Michigan Democrats have seen big gains. That’s no guarantee heading into 2024 – By Todd Spangler (Detroit Free Press) / Aug 7, 2023
A recent headline asserted that Michigan — which only seven years ago had a Republican governor, GOP-controlled Legislature and voted for Donald Trump to become president — is now, as the New Yorker put it, a “Democratic stronghold.”
It isn’t, though the trend since the 2018 election — the first after Trump’s surprise victory two years before — has clearly been on the Democrats’ side.
Yes, as Trump took over the Republican Party, more Michigan voters rejected its candidates (including Trump himself in 2020) than embraced them. Yes, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won handily twice and in 2022, thanks to more equitable redistricting plans, the outrage caused by the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe vs. Wade, and Trump’s hand-picked candidates striking voters as too extreme, Democrats swept the top state offices and took control of both state legislative chambers for the first time in decades.
But that trend isn’t guaranteed to continue as Trump and President Joe Biden appear headed to a rematch. Voter apathy, a drop-off in turnout, or even a slight trend in some key regions of the state back toward Republicans could make Michigan hyper-competitive in next year’s presidential and state House races.
