Freep picks for Michigan House of Representatives in Aug. 6 primary | Endorsements
The Detroit Free Press Editorial Board has endorsed the following candidates for the Michigan House of Representatives in the Aug. 6 party primary election. The editorial board chooses the best-qualified candidate on each party's ticket in the most competitive primary races in metro Detroit. Because so many new lawmakers won office in 2022, few seats are truly competitive this year, either because a challenger has little chance against a strong incumbent, or no challenger has emerged. Some districts are so heavily Democrat or Republican that they will effectively be decided in the primary; the Free Press Editorial Board may make separate endorsements this fall in seats with a competitive general election.
You can search for your district or for a replica of your ballot on the Michigan Secretary of State's website. Local clerks will mail absentee ballots to Michigan voters on June 27. Registered voters may cast ballots early, in person, from July 27 to Aug. 4 — check with your local clerk for the location of early voting sites and ballot dropboxes. And, of course, you can vote — and register to vote — in person on Aug. 6, Election Day.
7th District — Wayne County
Michigan’s newly redrawn 7th state House District includes Highland Park, Hamtramck and a number of Detroit neighborhoods north of the downtown area — formerly part of the 9th District seat held by Rep. Abraham Aiyash, D-Hamtramck — that deserve more investment and need strong representation in Lansing.
Aiyash initially filed to run for the newly configured seat but soon dropped out, making this a heavily Democratic open seat likely to be decided in the primary.
Voters will chose among attorney Tonya Myers Phillips, mechanic Abraham Shaw II and real estate agent Ernest Little on the Aug. 6 primary ballot.
TONYA MYERS PHILLIPS has devoted her legal career to public service and has a track record of producing results for Detroiters. She is the best choice for 7th District voters.
As an attorney at the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, Phillips worked on a lawsuit that required Detroit Public Schools to remediate a contaminated site, enforced local minimum wage laws before the state pre-empted local control over hourly wages, something she says she’d work to change in Lansing. She led the Right to Counsel coalition that pushed the city to provide free attorneys to renters facing eviction. Phillips was elected to Detroit's Charter Review Commission in 2009, serving from 2010 to 2012. Her priorities in Lansing would include a host of crucial policy needs like affordable housing, workers rights and environmental justice.
Shaw, a four-time candidate who says he tracks issues by driving 200 miles through Detroit each day and talking to customers of his mobile auto shop, has an unconventional appeal. Little, who has also run for office in four previous races, is informed and passionate about his community.
But Phillips is a fighter who has won meaningful improvements for her community, and is simply the best qualified candidate in this race.
More 2024 Freep endorsements:Freep endorsements for US House, US Senate, in Aug. 6 primary
13th District — Macomb County
State Rep. MAI XIONG, D-Warren, who won the 13th District seat in an April special election after former Rep. Lori Stone was elected mayor of Warren. Voters should give her a full term in office.
The district has changed since Xiong won the partial term, then comprising eastern Warren and a portion of northwest Detroit. The new 13th District includes northeast Warren, Roseville and a portion of St. Clair Shores.
In her short time in office, Xiong has worked to advance important causes, introducing legislation to establish a doula scholarship program to support students training to provide support and guidance new and expectant mothers, and co-sponsoring legislation that would eliminate what’s known as the “Dark Store” tax loophole, which big-box retailers use to lower tax liability, using vacant stores to reduce property value assessments.
Xiong’s family was part of a Hmong tribe in Laos that aided the U.S. during the Vietnam War era. She was born in a refugee camp in Thailand in 1984, and her family emigrated to the U.S. in 1987 after being granted asylum.
She is the first Hmong American to serve in the Michigan House of Representatives.
As mother of four children in public schools, education funding is a primary legislative priority for Xiong, along with maternal health, caregiving for seniors and environmental protection.
She has some stiff primary competition in former state Rep. Richard Steenland and former Detroit school board member Patricia Johnson Singleton, both of Roseville.
Steenland’s top priorities include boosting police, fire and EMS funding, economic development and infrastructure. He sponsored several bills that became law during his time in the Legislature from 2021-2023, and feels he’s got unfinished business in Lansing. Johnson Singleton’s top priorities include improving access to mental health care, better monitoring for abuse and poor conditions in mental health facilities, boosting early middle college programs and investing in better transportation infrastructure.
Xiong’s only been in office for a few months, but she’s demonstrated a strong work ethic and an ability to express her experiences in ways that speak to and for underrepresented communities.
14th District — Wayne, Oakland, Macomb counties
Another redrawn state House District makes for an interesting race in the 14th, which now includes Hazel Park, Centerline and parts of Warren and Madison Heights.
State Rep. MIKE McFALL, D-Hazel Park, who currently represents Madison Heights, Hazel Park, Highland Park and parts of Detroit and Ferndale, is the Free Press’ choice for the seat.
He faces a formidable challenger in Jim Fouts, who was mayor of Warren for 15 years until newly established term limits ended his tenure in 2023.
McFall, a former Hazel Park city councilman and downtown development authority board member, first ran to become a state lawmaker after struggling to gain adequate access to mental health treatment for a family member in 2020.
McFall demonstrates a strong understanding of the many ways that barriers to mental health care can exacerbate problems Michigan faces, from gun violence and addiction to homelessness and domestic abuse.
Other legislative priorities for McFall include affordable housing, public transit and other quality of life initiatives to help attract and retain talent and large-scale business development in Michigan.
Fouts is extraordinarily experienced in public service and takes particular pride in constituent services, spending much of his time calling back residents in need of problem solving. He’s also extremely familiar with issues specific to parts of Warren and surrounding communities, like flooding and traffic congestion.
But voters this August should give McFall a chance to continue building momentum as an effective lawmaker.
26th District — Wayne County
In this race for the seat that represents Garden City, Inkster and part of Westland, state Rep. DYLAN WEGELA deserves another term to continue his work advocating for public schools and labor unions, while opposing corporate tax incentives.
Wegela was a teacher and union organizer fed up with a lack of resources in public schools when he successfully ran for the seat in 2022. He introduced legislation that would have eliminated the remaining debt of the Inkster school district, which the state ordered dissolved in 2013. Inkster residents had spent a decade paying debt service on behalf of a school district that no longer existed. (The debt was dissolved in a later budget.)
Wegela is a fierce opponent of corporate influence on politics and advocates for a statewide ballot initiative to enact campaign finance reform.
He wants to see a ban on corporate utility companies donating to political campaigns through dark money pathways, and he favors expansions government transparency measures.
His primary opponent, Inkster Councilwoman DeArtriss Coleman-Richardson, is a retired social worker and a cancer survivor who would be a fierce advocate for her community in Lansing.
But Wegela deserves another two years to continue fighting corporate influence — even when it means challenging leaders of his own party — and standing up for his belief that “public dollars should stay public.”
33rd District — Washtenaw County
State Rep. Felicia Brabec, D-Pittsfield Township, is not seeking reelection in the Washtenaw County's 33rd District, which includes southern Ann Arbor and neighboring Saline Township, Saline, Lodi Township, Bridgewater Townships and parts of Scio, York and Pittsfield townships.
That leaves voters with an open seat and a difficult choice in August between two competent, dedicated public servants — a good problem to have.
Both candidates have backgrounds in education and public service, both have keen awareness and sensitivity to racism, sexism and inequality. Both want to take on DTE Energy to demand better service and both are intimately familiar with the concerns of both the wealthy and less wealthy parts of Washtenaw County.
Ann Arbor resident Rima Mohammad is a pharmacist, health care educator and researcher at the University of Michigan who comes from a family of Palestinian refugees, who wants to address inequities in education and health care, housing affordability and senior care.
But she’s likely more needed in the role she now holds on the board of the beleaguered Ann Arbor school district than she is in Lansing.
The edge in this race goes to MORGAN FOREMAN of Ann Arbor, who is Brabec’s director of constituent services and has the backing of the outgoing lawmaker.
Foreman has also served on Washtenaw County Brownfield Development Board, giving her up-close perspectives of the cross sections of land, water, racism, redlining and pollution.
She’s been deeply involved in civic life since the age of 16, when she was recruited by her grandmother to serve as an election inspector to help navigate a transition to electronic poll books.
Foreman supports expanding the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, because “it’s all about transparency.”
And she wants to work on programs to support family caregivers and Michigan seniors in need of in-home care.
“We have to support the cared-for, and the caregivers,” she said.
Voters in this district can’t go wrong.
51st District — Oakland County
In the strongest possible terms, the Free Press encourages Republican voters in Michigan’s House District 51 to cast their Aug. 6 primary ballots for candidate KEVIN ZIEGLER.
Because this Oakland County district, which includes Milford, White Lake, Springfield and Highland townships, is so heavily Republican, this race will effectively be decided in August.
Ziegler is qualified by any measure: Inspired to public service by his father, the longtime mayor of neighboring Wixom, Ziegler spent his career in dental sales, but has held a seat on the Milford Village Council for 17 years, gaining practical experience in budgeting, policymaking and the art of getting things done.
And, he says, he has his head on straighter than the other guy.
That guy, of course, is state Rep. Matt Maddock, the bail bondsman-turned-lawmaker who won the 51st District seat in 2018. Matt and wife Meshawn Maddock, former co-chair of the Michigan GOP, are the local avatars of the toxic, divisive politics that have roiled this nation for the last eight years. Meshawn Maddock is awating trial on felony charges related to a 2020 attempt use false electors to fradulently award Michigan’s electoral votes to former President Donald Trump. Matt Maddock was present as the group of election deniers attempted to enter the Capitol, but did not participate as a false elector and was not charged with a crime.
Maddock, who did not respond to an email seeking to schedule an endorsement interview, has largely been an obstructionist in the state Legislature, voting nay far more frequently than yea, according to the tracking website MichiganVotes.org — frequently against his own party.
Ziegler is a staunch conservative, but plans to pursue more traditional policy aims in the state Legislature, like lowering taxes, improving infrastructure, and obtaining funds to improve local police and fire protection. Ziegler said his time on the campaign trail has convinced him that Milford voters want hard-working conservative representation focused on local issues.
We trust he’s right.
55th District — Oakland County
House District 55, which includes Rochester, Rochester Hills and part of Oakland Township, is represented by Rep. Mark Tisdel, R-Rochester Hills, who won the seat by fewer than a thousand votes in 2022.
Democrats in August will choose from two candidates with military backgrounds to take on Tisdel in November.
By a nose, TREVIS HARROLD of Rochester gets the Free Press’ endorsement.
Harrold, who became interested in public service as a child while knocking on doors with his union organizer mother, is an Army reservist and international diplomat who’s served in Mexico, Thailand, Jamaica, Kosovo and Washington D.C.
He lists as his priorities gun safety, expanding pre-K education to 4-year-olds and preserving reproductive rights, particularly access to in vitro fertilization, which he says has higher-than-average usage rates in Rochester and Rochester Hills.
His primary opponent, Alexander Hawkins, is a U.S. Army veteran who serves in the Michigan National Guard and as a reserve Oakland County Sheriff’s deputy. His policy priorities include public schools funding, environmental protections, veterans issues and disability rights.
Harrold’s policy pursuits are slightly more specific, giving him the edge in a primary race where voters can’t lose.
57th District — Oakland and Macomb counties
Democrats in the 57th House District, which includes portions of Sterling Heights, Troy and Madison Heights, have a shot at flipping this seat in November.
State Rep. Thomas Kuhn, R-Troy, won the seat in 2022 by less than 2,000 votes against a first-time candidate.
No longer a political newcomer, AISHA FAROOQI is best positioned to challenge Kuhn in November, and has our endorsement in the August primary.
Farooqi is an assistant prosecuting attorney with the Wayne County prosecutor’s office who's also worked in private practice and touts her experience in negotiation and in representing vulnerable community members.
She lists among her legislative priorities fostering a favorable economic environment, supporting small businesses, protecting reproductive rights and fighting for high-quality, equitable educational opportunities. Farooqi’s family moved to Michigan from Pakistan in 1993. She began her schooling in Detroit before moving to districts in Oakland and Macomb counties. She says the inequities she witnessed as a child inspired her strive to make a difference in public service
In August, she’ll face a pair of admirable primary opponents. Douglass Waggener, of Troy, is a 70-year-old retired electrician with expertise in green energy and a penchant for progressive ideas and an endearing campaign slogan: “Share the Love — every chance you get.”
Tyler Fox is a Troy planning commissioner who's worked in several local municipal governments, has expertise in improving the inner-workings of local government and wants to eliminate medical debt in Michigan, make child care less expensive and reduce power outages.
Farooqi deserves a rematch against Kuhn and puts Democrats in the best position to win over a seat.
66th District — Oakland County
Randy LeVasseur, a comparative newcomer to Oxford, wasn’t sure he’d lived in the community long enough to run for the 66th District House seat. But the abysmal performance of the incumbent officeholder, state Rep. Josh Schriver — also a newer Oxford resident — convinced LeVasseur to throw his hat in the ring.
LeVasseur, decidedly conservative, spent three years on the Royal Oak City Commission, where most of his colleagues were progressive. The commissioners didn’t agree on everything, LeVasseur said, but found plenty of common ground, and were able to get things done. He recounts community meetings where supporters of candidates ranging from Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders were present, “all showing up to discuss the same issues.”
LeVasseur says it’s vital to talk to residents to understand their priorities. For example, he said, Oxford residents would like to have a hospital sited in their community; currently, he said, if traffic is heavy, it might take 45 minutes to reach the nearest hospital. That’s the sort of thing he says he’d advocate for in Lansing.
Schriver, who won office in 2022 in a crowded Republican primary, has done little for his constituents, voting no on most bills, even when most Republicans vote yes. He periodically publishes an eccentric newsletter explaining his votes — such as a vote against a proposal that would make drugging and raping a spouse a crime – and occasionally posts videos of himself rapping to the social media platform X. Schriver declined an invitation to interview for the Free Press endorsement.
LeVasseur offers a welcome — and productive — alternative to Schriver.
Oxford Republicans should not hesitate to choose RANDY LeVASSEUR in the Aug. 6 primary.
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