LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Democrats have won control of the state Legislature and the governor's office for the first time in 40 years, providing their party with a chance to reverse decades of GOP policies and overturn a Capitol culture that has catered to Republicans.
With the wide majority of Michigan's election results in on Wednesday, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was up by nearly 11 percentage points in her reelection race against Republican Tudor Dixon. And the GOP leaders of the Michigan House and Senate had conceded that Democrats, powered by new district lines and a push to protect abortion rights, had scored narrow majorities in both chambers.
Democrats haven't controlled the state House since they lost it in the 2010 election and last won a majority in the state Senate in 1982. Democratic leaders vowed to use their new power to safeguard access to abortion and undo past GOP achievements, including the state's 2012 right-to-work law.
Current Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, said the shift coming to the upper chamber would be "monumental." For years, Republicans in the Legislature have had the ability to set rules on their own and hire more staff than their counterparts, and entire lobbying firms have focused on GOP officeholders.
"There are very few people in Lansing who remember what it is like having Democrats with that kind of leverage to make decisions," Ananich said.
Ananich is term-limited and will leave office at the end of the year. He was first elected to the Senate in a special election in 2013. At the time, Democrats controlled 11 of the 38 seats in the Senate. Ananich said he began working on a plan in 2013 to take back control in two terms. People thought he was a "lunatic," Ananich said.
A wave of Democratic wins gave the party 16 of the 38 seats after the 2018 election. That same year, voters approved a constitutional amendment to take the drawing of district lines away from lawmakers and give it to an independent commission. The commission's maps, which took effect for the 2022 campaigns and prioritized competition, boosted Democrats' chances.
On Wednesday, a day after Election Day, Michigan Democrats said they had taken a 20-18 majority in the Senate and a 56-54 majority in the House. The Associated Press had not called a few races in each chamber Wednesday evening. In the current term, which lasts until the end of the year, Republicans hold 56 of the seats in the House and 22 in the Senate.
Democratic incumbents, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, also won second terms on Tuesday. Nessel defeated Republican Matt DePerno by 8 points while Benson beat Republican Kristina Karamo by 14 points.
The Democrats also retained their 4-3 majority on the Michigan Supreme Court with the reelection of Democratic-nominated Justice Richard Bernstein and Brian Zahra, a Republican-nominated justice. Whitmer will get to nominate a new justice before year's end to replace Chief Justice Bridget McCormack, a Democratic-nominated jurist who is stepping down to take a private sector job.
Tuesday's election marked "hands down" the worst day for the Michigan GOP in modern political history, said Adrian Hemond, a Democrat and CEO of the Lansing-based consulting firm Grassroots Midwest.
Democratic priorities
Whitmer said Wednesday she would focus her efforts over the next four years on growing the state's economy, reducing state taxes on retirement income, protecting the Great Lakes and increasing education opportunities "from preschool to post-secondary."
"I won't make any predictions for the next four years, but I can promise you, we will make Michigan a place where you can envision your future," Whitmer said. "A state where anyone, no matter who they are, where they come from, how much money they have in their pocket, who they love or how they identify, can thrive right here."
State Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit, is poised to become the new Speaker of the House after Democrats regained control of the Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Legislative priorities for the new Democratic majority in the House include the repeal of the 1931 abortion ban, the shoring up of voting rights, environmental rule changes and a possible legislative probe into multiple House Republicans who are currently under criminal investigation.
State Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit, is expected to be chosen as the next speaker of the House by his Democratic colleagues on Thursday.
“We want to make sure that residents of Michigan trust our institution, and when we see these allegations of criminal enterprise, we want to make sure we have tools and processes in place as a Legislature to make sure we’re holding ourselves accountable as elected officials,” Tate said.
Current House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski, D-Scio Township, echoed Tate’s concerns, emphasizing the need to review whether any members used their position or resources in the House to engage in unethical or criminal behavior.
Lasinski noted, specifically, the need for the Legislature to review criminal enterprise and sexual assault allegations against Republican former House Speaker Lee Chatfield as well as the referral for potential prosecution of term-limited Rep. Daire Rendon, R-Lake City, who is alleged to have been involved in an effort to gain improper access to voting machines.
Tate said Tuesday’s election revealed a majority of voters understand and prize the issues Democrats ran on — from abortion to voting rights to the environment. The caucus, he said, doesn’t plan to squander that vote.
“To move the ball forward down the field, we have to do this together,” Tate said. “And that’s the approach I want to take.”
Going after right to work?
In the upper chamber, Sens. Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, and Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, have been competing to be the next majority leader. Senate Democrats are expected to make their selection on Thursday. Whoever they choose, for the first time in state history, a woman will be the Senate majority leader in 2023.
Ananich said he would advise the caucus to spend the next 60 days coming up with a plan for their four years in control of the chamber.
Asked if he would go after the state's right-to-work law, a policy detested by Democratic lawmakers and unions, Ananich said Democrats should repeal it but ensure it's "done in the right way."
Democrat Veronica Klinefelt, a Macomb County commissioner from Eastpointe who won a Senate seat on Tuesday, said repealing Michigan's decade-old right-to-work law is one of her top legislative priorities. She unseated Republican Sen. Mike MacDonald in a newly drawn district stretching from northeast Detroit to Macomb Township.
“That is something I’m interested in," said Klinefelt, D-Eastpointe. “Everybody that works in an organization benefits from union bargaining and from union fights on issues that affect workers."
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and GOP lawmakers approved right to work at the end of the 2012 session amid national attention and protests on the Capitol lawn. The law prohibits labor contracts from requiring non-union workers to pay fees for bargaining.
Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, the current chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he thinks Democrats should repeal right to work and bring back the state’s broad prevailing wage standard, which required contractors to pay union wages and benefits on state-funded construction projects.
Republican lawmakers did away with that requirement in 2018.
A changing Lansing
Hertel faced term limits and couldn't run for reelection, but he was heavily involved in Senate Democrats' 2022 campaigns. The change coming to Lansing will be "pretty seismic," he said.
Democrats haven't controlled the Legislature in the term limits era, he noted.
"They’re slim majorities," Hertel said. "We’re going to have to find a way to work with each other.”
In a Wednesday statement, Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, said Senate Republicans "will embrace the challenge of convincing Michiganders that our agenda is best for their families in the upcoming term."
"We have a diverse, talented Republican caucus that will seek ways to work with the majority wherever possible, but who will also stand firm to defend our values and our constituents whenever necessary," Nesbitt said.
On top of guiding policy, the party in power in the Legislature has the ability to hire more staff and compensate them better. Those advantages will transfer to Democrats next year. Likewise, Lansing's lobby firms, many of which have focused on Republicans because they have been in power, will likely have to shift their operations.
The last time Michigan had Democratic majorities in the House and Senate in 1983, the situation was slightly different than the current dynamic, said former Democratic Gov. Jim Blanchard, who began his term the same year.
There was what Blanchard called “nominal control” of the Senate by Democrats, with at least four Democratic senators often voting in line with Republicans.
“I never had strong support in the Senate and, in fact, I had to rely on one Republican to get my tax plan through,” said Blanchard of an income tax hike.
But with the current makeup, the former governor said, “Gretchen will have a real opportunity to get policy through.”
"It’s a big victory, huge victory, the biggest we’ve had really," Blanchard said.
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