LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers hope Tuesday to regain a majority in the deadlocked Michigan House and regain control of the state government in two special elections.
Democrat Mai Xiong is running against Republican Ronald Singer in District 13, while Peter Herzberg, a Democrat, is running against Republican Josh Powell in District 25. Both districts are just outside of Detroit and are heavily Democratic, with previous Democratic incumbents each having won by more than a large margin. 25 percentage points in 2022.
The House has been tied 54-54 between Democratic and Republican lawmakers since November, when two Democratic representatives vacated their seats after winning mayoral races in their hometowns. Democrats previously held majorities in both chambers, along with control of the governor’s office.
“These special elections will determine who controls the House here in Michigan and will set the tone for November when we will decide whether Democrats will retain the state House,” said Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party.
Democrats flipped both chambers in the 2022 midterm elections while retaining control of the governor’s office and winning a trifecta for the first time in four decades. They moved quickly to reverse decades of Republican measures and implement the party’s agenda in its first year, including overhauling the state’s gun laws.
Since the House standoff, Republicans have pushed for legislation they say is bipartisan, such as a government transparency package that would open the Legislature and the governor’s office to public records requests. But very little legislation has been passed. Democrats are unwilling to accept a joint power-sharing agreement proposed several times in recent months by House Republican Leader Matt Hall.
If both Democratic candidates win on Tuesday, the party will regain control by the end of the year, with every seat in the House of Representatives up for re-election in November. Each party would have to win both seats to gain a majority.
Xiong is a Macomb County commissioner who was endorsed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the primary. Her opponent, Singer, ran for the seat in 2022 and lost to former state Rep. Lori Stone by 34 percentage points.
On the 25th, Herzberg, a Westland City Council member, will face Powell, a veteran who has said in his campaign that he would support less government, less regulation and lower taxes. Former Rep. Kevin Coleman, a Democrat, won the district in 2022 by 26 percentage points.
Pete Hoekstra, chairman of the Republican Party of Michigan, said Republicans were still “forcing candidates and Democratic committees to spend money to protect these seats.”
“Win or lose, I am more convinced than ever that Republicans are motivated and Democrats are not,” Hoekstra said in a statement to the Associated Press.
After Tuesday’s special election, lawmakers are expected to turn their attention to a state budget with a self-imposed July 1 deadline. Whitmer used her January State of the State address to propose an $81 billion budget that would provide free community college for all high school graduates and preschool for 4-year-olds.
In recent months, Democrats have also considered expanding the state’s hate crimes law and enacting a comprehensive school safety package, spurred by the 2021 Oxford High School mass shooting. With a majority in the House of Representatives, they would propose these submit more easily.
But lawmakers will be working against the clock when the standoff ends Tuesday. They will take a summer break at the end of June and soon representatives in their districts will begin campaigning for re-election this fall.
