The deadline for candidates for State House and State Senate is exactly two months away, 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, and some individuals already have announced their intentions to run.
In this area, State House and Senate seats have been redistricted, a process that occurs every 10 years as the U.S. Census reflects population changes. Redistricting in the past was done by members of the State Legislature, but voters statewide in November 2018 overwhelmingly approved a ballot issue in which the process was turned over to an independent commission. The argument was that state lawmakers shouldn’t be permitted to choose their voters and more than 60 percent of voters agreed.
As a result, the old 72nd District seat in the House held by term limited Steve Johnson has been split into the new 43rd District and the new 79th District. The 72nd District now is partly in the new 80th, which includes Kentwood, Cascade, East Grand Rapids, and part of Grand Rapids Township (South of Fulton Street).
The 43rd takes up most of the Dorr-Moline-Martin-Hopkins and Wayland area. It includes most of Allegan County, but excludes Leighton Township.
Martin Township Clerk Rachelle Smit and Lindsey Kronemeyer of Dorr will run in the 43rd. Both are Republicans.
Two other Republicans, Dean Brandt of Hamilton and Phillip Joseph of Orangeville, also have expressed interest in seeking the office.
The only known candidate thus far for the 79th District is Republican Angela Salas of Caledonia.
The 18th Senatorial District will include Wayland, Martin, Otsego and Plainwell in Allegan County and Hastings, Middleville, Delton, Cloverdale and Nashville in Barry County and Caledonia and Alto in Kent County, and Lake Odessa and Clarksville in Ionia County.
The 20th District will take in Dorr, Monterey and Hopkins in Allegan County, along with Hamilton, Fennville, Allegan, Douglas and Glenn, and then move south to cover South Haven, Bloomingdale, Covert, Paw Paw, Gobles, Hartford and Decatur in Van Buren County. Current State Senator Aric Nesbitt lives within the boundaries of this district.
There has been no word yet about Democrats who have filed for House or Senate seats in these districts.
Do the numbers in these rural areas indicate that a chance for democrats even exists? Is it an unwinnable, lost cause, given the makeup of the current landscape? Or is now the opportunity for folks to step up?
Eeer, the Ds got no chance.
Step up anyway! The other side’s voice needs to be heard, if only during the campaign!
Yep said day for democracy if you live in this district. So much for evening out the district to make it fair. But they probably already knew that.
What would a Democrat run on? Big government, higher taxes, more jabs for the foreseeable future, mask up again, no bail for criminals just let em go, store theft, more crime? Yeah, pretty much as it’s been the past year nationally. Why not keep up Democrat ideals in Michigan?
You’re right, Republicans will eat biggly!
This is what and the Republicans are about and it’s been that way for the last 45 years.
“In the 2020 election, the Republican Party chose not to even publish a party platform. They literally had no list of things they’d like to accomplish or do for the American people.
As Axios recently reported after attending a meeting between Mitch McConnell and wealthy donors: “Republicans should be 100% focused on Democrats and all the ‘terrible’ things they’re doing to the country, McConnell said.” We’ll find out what Republicans support, we’re told, only after they regain power.
In a bizarre parody of Seinfeld, the GOP appears to have become the Party of Nothing.
Nothing about getting the lead out of our water supply, or child-brain-damaging pesticides out of our food.
Nothing about strengthening Social Security or expanding Medicare to include glasses, hearing and teeth.
Nothing about helping young families make it through those first five demanding years in their children’s lives with low-cost pre-K.
Nothing about fixing the student debt crisis that’s crippled 45 million Americans ability to fully enter the economy.
Nothing about making healthcare and pharmaceuticals more available and affordable.
Nothing about cleaning up our environment and stopping global warming.
Nothing about turning our public schools back into the world’s finest, as they were from Eisenhower’s big post-Sputnik 1950s investments until Reagan took an axe to them in the 1980s.
Nothing about giving working people better pay, raising the minimum wage, and strengthening workplace protections.
Nothing about paid sick leave and family leave.
Nothing about rebuilding America’s infrastructure that’s been crumbling since Reagan’s supply-side funding cuts in the 1980s.
Nothing about getting low-cost/high-speed broadband into the homes of every American family to make America internationally competitive.
Nothing about taking on the corruption of politics by the dark money the Supreme Court authorized with Citizens United.
Nothing about making voting safe, easy and secure for all Americans”………… Skoal!