Michigan's U.S. Senate race: Meet Republican candidate Dr. Sherry O'Donnell

Michigan’s primary election is on Aug. 6. The U.S. Senate race is on the ballot. Voters will decide who advances to the general election in November in the race to replace Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who’s retiring.

Michigan Public's Morning Edition is featuring a series of interviews with major-party candidates. (You can link to the rest of the candidate interviews at the bottom of this page.)

There are four Republicans running for their party’s nomination. One of them is Dr. Sherry O'Donnell.

O'Donnell spoke with Morning Edition host Doug Tribou.

Doug Tribou: You’re a medical doctor and an ordained pastor in the Assembly of God Church. In 2022, you ran — unsuccessfully — for Congress in Michigan’s fifth district. Why did you decide to try to get into politics?

Sherry O'Donnell: Well, first off, I'd say I was pretty successful. Didn't win the seat in '22, but 40% of the vote.

So, Doug, because I do a lot of disaster relief as a physician, I was asked to serve in New York City during the plight of COVID when COVID was at its peak. They were begging for medical personnel, and I went and I served in New York City for 93 days. Worked Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, back in Michigan on Monday. But what I started to see is that the American people were not hearing the truth, were not hearing reality. They were hearing scare factors and fear tactics. And I thought, that can't be the case.

And then [Michigan] Gov. Whitmer was shutting our state down. We can't tell someone who's trying to put food on their table whether they're an essential worker or not. So I started standing up locally, doing some things, backing the blue. And then I just really felt like my next voice to amplify the people's voice was to get involved in politics.

DT: You support President Donald Trump. Which of his policies — either while he was in office or his proposals on the campaign trail now — align with your own priorities?

SO: Number one, closing the border and becoming more strong internationally. I've been to the border [at] five points of location. I've been endorsed by Tom Homan, the former [acting] director of [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] underneath Trump, and we've got to close that border. Everything is downstream of the border in our culture right now.

Inflation is being affected by what's happening at the border. And we've got disease coming in. We've got [tuberculosis] coming in. We've got the fentanyl and other narcotics coming in and drugs. There's so much that is impacted downstream of the open border.

DT: There's a lot to go through there. You're saying that inflation in the U.S. is being affected by people crossing the southern U.S. border?

SO: Absolutely it is. We're putting them up in hotels. We're giving them rights. We're giving them moneys that are due to our citizens. They're taking our taxpayer dollars. Doug, when I was in New York City, one of the hotels in four days was turned into — I went out on Monday, and when I came back on Friday, the hotel had been bought and changed. It was being used for to house illegal immigrants while there were still veterans sleeping on the benches in Central Park.

DT: I don't think anyone would deny that there are concerns about what's happening at the southern border, but do you feel like that issue resonates with voters in Michigan who are much closer to another border, our border to the north?

SO: What we understand is that there are some of the illegals coming over the border to the north, also. When I was in Algonac, and Doug I've been in 78 counties now, but when I was in Algonac, they showed me the channel that some of the illegal immigrants have come up into people's yards. And Gov. Whitmer, this within this past...

DT: Who is "they?" Who showed you that?

SO: The people in whose home I stayed with.

DT: Okay.

SO: One of the things that Gov. Whitmer said within this past several months, [is] that she would give $500 to family members that would house some of the illegal immigrants. So, you know, it's a trite comment to say every state is a border state, but they are coming in. Look at what's happened to the recent murders within Michigan by illegal immigrants.

DT: Let's move on to another topic. You're opposed to abortion. Would you vote for a total national ban on abortion if legislation came through the U.S. Senate?

SO: There's not ever going to be a national ban. With Roe v. Wade being overturned, that now has become a state issue. There's never going to be a national ban.

DT: You don't foresee a scenario where that could come up in legislation, say, a Republican-controlled Senate and House? And if President Trump were to be elected, you don't foresee that that's a possibility?

SO: No, I don't see that it's ever going to be a possibility to have a national ban.

DT: The seat you’re running for has been held by Senator Debbie Stabenow, who won four elections for the seat starting in 2000. You have been active with the group U.S. Term Limits, which supports limits of three terms in the House and two terms in the Senate. Why do you support the organization?

SO: People are ready for a change, and we can't continue to do the same old, same old and expect the change that we need to be and to see. People, when they go to D.C. for that long, they no longer are working for the people, but they're working for themselves and for their best interest and that interest of the bureaucrats.

Look at [U.S. Sen. Mitch] McConnell. Look at, you know, some of the people that have been — [U.S. Rep. Nancy] Pelosi has been in there forever. They lose their effectiveness, and they're there to go along to get along. That needs to be stopped. We absolutely need to make certain that we put in term limits.

DT: In the case of Senator Debbie Stabenow, who also served in the House before moving over to the Senate, she's been known for being part of key budget and finance legislation, especially related to agriculture. And she's earned some prominent seats on powerful committees. What would you do — as someone without that political experience — to fill the role that Stabenow has played in looking out for Michigan's interests in Washington?

SO: So first off, Debbie has done very well with the farmers, and I'll continue to support the farmers and agriculture. A lot of Michigan is ag. But I don't think the budget has been at all under control, and I think she has not continued to serve the people well in her budgetary policy. We need to make certain that that does happen.

DT: I have one final question for you, Dr. O'Donnell. Will you accept the official results of the Aug. 6 primary win or lose?

SO: I think election integrity is paramount. I have said that I would serve on the Election Integrity Committee once in office. So as long as we can assure that every vote counts, that there's not any voters that are not Michigan residents that are voting by election, absolutely I will and that I would support the candidate that wins that. But of course, I believe it's going to be me.

But we need to make certain that election integrity is embraced and carried forth.

Editor's note: Quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the interview near the top of this page.

We recorded this interview before the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and before President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign.