It's a busy week in Michigan politics as voters take to the polls one last time this year to close out the 2026 midterm elections. Control of Congress is on the line and, for the first time, Michigan has an open U.S. Senate at the same time every statewide executive office will be open, while every seat in the Michigan Legislature is up for grabs as well. On the local side, while schools across mid-Michigan are advocating for funding on the ballot, one district hopes the third time is the charm.
These are some of the biggest stories WKAR lead politics reporter Andrew Roth is following as part of his weekly series, What Roth's Watching, available in The Signal. He spoke with WKAR Morning Edition host Melorie Begay to break it all down.
From Andrew:
1. Democrats pitch ‘double coverage’ as sign of unity
After President Donald Trump turned Michigan red in 2016, then-U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow pushed the Michigan Democratic Party to adopt a coordinated ground game and messaging for Democrats up and down the ticket. That became known as the “One Campaign.”
This year, Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate Abdul El-Sayed and gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson have made only a handful of joint appearances.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told WKAR News at a coffee shop in Jackson that Democrats aren’t coordinating less – they’re just fanning out to reach more people.
“It is kind of all hands on deck, and there are many shifts going out to canvass, so kicking them off with different speakers, I think is actually really a showing of strength,” Whitmer said.
The Michigan Democratic Party said it is still coordinating volunteer efforts and campaign messaging under what is now known as “One Team Michigan.”
2. Green Party's MIA nominee for MI-07
The Green Party nominated its candidate for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, Shane Dedrick of Brighton, in less than an hour during a Zoom meeting in which he did not turn his camera on.
Party officials say they had not met Dedrick before he sought the nomination and have not been able to reach him since, leading some to speculate he could be a Republican plant meant to siphon votes from Democratic nominee William Lawrence – the co-founder of climate organization Sunrise Movement – to make it easier to re-elect Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett.
Green Party communications manager and U.S. Senate nominee Doug Marsh tells WKAR News that Dedrick is the only candidate the party hasn’t been able to get in touch with.
“He seems to have gamed us,” Marh said. “Or, I mean, we don’t really have a clear explanation for why he did what he did.”
Marsh said while he’s generally agnostic as to whether Dedrick was a Republican plant, Republican groups have been airing ads in Michigan’s 4th Congressional District to boost their nominee there.
3. Midterm conventional wisdom at odds
Conventional wisdom is that the midterms are a referendum on the party in charge, causing the balance of power to shift back and forth.
In Michigan, where Democrats have controlled the top executive offices for eight years, political scientists say you would traditionally expect Republicans to have an advantage.
But with President Donald Trump and Michigan’s U.S. Senate election dominating coverage, Michigan State University political scientist Matt Grossmann said it may be more of a referendum on federal leaders.
“Historically in Michigan, those didn’t coincide, and so there were lots of elections where the party in power at the state level lost, but that was also the party at the national level losing in the presidential midterms,” Grossmann said. “This is another opportunity for those tendences to go against each other, but certainly the nationalization of elections have just made it harder to stand out at the state level.”
4. St. Johns hopes third try is the charm for school funding
St. Johns Public Schools will ask voters a third time to approve funding for repairs to school facilities. A similar bond previously failed in 2024 and 2025, but the amount the district is requesting has been reduced to $40 million – down from nearly $100 million. The reduced bond proposal would keep the debt millage rate at its current level of 7 mills through 2032.
The proposal has also sent waves through the school board race, in which seven candidates are seeking three seats. Some residents in online discussions judge candidates by whether they are for or against the bond proposal, and yard signs urging “yes” or “no” votes line the streets.
Interview Transcript:
Melorie Begay: Election Day is tomorrow, and voters across Michigan will decide who will represent them in Congress, the state Capitol and their local communities.
Here to talk about Election Day is WKAR lead politics reporter Andrew Roth. Thanks for being here, Andrew.
Andrew Roth: Thanks for having me, Melorie.
Begay: So, let's start with Michigan's 7th Congressional District. This is expected to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country, and much of the focus has been on Republican Congressman Tom Barrett and his Democratic challenger William Lawrence, but there's also a third-party candidate. Andrew, who is this third person?
Roth: The Green Party has a bit of an unusual situation in this race. Things got off to a rocky start when they nominated Shane Dedrick in about 30 minutes during their virtual convention on Zoom. Dedrick didn't turn his camera on, and party officials say they had not met him prior to him seeking the nomination. Green Party communications manager Doug Marsh, who is also the party's U.S. Senate nominee, tells me the party hasn't been able to get in touch with him since becoming the nominee.
Doug Marsh: He seems to have gamed us. Or, I mean, we don't really have a clear explanation for why he did what he did.
Roth: Some have speculated that Dedrick could be a Republican plant meant to siphon votes from Lawrence to make it easier for Barrett to win re-election, and Marsh says Republicans have spent money propping up one of their other U.S. House candidates in West Michigan.
Begay: So something big happened over the weekend. Tensions in the U.S. Senate race boiled over with Congresswoman Haley Stevens' shock announcement that she's endorsing Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers over Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Now, Stevens ran against El-Sayed in a contentious primary, and that relationship has been a bit shaky over the course of the election cycle, so I'm curious, how unified is the Democratic ticket heading into Tuesday?
Roth: While that endorsement was certainly attention-grabbing, the response to it from across different factions of the Democratic Party has been swift. And, if anything, Democrats, broadly speaking, actually appear more unified in the wake of it.
Gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson put out a statement reaffirming that the statewide ticket is backing one another. This is interesting because while Benson hasn't shied away from vocalizing support for El-Sayed in the past, they've sort of kept each other at arm's length, only appearing on the campaign trail together a handful of times. That's a little bit of a departure from other recent midterms in which the Democratic ticket has run as a single unified entity and campaigned together often.
I asked Governor Gretchen Whitmer at a coffee shop in Jackson last week if Democrats are coordinating less than when she ran at the top of the ticket in 2018 and 2022, and she told me they're just fanning out to reach more people simultaneously.
Gretchen Whitmer: There are many shifts going out to canvass, and, so, kicking them off with different speakers, I think, is actually really a showing of strength.
Roth: The Michigan Democratic Party says the coordinated campaign is still fully operational, even if Benson and El-Sayed appear content largely running their own campaigns. The benefit to that could be if each of them appeal to different factions who end up supporting the ticket as a whole.
Begay: Throughout this entire election cycle, we've been talking about some of the stakes here, and that's because midterms are often seen as a referendum on the party in power. What does that tell us about how things might go on Tuesday?
Roth: Well, it's interesting because on one hand, Michigan has been led by Democrats in the top executive offices for eight years, and it is typically very difficult for the party in power to win a third term. But on the other hand, Republicans control the White House, and President Donald Trump dominates a lot of the attention. Michigan State University political scientist Matt Grossmann says there aren't many historical examples in Michigan where the party in control of the White House and the governor's mansion weren't aligned during the midterms.
Matt Grossmann: This is another opportunity for those tendencies to go against each other, but certainly the nationalization of elections have just made it harder to stand out at the state level.
Roth: Another political scientist, Dante Chinni, says evidence on the ground suggests this year will be a referendum on Trump.
Begay: Before we go, I want to talk about St. Johns. Officials there are trying for a third time to pass a bond to fund school repairs. What's going on there?
Roth: Yeah, so St. Johns has tried to pass this bond twice already, and it failed both times. It actually failed by a wider margin the second time. But they've made some cuts to how much they're asking for, so they're now seeking about $40 million rather than nearly $100 million. That would keep taxes at their current rate. But driving around St. Johns, there are yard signs for and against the proposal everywhere. It's also having an impact on the school board race. Seven candidates are seeking three seats, and looking through some of the online chatter about the race, people are very much judging these candidates based on their stance on the bond proposals.
Begay: Andrew Roth is WKAR's lead politics reporter. Thanks for being here, Andrew.
Roth: Thank you for having me, Melorie.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
