Michigan’s Midterm Updates

Spectator

We’re now less than a month away from the 2022 midterm elections, so it’s time we checked in on some key races. Many of you have likely already voted, so perhaps you can read along just for the fun of it.

Nationally, there are trends that bode ill for our entire election system. According to a Washington Post analysis, of the 300 Republican congressional candidates in competitive districts, more than half continue to make baseless claims about the 2020 elections. Several GOP Secretary of State candidates are following the same irrational and potentially destructive path.

It will not be a good day if election-deniers become election-deciders.

Here in Michigan, we have plenty in which to be interested and some not so much. The race for the U.S. House of Representatives in CD 1 falls more into the latter category.

Incumbent Jack Bergman is the only visible presence on air and in the mail in the race. He should be talking about the work he’s done with and for veterans, but instead he’s spewing nonsense about “woke policies” causing inflation and how he’ll stop them. No they didn’t and no he won’t—government overspending attempting to stimulate a moribund economy created inflation, and he won’t stop anything on his own.

His excuse for signing on to challenge the 2020 election results—that some governors or legislatures acted unconstitutionally regarding changes in election rules—was tested in multiple courts and found wanting every time.

Bergman will likely win and return to being a nearly invisible back-bencher who does what the GOP leadership tells him to do.

Our gubernatorial race has been, at least in terms of all forms of paid media, decidedly one-sided in favor of incumbent Democrat Gretchen Whitmer. Assumed to be vulnerable due to several controversial decisions she made during the pandemic, Whitmer has instead emerged as a strong favorite. It helped that two potential GOP opponents thought to be front-runners eliminated themselves before they started by submitting nominating petitions full of fraudulent signatures. That left Republicans with Tudor Dixon.

Dixon can reel off all the usual conservative talking points with some enthusiasm, her backstory could be compelling, and she has media experience and presence. But she is badly underfunded, and her position on abortion—which is, no exceptions—is the least popular among voters.

Meanwhile, Whitmer has had virtually a clear playing field allowing her to run a series of effective, positive spots outlining what she considers accomplishments without fear of contradiction.

On the statewide ballot, Proposition 2 adds voting rights to the state constitution without compromising election security. It’s one of those rare bits of referenda common sense.

There is some interesting paid media now running in opposition to Proposition 3—the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative—claiming it’s just “too confusing” and “too extreme.” If you can’t read or have significant reading comprehension issues, then yes, it might be confusing. Here’s a hint: Proposition 3 repeals a 1931 law that prohibits nearly all abortions and places reproduction decisions back in the hands of women in whose bodies it takes place. That’s not so confusing. And if it’s so confusing, how do you know it’s too extreme?

Small fortunes are being spent in the race for the state representative job in the 103rd District. Jack O’Malley on one side and Betsy Coffia on the other have been praising themselves and insulting each other with equal vigor.

O’Malley, the Republican, seems to think Coffia is running for Congress the way he tries to super glue her to the tiny group of self-proclaimed congressional Democratic Socialists colloquially known as The Squad.

He claims he’s about “just common sense.” But an F rating from the League of Conservation Voters isn’t such a good sign. And he’s never adequately explained why he was one of only 15 legislators to sign on to a Texas lawsuit trying to invalidate the 2020 presidential election. That’s the opposite of common sense.

Betsy Coffia is more in tune with voters of the district on the environment and abortion, but her own occasionally over-the-top rhetoric could be her undoing. O’Malley is effectively using a Coffia megaphone rant against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that at least some voters will consider too extreme.

Voters in Traverse City have yet another opportunity to tell developers, the DDA, and the City Commission they do not want buildings above 60 feet. The specific building on the ballot is proposed in an area zoned for 45 feet, has been approved for 60 feet, and will actually end up just under 80 feet with voter approval. A miniature Grand Rapids skyline is not the vision of most Traverse Citians, and that may well be reconfirmed when voters reach Proposition 1 on the city ballot.

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