We continue our conversations with candidates for Lansing city council today with the youngest announced candidate to this point, Michael Ruddock. He’s a 23-year old senior in MSU’s James Madison College who expects to graduate in May.
Michael Ruddock is facing the challenge of convincing voters to support such a young candidate for an at-large seat on the council.
"Policy is always something I've been really entrenched in," Ruddock says. "I like to read through policy, I like to analyze it and figure out going back, what works for the most people."
He's worked on more than a dozen political campaigns and touts his experience talking with people in Lansing are around the state.
Leading his platform is a desire to bring residents and developers together. "We want to see businesses come into Lansing," he continues, "but we also want those businesses to be investing back into our city. Our main push is going to be contractually obliging developers and community residents to negotiate."
Ruddock also wants to push environmental sustainability. To do that, he would start with monitoring the efficiency of municipally-owned buildings.