Democrats won back a majority in the Michigan House and restored their party’s full control of state government Tuesday thanks to victories in two special elections.
Mai Xiong won the special election in the 13th District, which covers Warren and part of Detroit, while Peter Herzberg won in the 25th District, which contains the cities of Wayne and Westland. Both candidates were favorites in the heavily Democratic districts.
The lower chamber 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 flipped both chambers in the 2022 midterms while maintaining control of the governor’s office to win a trifecta for the first time in 40 years. They moved quickly to roll back decades of Republican measures and implement the party’s agenda in their first year, including overhauling the state’s gun laws.
Since the House deadlocked, Republicans have pushed to pass legislation they say is bipartisan, such as a government transparency package, which would open the Legislature and governor’s office up to public record requests.
With each Democratic candidate winning Tuesday, the party will regain control through the end of the year, with every seat in the House up for reelection in November.
Lawmakers are now expected to turn their focus to a state budget with a self-imposed July 1 deadline. Whitmer in her annual State of the State speech in January called on lawmakers to pass a $80 billion budget that would provide free community college for all high school graduates and free preschool for 4-year-olds.
In recent months, Democrats have also deliberated on expanding the state’s hate crime law and enacting a comprehensive school safety package of bills in the wake of the 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High School.
Lawmakers will be working against the clock. They are set to take a summer break at the end of June and representatives will soon begin campaigning in their districts.
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
How should states address school safety and hate crimes, and what are your thoughts on introducing stricter laws?
@9LM5C3Y2wks2W
People need to be safe in schools. Hate crimes and gun violence make a place that is supposed to be educational and safe become a dangerous place.
@9LM58T82wks2W
Saftey of students is really important and we have to figure out how to stop the slaughtering of students and the violence words and actions aginst them. Everyone has the right to live to be happy and to be themselves.
@9LM4MYB2wks2W
think school safety should be at the top of our list of concerns
Address school safety by allowing – or requiring – teachers to be armed. Address alleged "hate crimes" by telling kids to suck it up and become stronger.
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
Do you believe making government actions more transparent to the public is important, and how might this affect trust in the government?
@9LMV2PR2wks2W
We need to know the government's intentions if they want us to trust them.
@9LM5K55Progressive2wks2W
We need to to know the truth in order to vote correctly. We do not like being misled as humans.
@9LM57XL2wks2W
the people should know everything the government is doing because they should not want to hide anything.
@9LM574Z2wks2W
Making the government's actions more clear to the public would strengthen the trust between them and the people by showing that the government is not hiding new policies from the public to do as they please, I believe that if people were more involved with the government and what happens with it the people and the government would get along better.
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
If you could vote, would you support measures to offer free college and preschool to all, and why or why not?
@9LM54VJ2wks2W
I think we can build a more educated country if we give everyone the same opportunity from the start. The people who don't take advantage of that education is up to them but should always be available.
@9LM3YVD2wks2W
I would not support measures to free college, but I support free preschool. The funds for college should be lowered down, but the education system would go down in value since teachers and faculty members are not being paid as much as they should be getting.
@9LM3YGQ2wks2W
I think that they should prioritize students education and help reduce the amount of money it is.
No, because taxation is theft and involves using violence and force and threats on innocent people to fund something they wouldn't voluntarily agree to – and in addition to that, government "education" is just indoctrination.
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
With a tight deadline to pass significant legislation, what priorities do you think your local government should focus on and why?
@9LLW6L72wks2W
Local elections are usually what have the most effect on individuals
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
Is there a way to tell how the turnout for dems was compared to other elections? I’m just wondering if current events such as abortion is increasing turnout
@TroubledChileGreen2wks2W
Incredibly important when it comes to controlling shenanigans during the 2024 election.
@KeenQuorumDemocrat2wks2W
UPDATE: Democrats performed better than their margin in the 2020 presidential race in both districts.
By a net 2% in one, and by a net 3% in the other.
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