you stand for positively,” he said, is what will make an impact on voters.

“There are people in this state who want change and are willing to work for it, and I’m hoping you’ll see the Democratic and Republican candidates reach out and embrace those folks,” Duggan said.

Reactions roll in

Duggan was a frequent target of criticism from the Michigan Democratic Party, but Chair Curtis Hertel’s tone was more conciliatory.

“As we look ahead, we welcome Mayor Duggan’s supporters into our growing coalition as we work to elect a Democratic governor this November who will continue to move Michigan forward,” Hertel said.

The Detroit Regional Chamber was one of Duggan’s earliest champions, as well as a source of campaign contributions. The Chamber’s president and CEO Sandy Baruah said the organization is still appreciative of the ex-mayor’s efforts.

“Obviously, I am disappointed that Mike Duggan’s campaign for governor is ending, but we are thankful for his leadership for Michigan and driving a critical conversation about how to move our state forward,” Baruah said.

What comes next for Duggan

Concerning his next steps, Duggan said he planned to spend time with his family before he thinks about endorsing candidates who match his beliefs.

“If there are candidates in this state that take up the message of fixing the schools, fixing affordable housing, getting the jobs of the future by working together, I’m going to be open to endorsing them in the fall campaign,” Duggan said.

Severe storms raced through metro Detroit Tuesday, bringing strong winds, heavy rains and even hail.  Streets throughout Detroit were left with large puddles, causing drivers to avoid them. Wind gusts knocked down trees and broke limbs in some places.  

The canopy of a gas station on Detroit’s west side was knocked over by the winds, forcing its closure.  The Mobil station at Plymouth and Hubbell remains out of operation today. 

Additional headlines for Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Mary Waters disqualified 

Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters announced last month that she was running for Congress in Michigan’s 13^th District.  She made the announcement just before the filing deadline.  But Waters has now been disqualified from running for failing to gather sufficient petition signatures.   

Waters tried to run for the job in 2024, but came in second to incumbent Shri Thanedar in that year’s Democratic primary.  She was re-elected to Detroit City Council last year.  

Congressman Thanedar is running against State Representative Donovan McKinney in this year’s August primary election. 

Mackinac Policy Conference preview 

Politicians, industry leaders and philanthropists are making last-minute preparations for the Mackinac Policy Conference.  They’ll travel to Mackinac Island next week to network, discuss policy and learn from one another.  

The annual event is held by the Detroit Regional Chamber.  Speakers will include Governor Gretchen Whitmer, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Professor Cornel West.  There will also be a debate between the Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate.  

You can hear coverage of the Mackinac Policy Conference on WDET beginning Tuesday, May 26. 

Gas prices drop slightly, but still hurt 

Metro Detroit gas prices have fallen slightly in the past few days, but are still nearly two dollars per gallon higher than they were at the beginning of this year.  The average price for a gallon of self-serve unleaded in the area is now $4.74.  That’s down eight cents from a week ago.  

Motorists planning to head out on the road for the Memorial Day holiday weekend should still plan for prices that remain near $5 per gallon.  AAA says Michigan is one of the 10 most expensive states when it comes to gas right now. 

NAACP calls for sports boycott 

The NAACP is calling on college athletes to boycott southern schools in response to a Supreme Court decision impacting the Voting Rights Act.  NBC News reports the civil rights organization launched the “Out of Bounds” campaign this week. 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently that using race to create two majority Black Congressional districts in Louisiana was unconstitutional.  

The NAACP is asking Black recruits to withhold their commitments to attend certain colleges, most of which are in the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference.  The boycott could have a financial effect via national sports television deals, ticket sales and alumni gifts. 

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.