Women Lead Michigan

By now, everyone in the United States, who is paying attention, knows that the road to the White House goes through Michigan this election year.

But what you might not know is that Hillary Clinton only lost Michigan in 2016 by 10,000 votes (0.3%). Out of 4.9 million ballots cast (65% of registered voters across the state), only 10,000 made the difference in the one nation-wide ticket.

Over 2.6 million registered Michigan voters didn’t vote in the Presidential election in 2016. And 10,000 gave the state’s electoral votes to Donald Trump.

We gave him the electoral votes; he gave us broken promises about social security, fleeing international allies, breaches of national security, and record numbers of lost family farms.

After 2016, there was significant poitical backlash in the Great Lakes State. From 2017 to the midterms in 2018, we saw many trends.

Election year 2018 was a momentous year for women elected to office in Michigan.

Women were elected (or re-elected) to the follow offices:

• Governor: Gretchen Whitmer
• Attorney General: Dana Nessel
• Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court: Bridget McCormack
• Secretary of State: Jocelyn Benson
• U.S. Senator (re-elected): Debbie Stabenow
• U.S. Congress (3 elected; 2 re-elected): Elissa Slotkin, Haley Stevens, Rashida Tlaib, Debbie Dingell, Brenda Lawrence

And in our State Senate, we went from 4 women total to 11; in the State House, from 33 to 41. 

Both major parties–Michigan Dems and Michigan GOP–are also helmed by women.

Of the 110 seats in the State House, 52 are held by Democrats, 58 by Republicans. Twenty-eight of the Democrats are women (54%); 15 of the Republicans are (26%). With the results of a special election in January 2020, the Democratic Caucuses in both the House and Senate have gender parity for the first time ever.

The Michigan Legislature will only have State House races in 2020; State Senate seats will be elected in 2022.

As of January 30, 2020, there are over 135 active Democratic women running for seats in the Michigan House (‘active’ being defined as having an active committee, not termed-out).

The year 2020 is shaping up to be an even bigger array of female candidates from which to choose up and down the ballot.

Let’s meet some of these Michigan women who are working to change the face of Michigan politics from the ground up.

This series will present profiles of women running for office in Michigan from local races up to Congressional seats.

Women Lead Michigan Series

• Christine Morse for State Representative, District 61