Michigan Political considerations.
Recently, I was accused of gutter politics by Michigan state board of education candidate Sonjalita Hulbert for pointing out her history of supporting Black Lives Matter.
Hulbert posted a video response to my blog in which she suggested it is beyond the pale to hold a political candidate accountable to their on-the-record statements regarding pressing issues.
(15)Nuh Uh.
(0)Joe Biden's silence is enabling the Democrats’ alternate reality on riots
We got a glimpse into the warped worldview of the far left when a sitting Member of the U.S. Congress asked Attorney General Bill Barr why federal agents did not tear gas peaceful protesters who opposed Governor Whitmer’s coronavirus lockdown here in Michigan.
Many Democrats seem to be living in an alternate universe in which there are no masked and armed lunatics tearing down statues, attacking police officers and motorists, setting fire to cars, businesses, churches, police stations, and federal courthouses — and yes, shooting and killing people.
In this fabricated reality, the streets of Portland have not been illegally occupied by violent would-be revolutionaries every night for the past two months and counting. In this fantasy world, the utopian experiment that the Democrat mayor of Seattle dubbed a new “summer of love” did not end in utter disaster, with armed terrorists started shooting black teenagers within the police-free “paradise.”
(8)Nuh Uh.(2)A reasonable absentee system already showing signs of stress.
We are told that opposing mail-in voting is “suppressing the vote.”
We are told this by the progressive left which has designs on permanent minority rule, ala socialism. Clearly, opposition to fraud is straight up patriotic IMO, and one has only to look at those who promote such dangerous (to our Republic) activity to know what the right position is on this.
Mail-in voting, while related to absentee voting, is not quite the same. Absentee voting has historically had a fairly reliable record. Even with the substantial damage done to it by Michigan’s proposal 3 in 2018, it was – and has been considered ‘safe and trustworthy.’
Even so, there are issues that apparently need to be managed better, and may give pause to expanding such issues legislatively. The August primary in Michigan has already revealed that even with Absentee voting.
There appears to be evidence of attempted fraud. Today’s Epoch times reports:
(11)Nuh Uh.(0)What can we learn from the 2020 primary elections? This article explains what the winning candidates had in common. I wrote similar articles in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
They don’t call it the establishment for nothing Establishment candidates won most state house races. They have the inside track on fundraising, endorsements, and organization. None of the winners are outright moderates. Most could be considered establishment conservatives. Solid conservative winners include Chase Turner, Steve Carra, Ken Borton, and John Damoose.
Experience counts Elected experience is valuable for winning candidates. Ken Borton is a county commissioner, and establishment conservative winners like Robert Bezotte, TC Clements, and Dave Morgan are also elected officials.
Incumbency Matters All incumbent Republicans won renomination. Beating an incumbent in a primary is very hard. In recent years, the only conservative challengers who beat a Republican incumbent are Tim Walberg in 2006, Lee Chatfield in 2014, and Matt Hall in 2018. Certainly many incumbents deserve primary challenges, but conservatives have limited resources. Winning an open seat is much easier than beating an incumbent. Politicians can still be held to account when they run for other offices. There are still some benefits to primary challenges, though, as they may encourage the incumbent to vote better for awhile and may help the challenger to win an open seat later.
If at first you don’t succeed Chase Turner almost beat an incumbent in the 2018 primary. This time, he easily won the primary, advancing to a competitive general election. Candidates who lost this time should look for opportunities to run again in the future.
Don’t split the vote Conservatives did much better this year than in past years. HD-58 may have been lost to a less conservative candidate due to vote splitting. Conservatives may have benefited from splits in the establishment in HD-59.
Money doesn’t buy elections Self-funding candidates have a bad electoral track record. Sreenivas Cherukuri self-funded and lost badly in HD-38. Shri Thanedar did win the D nomination in HD-3 with major self-funding after losing a race for governor in 2018.
Money is essential Money does not guarantee victory, but it is essential to get your message out. This is particularly true in local elections, which are often decided by name recognition. Look at how much winning conservative candidates raised.
Turner 31K
Carra 24K
Borton 50K
Damoose 70K
The candidate who raised the most money won in 6 of 12 contested primaries in open Republican seats (fewer than in past cycles), and the remaining winners still had good fundraising. My rule of thumb is that the minimum amount needed to be a credible candidate is $30,000. Only two winners raised less than 30K this cycle, one in a race where no candidate did. The minimum raised by a winner was 24K.
(3)Nuh Uh.(0)Michigan's UAW leadership once again works against the membership's best interest.
In 2010, it was the UAW which attempted to rewrite our state constitution in a single petition drive with the Reform Michigan Government Now bruhaha.
They have continued to work against legitimate efforts to bring automaker jobs back to Michigan since that time. all efforts of course in an attempt to secure more power for Democrat malfeasance. Even Donald Trump has done more to secure UAW workers jobs in our state than all Democrat Michiganian leadership combined.
But here they go again.
On Friday, the UAW decided they would support at any cost, the power grab by Dem governor Wretched Grifter. A blast was sent out claiming that ‘Unlock Michigan’ efforts are making false claims and attempting to take away the Governor’s power to “Do everything she can to keep Michigan working families safe.”
It doesn’t stop there however. The UAW wants folks who received this blast (presumably it’s membership) to “report or record any petition gathering activities ..” [Insert record scratch here]
(19)Nuh Uh.(0)Congress:
3. Meijer 50 Afendoulis 26 Norton 16
5. Kelly 79
6. (R) Upton 62 Oelke 38
(D) Hoadley 52 Richardson 48
8. Junge 35 Detmer 29 Lyke 25
10. McClain 42 Hernandez 36 Slocum 22
11. Esshaki 31 Greco 23 Bentivolio 22 Acosta 13 Williams 11
13. (D) Tlaib 66 Jones 34
State House:
2. (D) Tate 69 Harrell 31
3. (D) Thanedar 35 McKinney 20
9. (D) Whitsett 45 Ogburn 30
19. Ptashnik 52 Crider 43
20. Lacny 59 Rouch 41
25. Smith 37 Wiley 32 Early 31
32. Hornberger 64 Mikula 36
38. Turner 62 Cherukuri 23
41. Sosnoski 51 Agnello 49
47. Bezotte 54 Reckling 41
56. Clements 72 Blaine 28
58. Fink 39 Welden 26 Wiseley 18 Stockford 17
59. Carra 37 Coleman 23 Walton 18 Balog 16
60. (D) Rogers 51.5 Moore 48.5
61. Haltom 66 Graham 34
62. Morgan 72 Gregoire 20
70. Outman 57 Ross 22
71. Johnsen 51.3 Barnes 48.7
73. Posthumus 46 Inhulsen 29 Regan 25
79. Wendzel 82 Blackwell 18
81. Eisen 72 Mahaney 28
83. Beeler 36 Alexander 28 Keller 20 O’Mara 14
100. VanSingel 68 Sebolt 32
101. O’Malley 87 Cater 13
104. Roth 58 Cerone 42
105. Borton 55 Cutler 36
107. Damoose 57 Twardy 12 Fisher 11
Oakland:
D turnout was about 200000, R turnout was about 120000.
Executive. (D) Coulter 54 Meisner 46
Prosecutor. (D) McDonald 66 Cooper 34
Macomb:
D turnout was about 89000, R turnout was about 95000.
Prosecutor. (D) Chrzanowski 35 Switalski 32
Prosecutor. (R) Lucido 68 Goodman 32
If Lucido wins, his senate seat will be open.
Clerk. (R) Forlini 45 Williams 23
(1)Nuh Uh.(2)Have you had enough yet?
Fellow Liberty-Minded Michiganians,
We are currently at a historic crossroad within our state.
Our governor has taken it upon herself, to bestow her office with virtually unlimited power and authority.
She has utilized that to imprison our fellow citizens within their own homes, unilaterally decided which Michiganians are essential along with those of us who are not, has placed the health and safety of our most vulnerable population in mortal danger for the sake of her own bureaucratic convenience, has significantly damaged Michigan’s economy through a series of contradictory and mystifying executive orders and has turned Michiganian against Michiganian via the same.
This MUST stop!
{More below.}
(17)Nuh Uh.(1)July 24 was the deadline for campaign finance reports for Michigan legislature. Here are summaries of the total amount raised in competitive Michigan state house districts. Totals include in-kind contributions. Candidates who filed reporting waivers are generally omitted. These numbers come from MIRS and the SOS campaign finance reports. XX means the report has yet to be filed.
2. (D) Tate 108K, Harrell XX
3. (D) Thanedar 438K (all self), Mckinney 37K, Cochran 5K
4. (D) Aiyash 72K, Oberholtzer 58K, Holmes 37K, Ahmed 12K
6. (D) Carter 40K, Palmer 23K
7. (D) Scott 28K, Yancy 10K
8. (D) Etheridge 37K, Young 30K, Davis 24K
9. (D) Whitsett 22K, Ogburn 38K
10. (D) Cavanagh 13K, Hill 5K
13. (D) Liberati 34K, Estheimer 10K, Colovos XX
19. (R) Crider 54K (32K self), Ptashnik 45K (D) Pohutski 148K
20. (R) Lacny 30K (all self), Roush 3K (D) Koleszar 131K
21. (R) Nangle 6K, Hess 3K (D) Puri 128K, Petzold 55K
22. (D) Steenland 20K, Nelson 9K, Anderson 1.5K
25. (R) Smith 10K, Wiley 6K, Early waiver (D) Shannon 65K
27. (D) Weiss 50K, Kresch 33K, Stoel 22K, Williams 8K
35. (D) Bolden 61K, Martini 27K
37. (D) Bruce 111K, Steckloff 62K
38. (R) Turner 31K, Chereukuri XX (D) Breen 43K McAllister 33K
39. (R) Berman 67K (D) Pulver 117K
40. (R) Cleary 6K (D) Manoogian 160K
41. (R) Agnello 22K Sosnoski 7K (D) Kuppa 188K
43. (R) Schroeder 56K (D) Breadon 25K
44. (R) Maddock 83K (D) Forrest 44K
45. (R) Tisdel 42K (D) Johnson 58K, Anness 39K
46. (R) Reilly 51K (D) LaMacchia 98K
47. (R) Reckling 55K, Bezotte 46K (21K self), Dyba 5K
48. (R) Martin 11K, Cross 1.3K (D) Kennedy 85K
55. (D) Brabec 142K
56. (R) Clements 28K, Blaine 4K
58. (R) Fink 49K, Welden 23K (17K self), Wiseley 19K, Stockford 11K
59. (R) Coleman 52K (38K self), Carra 24K, Walton 15K, Balog 9K, Hinkle 8K (all self)
60. (D) Rogers 107K, Moore 43K
61. (R) Haltom 286K (100K self), Graham 6K (5K self) (D) Morse 165K
62. (R) Morgan 13K (9K self), Gregoire 4K (D) Haadsma 199K
66. (R) Griffin 85K (D) Wheeler 24K
70. (R) Outman 46K, Ross 17K (14K self), Comden 4K
71. (R) Johnsen 88K (42K self), Barnes 12K (D) Witwer 195K
72. (R) Johnson 18K (D) Wilson 15K, Cheng 7K
73. (R) Inhulsen 116K, Posthumus 53K, Regan 23K (12K self) (D) Saxton 89K
76. (R) Zandstra 55K (D) Hood 45K
79. (R) Wendzel 83K, Blackwell 3K (D) Pitchford 38K
83. (R) Alexander 60K, O’Mara 49K (all self), Beeler 30K, Keller 29K
90. (R) Slagh 90K, Northrup 5K
91. (R) VanWoerkem 112K (D) Hosticka 37K
95. (D) Bryant 16K, Hammond 13K, Graham 7K, Adams 4K
98. (R) Glenn 258K (D) Schulz 173K
99. (R) Hauck 58K (D) Zang 6K
100. (R) VanSingel 78K Sebolt 9K
101. (R) O’Malley 80K Cater waiver
104. (R) Roth 38K (22K self), Cerone 19K (D) O’Neil 210K
105. (R) Culter 56K, Borton 50K
107. (R) Damoose 70K (30K self), Fisher 28K (21K self), Lamb 25K (24K self), Twardy 8K, Lieurance 5K
110. (R) Markkanen 31K (D) Metsa 20K, Dale 6K
(0)Nuh Uh.(0)When you’re the president of the Michigan SBA, wouldn’t it stand to reason that, I don’t know, YOU ACTUALLY STAND UP FOR THE MEMBERS YOU REPRESENT?
I don’t even own a business, but I do depend upon someone who does for my paycheck. I also don’t need someone to punch their lights out because they are compelled to follow some nonsensical “order”.
What has got me be cheesed off, other than the fact that we don’t have Waffle Houses here in Michigan?
{You know the drill}
(10)Nuh Uh.(1)Gosh!
Whatever shall our glorious leader do?
She’s goes off the reservation and issues even more illegal and unconstitutional “orders” for her loyal subjects to obey without question.
So, what does she do when no one is following her “orders” (at least here in Macomb, anyways)?
{Post continues below}
(16)Nuh Uh.(0)
