The race for control of Michigan's House of Representatives
Two years ago, for the first time in nearly 40 years, Democrats took complete control of Lansing with the reelection of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and wins in both the state House and Senate. The new Democratic trifecta took many Lansing insiders by complete surprise; these are folks who only knew the state Capitol with some amount of Republican control.
The win had huge policy implications in the state including the repeal of the 1931 law criminalizing abortion and the repeal of the state’s Right-to-Work law; Democrats also added LGBTQ protections to the state’s civil rights law and voted for new gun-safety measures.
Now, two years on, the entire state House is up for election again and Democrats are trying to hold onto - if not grow - their slim 56-54 majority while Republicans want to win back a seat at the majority table. Obviously, there’s a lot at stake policy-wise in the new year and whether or not the state House remains Democratic will have a big impact on Whitmer’s final two-year agenda and her legacy in office. With that in mind, we spent the entire It’s Just Politics podcast this week taking a look at the House toss-up seats throughout the state, what candidates in both parties are running on and the latest fundraising numbers.
Dig deeper: Jordyn Hermani and Simon Schuster of Bridge Michigan joined the pod this week and Jordyn brought us the news that the state House and Senate have had the fewest number of voting days this year since Whitmer first became governor in 2019. Republicans blame Democrats, Democrats point the finger at Republicans. Read the story and decide for yourself.
https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2024-09-20/the-race-for-control-of-michigans-house-of-representatives