With a heightened focus now placed on political candidates and their respective races since Labor Day, Michiganders will hear almost non-stop from those who want their votes. Voters will be bombarded with campaign ads and commercials on television, radio, and the Internet, while receiving robocalls and mailed literature extending to the General Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
While there will be hundreds of races across the state, the contest for governor will be one of the most watched. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II – both Democrats – are asking voters for a second term in Lansing. Hoping to prevent a Whitmer – Gilchrist re-election celebration is Tudor Dixon, the Republican candidate for governor and Shane Hernandez, her running mate for Lt. Governor. The race between Whitmer and Dixon marks the first time two women in Michigan have faced each other in a November gubernatorial election.
In polls conducted since the Primary on Aug. 2, voters have identified issues critical to the quality of life for them and their families. Topping the list is the issue centered on abortion and women’s rights, followed by rising inflation, threats to democracy, quality education for students pre-k thru college, pathways to good paying jobs, and effective ways to reduce crime.
Whitmer fully supports Michigan women’s abortion rights. She has signed Executive Orders to protect such rights and filed a lawsuit asking the Michigan Supreme Court to determine whether the state constitution provides a right to abortion. Dixon is against abortion -with no exception for any reason. Democrats have run political ads on television consistently since the day after the Primary Election to remind voters of Dixon’s stance on abortion rights for women.
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 8 that a proposed state constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights should be on November’s ballot for voters to decide. Whitmer has pushed hard for the amendment, while Dixon has recently said she would support the law if passed by voters.
Michigan’s highest court also agreed that a ballot proposal to expand voting rights and voting access in the state should go before voters in the upcoming General Election. Whitmer and Dixon will square off in what is expected to be an electrifying debate on Oct. 13 on WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, giving voters more insight into where both women stand on a litany of issues. The debate will be aired statewide.
The race for Secretary of State is another political contest to watch as incumbent Democrat Jocelyn Benson, elected in 2018, makes a bid for another term based on her documented accomplishments in office, including ensuring that elections are secure and accessible.
Running against Benson is Republican Kristina Karamo, who former President Donald Trump has endorsed. Karamo is an African American woman and educator from Oak Park. She has echoed what many other Trump-endorsed candidates believe and have said – although false – about why the former president lost in the 2020 Presidential Election.
When Democratic candidate Shri Thanedar was victorious in the Primary Election in the 13th Congressional District, the consensus was Detroit would have no Black representation in Congress when it convened in January 2023. Thanedar, an Indian-American, won in a heavily Democratic district, making him the presumptive favorite to win in the General Election against Republican candidate Martel D. Bivings.
“This seat is owned by the people of the 13th,” Thanedar said in several post-Primary interviews.” “And my thought, simply, was let democracy take its course, and let the people decide and they will say what and who they want. And that’s how it should be.”
Nevertheless, Bivings sees himself as the answer to Detroit having Black representation when Congress convenes in January.
“There is a lot at stake this November for our community,” Bivings said in recorded and posted messages on his campaign’s website. “We need to continue the legacy of Black representation in Congress. I’m a Detroiter, and Detroiters need a Detroiter at the table for them in Congress.”
In the 12th Congressional District, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, is an overwhelming favorite to win over Republican candidate Steven Elliott in the General. Tlaib won convincingly over two African American women candidates in the Primary.
Another race that will garner interest is for a seat on the Michigan Supreme Court. Voters have an opportunity to send State Representative and civil litigation attorney Kyra Harris Bolden of Southfield to the Michigan Supreme Court. If she wins, Bolden will be the first Black woman to serve on the State’s highest court.
There are other races that will affect Detroiters and other Michiganders, including bids for State Senate and State House seats.
There is still time for the unregistered to register to vote in November’s General Election. And voters can vote earlier than Nov. 8; they can begin voting on Thursday, Sept. 29.
According to the State of Michigan’s online Voter Information Center, voters can vote with absentee ballots at their local election clerk’s office during the 40 days before an upcoming election. And all registered voters in Michigan can vote using “no-excuse or reason” absentee ballots and mail or drop off the ballots to their clerk’s office.
Regardless of when one votes, many stakeholders believe there is power in voting. Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit NAACP, who coined the local-gone-national voting catchphrase “Take Your Soles To The Polls And Vote,” continues his quest to turn out the Black vote for the upcoming General Election.
“Many of our people have checked out of the system and are just not voting,” Anthony told the Chronicle during an interview shortly after the Aug. 2nd Primary. “And our not voting only enhances the election of those who do not seek to serve our interest. Our lives depend upon our votes. We have to vote.”
For more information about voting procedures and timelines for the Statewide General Election on Nov. 8, log on to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Voting Information Center at https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/.
About Post Author
