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And now there are three.
But by the time we hit send on this newsletter, there may be even more prominent figures who’ve let us know they’re running for Michigan governor.
The three so far lining up for 2026 are Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a Democrat who’s thrown his hat into the ring as an unaffiliated independent, Republican Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt and Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
Benson was the most-recent - and first Democrat - to announce via a post on social media on Wednesday before a round of interviews and a press conference later in the day. Public relations guru Matt Friedman explained in the It’s Just Politics podcast this week why that’s becoming the norm. (Benson was a guest on the pod as well, so also take a listen to hear why she says she’s running for the state’s highest office).
Benson allies, including EMILY’s List, were quick to blast out endorsement emails in an effort to build an early impression of inevitability. The EMILY’s List endorsement matters because it helps establish her abortion rights bona fides. (Although it would be virtually impossible for a candidate who’s not firmly for abortion rights to make it through a Democratic primary.) She also shared a list of more than a dozen state and local elected officials (mostly from very Democratic communities) who’ve already endorsed her, plus former U.S. Representative Mark Schauer (the 2014 Democratic nominee for governor.)
There could still be possible Democratic primary announcements from Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and former Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Republican announcements from former Attorney General Mike Cox, 2022 nominee Tudor Dixon and U.S. Representative John James.
Digging Deeper: The next step is for the campaigns to collect signatures of registered voters to qualify for the ballot. We can expect that campaigns (smart ones, certainly) will be very careful this time around about their petition operations following the 2022 mass debacle that tanked the nascent campaigns of five wannabe GOP gubernatorial candidates.Nevertheless, efforts to ban pay-per-signature operations seem to have stalled in the Legislature. .
Have questions about Michigan politics? Or, just want to let us know what you want more of (less of?) in the newsletter in 2025? We always want to hear from you! Shoot us an email at politics@michiganpublic.org!
What we’re talking about at the dinner table
Looming deadline: Republicans broke the law in 2018 but may still get their way. The GOP-led state House adopted bills this week to preemptively scale back paid sick leave and tipped wage laws before they take effect in less than a month. The bills are a response to a Michigan Supreme Court decision that found Republican legislators violated the state constitution in 2018 in an effort to dilute two petition initiatives.
The Republican-sponsored legislation passed Thursday would restore a lower minimum wage for workers who receive tips. Republicans, business owners and some tipped workers say that would reduce take-home pay if customers stop tipping.
Representative Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township) said the court’s resolution to that case created big problems. “So as I worked through that ruling and I believe many members of this House on both sides of the aisle did,” he argued, “it was easy to see that this was the proverbial freight train coming at small business and coming specifically at the tipped hospitality workers, restaurant employees, bartenders.”
But Representative Dylan Wegela (D-Garden City) said that is not what would happen. “It turns out that it is better for workers to receive a full wage with tips on top rather than a sub-minimum wage with tips on top,” he said.
One of the bills would also reduce the number of employers covered by the sick time initiative and tighten the notice requirements for workers to take sick time.
Supporters of the petition campaigns say Republican lawmakers acted in bad faith in 2018 when they adopted the initiatives only to “gut” the laws afterward. They say the laws should be allowed to take effect as the petition campaigns intended. “The majority of Michiganders support the increase in the state’s minimum wage laws, the elimination of the subminimum wage, and the implementation of paid sick leave for workers across the state,” said Progress Michigan Executive Director Sam Inglot.
The bills now go to the Michigan Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. The Senate majority has sponsored a competing package of legislation on the same topic. “I believe we can achieve a balance that ensures that workers have strong rights, employers are able to run their businesses, and that the spirit of the initiative petition – which received hundreds of thousands of signatures – is upheld,” said Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) in a statement sent to Rick. “… I will not rubber stamp a plan that takes sick leave away from a million Michiganders.”
Let’s not forget the table was set for this when GOP majorities and Gov. Rick Snyder went down a constitutionally sketchy path - now known as “adopt and amend” – and chose to adopt these petition initiatives to avoid having them go to the ballot in a high-stakes election year. Then, in the lame-duck session, they made big changes to the initiatives.
Now, Republicans complain about an “activist” state Supreme Court imposing a solution (although a “non-activist” court might have simply determined the Legislature, having violated the intent and letter of the Michigan Constitution, could have simply held that the wage and sick leave standards would instantly take effect and go directly to what the standards would be had Republican majorities not broken the rules).
All that said, even many Democrats are looking for an alternative based largely on concerns from small business owners who say this will be expensive and that managing the sick leave provisions would be somewhere between difficult and impossible for employers. (An example that keeps coming up is emergency rooms could become unexpectedly short-staffed if workers don’t show up and don’t give notice. So there are more than economic concerns here.)
Any legislation enacted this year could still be challenged again in court, prolonging the uncertainty if lawmakers don’t step carefully.
“The big changes are unacceptable and we will fight,” said Danielle Atkinson of Mothering Justice and a leader of the earned sick time initiative. “We are open to all options.” Those options, she said, include another court challenge or another petition campaign.
See you in court: This is a new one: Michigan Senate Democrats have authorized a lawsuit to compel House Republicans to release bills from clerk's office purgatory so they can go to Gov. Whitmer to sign (or veto). The bills were adopted in the last session when Democrats controlled the House. But the session ended before all the bills were proofread and processed.
The bills were approved by the House and the Senate, and the Michigan Constitution says they must go to the governor. But there is no specific deadline on when they have to go to the governor.
A lawsuit has not been filed yet, so there are no briefs to peruse. We can reasonably expect Democrats will argue there has to be a reasonable time limit, otherwise the constitutional language is meaningless. The House Republican majority will likely argue the judicial branch has no constitutional authority to tell the legislative branch how to do its job.
There really doesn’t seem to be a stark precedent to guide courts, so it could be a matter of “first impression.” The question, in layman’s terms, is how long is too long for a legislative chamber to hang onto bills for “proofreading” once they have been adopted by the House and the Senate and are otherwise ready for a governor to sign or veto. A legal decision in this would have profound effects on the operations of the Legislature and the relationship between the legislative and executive (and maybe the judicial) branches of state government.
Fight, fight, oversight: The new Michigan House Republican majority has created a new oversight committee with multiple subcommittees and vast purview. It will be led by Representative Jay Deboyer (R-Clay Township).
The committee’s inquiries will be directed at actions taken by Gov. Whitmer’s administration regarding COVID-19 orders and business incentives. But the committee is also interested in actions by Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, both Democrats. Benson could be a ripe target now that she’s announced her campaign for governor.
“Many people throughout our state feel that corruption and mismanagement are plaguing multiple layers of government, and they want it cleaned up,” DeBoyer said in a statement. “These subcommittees are going to bring government back to the people and hold unelected bureaucrats accountable.
Democrats voted for the package of House rules as a collegial gesture but are not happy with granting the committees up-front subpoena power.
“Obviously, I understand the need for accountability and transparency in government, but creating artificial witch hunts and politicizing the committee structure is not the way to get it done,” said Representative Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton), the House minority leader.
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Yours in political nerdiness,
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
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IJP ON THE ROAD:
Zoe joined 1A’s Friday News Roundup this week to discuss Donald Trump’s frenetic first week back in office. The 47th president issued a slew of executive orders and actions on subjects ranging from immigration to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary nominee, saw his bid to lead the agency weaken after his ex-wife’s sister told the Senate in an affidavit that his alcohol abuse had led Hegseth’s ex to fear for her safety. And a Bishop made a heartfelt plea directly to the president and Vice President JD Vance, asking them to show mercy towards immigrants and LGBTQ youth.
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