Progressive Michigan Democrats made their voices heard during the state party’s endorsement convention in Detroit over the weekend.
Around 7,250 delegates packed Huntington Place Sunday in what Michigan Democratic Party members said marked record attendance. They were there to choose party endorsements for several statewide races, including Michigan secretary of state, attorney general, and university boards.
The top races were tight going into the convention, leading candidates to try to separate themselves with gimmicks like musicians, people in orange jumpsuits carrying around boards with candidates' information, and basketball cards with campaign pitches.
Contenders in competitive primaries also turned to tactics like carrying large cardboard cutouts of a candidate’s face and decking out a Ford Mustang convertible in campaign posters.
Sunday marked a big day for progressives in the Michigan Democratic Party. Nearly every candidate backed by the party’s Progressive Caucus won their convention races.
That includes Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist, who won the Secretary of State race after hours of voting and vote-counting. He said his win was a sign of the party’s strength.
“I think what we’re showing is that we have a lot of power. We have record turnout here in this particular convention, more than we’ve ever had. That shows that the energy is on our side and that we’re going to be able to organize that energy into a victory in November,” Gilchrist said.
For the Attorney General Race, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit came out on top. Savit said he sees the victories as a sign party members want to see candidates that inspire voters.
He said he wouldn’t change his message for the general election, now that he won the party’s backing.
“I will stand for the people no matter who it is that’s on the other side. And I’ve said this. That can mean if it’s your boss that’s stealing from you, if it’s a slumlord that’s taking advantage of you, if it’s a predatory corporation that’s price gouging you, if it’s an environmental polluter, or if it’s the president of the United States himself,” Savit said.
Another race on the ballot, the University of Michigan Board of Regents, drew a lot of attention within the past week. Two incumbents, businessman Paul Brown and lawyer Jordan Acker, faced a challenge from civil rights lawyer Amir Makled.
Ahead of the convention, a former Democratic Party chair published an opinion piece in the Detroit News castigating Makled for previous criticisms of Israel that the op-ed claimed ventured into antisemitism.
Meanwhile, a recent story in The Guardian published several sexually explicit messages about a pro-Palestine student protestor and a Democratic strategist that Acker allegedly shared in a group chat in the app Slack. Acker had already faced backlash from students who accuse him of leading a heavy-handed university response to the protests.
Both candidates have denied wrongdoing.
Brown and Makled ended up coming out on top. Makled said his win showed that people wanted a more inclusive campus, dedicating his win, in part, to the protesting students he's defended.
“To the students, these students who spoke up, the students who organized, the students who refused to let anyone tell them that they’re education wasn’t worth fighting for, you all reminded us what a public university is supposed to be,” Mackled said.
During nomination speeches at the convention on Sunday, Wayne County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch, who spoke on behalf of Acker, received boos from the crowd. Kinloch, like others over the weekend, warned not to repeat the same division that cost the party during the 2024 election.
“The enemy is not in this room. We’re dealing with the consequences of actions like this from November 2024,” Kinloch said over the booing.
Sunday's endorsement convention gives Democratic Party candidates a head-start to go after their Republican opponents. But the endorsed candidates will not be officially nominated by the party until a nominating convention later this year, after the August primary election.
