By Mary Pollock
AUGUST 4 PRIMARY RACES SET
April 21 was the deadline for candidates to file for elected offices in Michigan. Additionally, both major parties have conducted their Endorsement Conventions for Attorney General, Secretary of State, Supreme Court Justices, and the four statewide education boards during March and April. Formal nominations for these latter posts will be conducted at major party conventions in August. Minor parties will nominate their candidates in the coming months. The current major party candidates who have filed or are endorsed by their party for the top statewide races are:
| Statewide Office | Democratic Party | Republican Party |
| Governor | Jocelyn Benson, Chris Swanson, Kim Thomas | Ralph Rebrandt, Mike Cox, John James, Aric Nesbitt, Perry Johnson |
| U.S. Senate | Abdul El-Sayed, Mallory McMorrow, Haley Stevens | Mike Rogers, Bernadette Smith |
| Attorney General | Eli Savit | Doug Lloyd |
| Secretary of State | Garlin Gilchrist | Anthony Forlini |
Televised Debates Announced – Fox 2 Detroit television station announced it will be hosting a Democratic gubernatorial debate on June 4 and a Republican gubernatorial debate on July 8. For the U.S. Senate seat, the three Democratic candidates are set to face off July 27. Many local affiliate Fox stations will likely broadcast these debates. It is your best chance to compare the candidates questioned by professional journalists.
Other Primary Races – The Secretary of State’s unofficial listing of all candidates for federal, state. and judicial offices can be found at https://tinyurl.com/SOScandidateListing. This includes candidates for Michigan’s 13 U.S. Congressional Representatives, 38 State Senators, 110 State Representatives, 4 Court of Appeals Judges, District Court Judges, and Probate Court Judges. The Bureau of Elections is currently checking petition signatures and other requirements for these candidates. Recall that four years ago many candidates submitted signatures gathered by paid circulators that were forged or inaccurate resulting in several gubernatorial and other candidates not qualifying for the ballot. Candidates for local offices can be found on your county clerk’s website.
MAY 5 ELECTION RESULTS
35th District Senate Seat – Saginaw City Fire Captain and former U.S. Marine Chedrick Greene won the special election to represent the long-vacant 35th District State Senate seat comprising the Saginaw, Bay City, and Midland area with 58.8 percent of the vote, besting Republican Jason Tunney and Libertarian Ali Sledz. In 2024, former Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris won the district by only one point while Democratic candidate Greene won with a 19-point gap.
The 35th Senate District seat has been vacant since January 3, 2025, when Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet resigned after being elected to Congress. Democrats spent over $1.2 million on the race, while Republicans spent just over $200,000 during the final days of the contest. It also marks Democrats’ 27th win out of 39 special legislative and congressional elections that have taken place so far this year throughout the country.
As in all elections, the Board of County Canvassers composed of two Republicans and two Democrats began their county canvass of the election as required by law at 9 a.m. on the Thursday following the election and must certify results within 14 calendar days of the election. From there, the Board of State Canvassers meets to certify the special election results, which is scheduled for May 28. Senator-elect Greene could be sworn in soon thereafter if certification proceeds without a glitch. That would return the State Senate to 20 Democratic to 18 Republican Senators.
Most Millages Pass – Eighty percent of local government ballot proposals passed on May 5. Voters approved 99 proposals and rejected 24 others representing $1.273 billion in requests passed while $759 million failed. The Ingham Intermediate School District Special Education Facilities Bond Measure for $100 million to replace the aging Beekman Center for special education students and to renovate Heartwood School was approved. Grand Ledge Area Emergency Services voters rejected a $22.6 million fire services bond proposal. However, a number of school, transportation, police, fire, and EMS-related millages in other localities were approved. Check your local county clerk’s website for details on your local proposals.
BALLOT ISSUE UPDATE
State Ballot Proposal 2026-1 – This proposal asking voters whether or not to have a State Constitutional Convention to amend or replace the 1963 Michigan Constitution recently gained six more groups urging a No vote. The six new groups include the Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Association, the Michigan Council of Carpenters and Millwrights, the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Association of State Universities, Voters Not Politicians, and the Michigan West Coast Chamber of Commerce. All of them are working with Protect MI Constitution from Special Interests Ballot Committee to encourage voters to vote against Proposal 26-1.
Concerns cited by the organizations include the financial toll a constitutional convention would have on small businesses, governmental chaos, cessation of government operations and interruption of projects like construction and road repairs, and partisan interference in non-partisan spaces.
Other groups who joined the coalition in recent weeks include the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Education Association, the Business Leaders for Michigan, the Michigan AFL-CIO, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, and the League of Women Voters of Michigan.
No ballot committee to support a Yes vote reported activity this month.
Michiganders for Money Out of Politics (MMOP) – The MMOP ballot proposal is expected to submit its voter signature petitions to the Bureau of Elections by May 27. It needs to have 356,958 valid voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot. A random sample of 1,000 signatures will be drawn for verification as the first step of the process, likely sometime in June. Inevitable challenges and rebuttals will occur thereafter.
The 100-word description of the proposal says:
“Initiations of legislation to prohibit regulated electric and gas utilities, contractors with over $250,000 annually in government contracts, and people and organizations with substantial connections to these utilities/contractors from making direct or indirect campaign contributions to those who run for or hold offices that impact them; expand campaign finance laws and restrictions that regulate spending on political communications, including laws that require disclosing donor information, to apply to communications clearly identifying candidates or ballot questions, even if they do not expressly advocate voting for/against them; expressly apply the law requiring disclosure of who paid for political communications to internet political communications.”
Americans for Citizen Voting – The ballot proposal to amend the Michigan Constitution to require a U.S. birth certificate, a passport, or U.S. naturalization documents to register to vote and eliminate the affidavit substitute for the requirement to show a government-issued ID to vote in person among other changes submitted its petition signatures in early March and awaits the announcement of the sample signatures for verification.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Surrogate Medical Consent Bills – Under current law, when a patient becomes incapacitated, an individual with durable power of attorney or the patient’s guardian can make medical decisions on behalf of that patient. When a person becomes incapacitated without these safeguards in place, families must petition the court for guardianship before making health care decisions. This petition process often creates confusion and potential delays in care, and families are often forced into coordinating legal proceedings to establish the decision-making power during already stressful times. Other states have surrogate consent statutes to allow a patient to designate a health surrogate in specific instances and create a next of kin process to allow family members or trusted individuals to make health care decisions on a patient’s behalf.
Michigan’s proposed Surrogate Consent bills, House Bills (HBs) 4418 – 4419 and HB 4734, passed the House unanimously in September 2025 and were reported unanimously from the Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety in January 2026. SERA recently sent a message to Senate leadership urging them to schedule for a floor vote these bi-partisan bills that are urgently needed in Michigan.
Fall Prevention Training – SERA supported in the Committee on Families and Veterans HBs 5678 and 5679 to require fall prevention training in nursing homes for unlicensed personnel such as aides, housekeeping, kitchen, and laundry staff.
Special Needs Trust as Beneficiary – HBs 4657 to 4660 would amend current State pension system statutes to provide that a retiree may designate as a beneficiary a Special Needs Trust established for a disabled individual under the age of 65 under the Social Security Act. Specifically, HB 4659 sponsored by State Representative Kara Hope (D-Holt) amends the State Employee Retirement Act. The bills were reported out of the House Committee on Judiciary on April 15 and await full House consideration.
Proof of U.S. Citizenship to Vote Bill – A bill like the proposed Americans for Citizen Voting proposed constitutional amendment ballot issue to require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote is contained in HB 4765. It passed in the Michigan House on a party line vote 58 – 46 on April 14 and was referred to the Senate Committee on Government Operations where it will not likely be taken up. Only U.S. citizens can vote now pursuant to the current Michigan Constitution and statutes under penalty of perjury. Non-compliance is quite rare and prosecuted when found.
AARP of Michigan Legislative Priorities – At the May 1 meeting of the Michigan SERA Coordinating Council, the guest speaker was Jason Lachowski, Associate State Director of Government Affairs at AARP Michigan. AARP Michigan advocates on policy issues affecting Michigan residents age 50 and older and their families. It has more than 1.25 million members in Michigan. It advocates to increase financial security, improve access to and quality of long-term care options, reduce health care costs and improve access, and ensure that all communities in Michigan are welcoming and accessible for people of all ages and abilities. Lachowski explained that its top priorities this year are:
- A budget that prioritizes aging in place by increasing Community-based Services and more funding for Area Agencies on Aging by $8 million and an additional $2 million for nutrition services;
- A Caregiving Tax Credit in HB 5214 for unpaid family caregivers of up to $2,000;
- Cryptocurrency kiosk/ATM fraud prevention by amending HB 5469 to stop scammers from stealing millions of dollars from seniors and others;
- Increase housing for seniors by passing HB 5585 to allow accessory dwelling units in all residential zoning districts in Michigan if specific statutory conditions are met.
(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.)