Capitol News
November 10, 2024
ELECTION RESULTS
Turnout — Michigan voters cast a record-breaking 5.67 million votes in the November election – 100,000 more votes than the previous record, which was set in 2020; 79 of the 83 counties topped their 2020 vote totals and about 79 percent of registered voters cast a ballot.
More than two million people voted in-person on Election Day and about 3.4 million people took advantage of early voting options by either voting in person before Election Day or submitting an absentee ballot. Nearly 21,700 people registered to vote through same-day voter registration – in comparison to the 3,600 same-day registrations in the 2022 midterms.
There were 24 counties with at least 70 percent turnout, while five were below 60 percent. Regionally, Southeast Michigan saw the largest clusters of voter turnout percentage drop. Every county from Wayne to Bay saw a decline in the percentage of registered voters who cast a ballot. On the flip side, every county in Northern Michigan – with the exception of Oscoda – had either static or positive growth compared to 2020, all according to MLive analysis. Turnout shrank in eight of nine majority Democratic counties.
Federal Offices — Former President Donald Trump and U.S. Senator J.D. Vance have been declared the national winners of the presidential/vice presidential election for the 47th President/Vice President of the United States. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris had 107 days to organize and campaign for the presidency. She made history as the first Black and South Asian woman to secure a major political party’s nomination. However, Trump/Vance were able to secure both a projected win in the rurally weighted Electoral College and the national popular vote, giving them a clear mandate to shape future federal policy. They won all seven battleground swing states. Trump received 157,000 more Michigan votes this election than he did in 2020, while Kamala Harris collected 74,000 fewer votes than Joe Biden in 2020.
In Congressional races, Michigan elected Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) to a narrow victory over former Congressman Mike Rogers by just under 22,000 votes to replace retiring U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow. However, the U.S. Senate itself flipped from Democratic majority control to Republican control.
Seven Michigan Republicans and six Democrats won their races for Michigan’s 13 U.S. House seats. Former State Senator Tom Barrett (R-Grand Ledge) defeated former State Senator Curtis Hertel (D-East Lansing) in the open 7th Congressional District in mid-Michigan to replace Elissa Slotkin who ran for the open U.S. Senate seat. State Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) won her race against Republican Paul Junge in the open 8th U. S. House District that includes Flint, Saginaw, Midland, and Bay City currently held by retiring U.S. Congressman Dan Kildee. All other incumbent Members of Congress from Michigan won their races. At this writing there are still uncalled Congressional races in other states, but the predictions are that the Republicans will hold the majority in the U.S. House.
Michigan — In addition to national election success, Republicans will take back control of the Michigan House, winning 58 of the 110 seats. Michigan is the only state that saw a legislative chamber change partisan hands in the November election, based on information from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The current Michigan House Democratic margin is 56-54. Republicans flipped the 58th House District (Rep. Nate Shannon, D-Sterling Heights), the 27th House District (Rep. Jaime Churches, D-Wyandotte), the 44th House District (Rep. Jim Haadsma, D) covering parts of Calhoun County, including Battle Creek, and the 109th House District (Rep. Jenn Hill, D-Marquette) in the Upper Peninsula. Republicans successfully defended all their incumbents despite a large cash advantage by Democrats.
The 38-member State Senate was not on the ballot this year. However, State Senate Democrats will go for at least part of 2025 with a slim 19-18 majority with the departure of State Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet to Congress in early 2025. The Constitution requires the Governor to call a special election following a legislator’s formal departure. The Lt. Governor who presides over the State Senate can break ties if one should occur.
In the Michigan Supreme Court race, incumbent Justice Kyra Harris Bolden and Kimberly Ann Thomas won open seats, growing the Democratic nominated majority to 5-2. While Supreme Court seats are technically nonpartisan, candidates are nominated at political party conventions, and Democratic nominees have held a 4-3 majority since 2020.
For the four Michigan Education Boards, it appears that six of the eight seats will be taken by Republicans. Only Democrats Denise Illitch (University of Michigan) and Rebecca Bahar-Cook (Michigan State University) bucked the general Republican tide.
The Lansing area State Representatives all won their re-election bids. All newly elected officeholders will take their oaths of office in early January.
State House Leadership Changes — On November 7, Republican members of the newly elected 103rd Legislature elected State Representative Matt Hall (R-Kalamazoo) to lead their caucus in the 2025-26 legislative term and serve as the next Speaker of the House. Once formally elected by the entire House at its opening session in January, he will preside over the term during which Republicans will have a 58-52 majority. House Republican leadership includes Speaker Pro Tempore Rachelle Smit (R-Shelbyville) and Majority Floor Leader Bryan Posthumus (R-Cannon Township). The majority party controls committee chair and committee appointments, the budget for House members, the daily agenda of bills that will move to the full House for consideration, and much more.
Democratic members have elected Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) to serve as Democratic minority leader during the 2025-2026 term. They elected John Fitzgerald (D- Wyoming) as minority floor leader.
Certification Process Next — Transforming the unofficial results into certified results is a lengthy, detailed process. The 83 County Board of Canvassers, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, have 14 days after the election to review precinct results and certify the election by November 19 this year. If a county fails to certify, the Board of State Canvassers will do it.
The Board of State Canvassers, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, will meet to certify the statewide results and the results of any races that cross county lines (for instance, a congressional or State legislative district that spans multiple counties). Its deadline is 20 days after the election or November 25 this year.
Michigan’s presidential electors selected at their party conventions will convene at 2 p.m. in the Michigan Senate chamber on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December after the election. This year, that’s December 17. On that day, they will formally cast their votes for president and vice president. These will be sent to the Archivist of the U.S. for transmission to Congress. On January 6, Congress will meet to tally the Electoral College votes. The Vice President (Kamala Harris this year) serves as the presiding officer of that joint session.
This final step in determining the winner of the presidential election received little attention until 2021, when supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the results. It was a violent day that broke a long tradition of the peaceful transition of presidential power in the U.S. So far, this looks like a more peaceful transition.
LAME DUCK SESSION
The Michigan House and Senate are scheduled to meet Tuesday – Thursday until December 19 except for a two week break the weeks of November 17 and November 24. During this time the Democrats will still have the trifecta they won in 2022.
Governor Whitmer’s highest priority in the last two months of the 102nd Legislature is reportedly making annual funding of the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Fund (SOAR) into a ten-year commitment.
Many trade associations and advocates want the Democrats to move their high priority bills during lame duck session. Some of the projected issues are altering the voter-initiated laws on paid sick time and minimum wage increases for tipped workers, changing the no-fault auto insurance reimbursement rates, expanding the Freedom of Information Act to the Legislature and the Governor’s Office, restoring unemployment benefits from 20 weeks to 26 weeks, and many more.
SCRAP THE CAP UPDATE
Actuarial Study — Recall that the Governor signed the FY 24-25 General Omnibus Appropriations Bill containing a proposed actuarial study about State employee retirees’ defined benefit annual cost of living adjustment (COLA). The 3 percent or $300 maximum COLA has been in place since 1987 and affects over 85 percent of the 60,000 State employee defined benefit retirees and beneficiaries. Inflation has eaten away at defined benefit pension benefits so that we are losing buying power every year. We don’t have a fixed retirement income, we have a declining retirement income.
The measure calls for estimating the cost of three options for future COLAs to replace the 3%/$300 cap. We sought clarification of seemingly contradictory language on whether the study will base its assumptions to include all COLAs since retirement or not:
(3) The actuary shall model the proposals described in subsection (2) with all of the following assumptions:
- That the COLAs made to a retiree’s compensation after retirement and before the prospective change remain unchanged.
- That the proposed COLA changes are applied to the retiree’s base pension amount excluding previous COLAs.
SERA Chair Bob Kopasz, Vice Chair Cheryl Streberger, and I met with staff from Sen. Sarah Anthony’s office for clarification in late October. An answer is pending.
Election Impact — Will the House flip to Republican control affect our Scrap the Cap goal? Only time will tell. The Republican support for the law enforcement officer pension proposal (see below) is promising for other retirement benefit legislation. Educating legislators about pensions and the way they work compared to 401k defined contribution (DC) plans is somewhat of a lift. Most of them grew up in an era of DC plans only; pensions can be complex to understand. SERA members need to contact their State legislators and urge support for improving our COLA.
LEGISLATIVE NEWS
Proposed Bills to Improve State Employee Retirement Plans — SERA is working with the Coalition for Secure Retirement on drafts of legislation to amend the Michigan State Employee Retirement Act to offer current and new State employees a hybrid pension option containing both a defined benefit element and a defined contribution element identical to the one currently offered to public school employees. The bills also might restore retiree health care benefits that were ended for new State employees hired after April 30, 1997. Initial bills may be introduced in November. Watch for further news about these bills on the Lansing SERA Facebook page and in this newsletter.
Law Enforcement Pension Proposal Moves — A package of bills aimed at allowing State employees who work in law-enforcement related fields to opt into the State Police Retirement System is moving. Senate Bills 165, 166, and 167 – sponsored by Senator Cherry (D-Flint), Senator McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City), and Senator Shink (D-Northfield Twp.) – would allow corrections officers, motor carrier officers, conservation officers, and capitol security officers to terminate their membership in the State Employees Retirement System defined contribution plan and join the State Police Retirement System hybrid pension plan. The bills would allow the newly transferred members to purchase service credit up to the number of years of service they have in the defined contribution plan. The bills passed the Senate with bipartisan support with five Republicans joining 20 Democrats in support on October 30. They were referred to the House Labor Committee. The bills appear to have a level of bipartisan support in the House. If the bills are passed and signed into law, it would be the first time since 1997 that some State employees were offered a retirement plan that included a defined benefit element.
Remote Meeting Option for Disabled — A bill SERA supported in Committee to allow appointed public board and commission members with disabilities to participate remotely has passed the Michigan Senate 22-16 on November 7. Senate Bill 870 now moves to the House for consideration where it has been referred to the House Committee on Government Operations.
Editor’s note: Mary Pollock is the Lansing SERA Chapter and SERA Coordinating Council’s Legislative Representative. She may be contacted at michigansera@comcast.net.
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