Johnnette Eggert attends an “Americans First Before Illegals” gathering in Oak Park, Michigan where attendees offer support to Former President Donald Trump and slam Vice President Kamala Harris on Oct. 17, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)
Times have been tough for Republicans in Oakland County, a former conservative stronghold, but two Republican candidates running for the county Board of Commissioners are looking to turn the tide.
“This is a Democratic area, but we’re planting seeds,” Winnie Jackson, the Republican candidate looking to represent the county’s 18th District, told Michigan Advance at an “Americans First Before Illegals” gathering outside a strip mall in Oak Park on Thursday evening.
The rally, which was promoted by the Michigan Conservative Coalition founded by former Michigan GOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock and state Rep. Matt Maddock (D-Milford), was small, drawing about a dozen people. But the group drew supportive cheers and honking from passing cars, with some clapping once they got to the nearby stoplight. Others rolled down their windows and yelled obscenities, or “Let’s go Harris!” in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, who’s facing former President Donald Trump this election.
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As the second most populous county in the state and one of the wealthiest, Oakland County used to be considered a bellwether. But it hasn’t been competitive at the presidential level for years. The last time the county voted for a Republican for president was in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush was defeated by Bill Clinton.
Democrats won big in Oakland County down-ballot during the blue wave of 2018, both in the Legislature and by gaining a majority on the county Board of Commissioners for the first time in 40 years. Democrats currently hold a 13-6 majority on the board.
But that doesn’t mean new Democratic voters can’t be pulled back into the GOP fray, Jackson said, hoping to unseat Commissioner Linnie Taylor.
In the 18th District, which includes Southfield Township, and parts of the city of Southfield and Bloomfield Township, Jackson said the state of the roads and lack of educational resources for young kids hits home for voters across the political spectrum.Voters are realizing new leadership in the county isn’t working, she added.
As a podiatrist in the area, Jackson said the older folks she sees in her office can’t keep up with proposed tax hikes in the county or inflation at the grocery store.
“When I talk to my seniors, they talk about the high cost of medication, how they have to decide … the cost of living is still high between groceries, they can’t get all the medications they need. Plus a lot of their insurances are not covering what they used to cover,” Jackson said.
Fellow Republican county commission candidate Johnnette Eggert stands ready to support conservative candidates up and down the ballot in November, and backs Trump’s “America first” platform.
Eggert is seeking to represent Oakland County’s 11th District, which includes Bloomfield Hills and West Bloomfield Township. She says she has her Trump flag and sign out on her lawn and her neighbors are experiencing “a rude awakening” realizing that not everyone in the area is a Democrat.
As an immigrant from Liberia, Eggert says Trump is offering immigrants and Black voters more in November, and she believes Harris is not connecting with Black voters.
“Compared to her, I’m not gonna give her a platform of her name, Trump offers more to the Black community. As an immigrant looking in, I see the difference. He wants, whether you’re Black, pink, white, Chinese — no matter your race — he wants you to be successful. He wants you to be well-educated,” Eggert said. “He wants us to go to school and work and be self-sufficient, not just to sit back and say, ‘Well, the Democrat is going to feed you money.’”
Eggert said she was raised by Democrats and waffled between parties each election until 2016 where Trump “opened” her eyes to her own core values.
“I believe in life … I believe in marriage; I believe in having children. I believe in quality education. I believe in working and being self-employed, as well and being productive in my community. I do not believe in just social services that are so … imposed upon Black America,” Eggert said, who remembered watching Trump on the debate stage in 2016 and thinking, “My Lord, I’m part of his group. The other group does not have my values.”
Eggert’s political flip in 2016 followed a trend. Democratic presidential candidates had won Michigan every election since 1992. George H. W. Bush was the last Republican to take the state in 1988 before Trump pulled out a surprise win over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Now Eggert is looking to unseat Oakland County Commissioner Marcia Gershenson, who has served on the board since 2004.
Jackson said she’s a lifelong Republican, with a GOP mother that raised her on Rush Limbaugh, while her father was a staunch Democrat. But the values they both instilled in her are ones that ring true in Trump’s and other Republican campaigns: to work hard, get educated, and help others.
Even still, Jackson admits that she voted for President Barack Obama his first term, “wanting to do that,” but did not support his second run in 2012.
This election is crucial, Jackson said, hoping that the bridges she has built in community meetings, connecting with Democrats, will help her party and her election, even though she and Eggert face incumbents, in seats that were soundly won by Democrats in 2022.
“I don’t like the way the economy’s going. I don’t like the way the morality of this country is going. So I want to do my part as a candidate,” Jackson said. “My core … pro-life … that’s what I do. … I speak up for the elderly, I speak up for the disabled, and I speak up for the trans kids, because I do not want them being mutilated and sterilized. So those are the vulnerable in the society that I stand up for, [because I’m] pro-life.”
The Black community, particularly Black men, have had their eyes opened by Trump, Eggert said. Whereas Trump is “his own man,” Harris was propped up by national Democrats, she said, noting that President Joe Biden dropped out after the primary this year, which led to Harris becoming the Democratic nominee. Eggert called the situation “insane.”
Plenty of women would like to see a woman in the White House, Eggert said, but “you gotta pick the right individual,” and she doesn’t believe Harris is the right woman for the job.
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