One Campaign sign at the Michigan Democratic Party’s election night watch party in Detroit on Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
The three candidates seeking to be the next chair of the Michigan Democratic Party gathered over the weekend to discuss their vision for leading the party forward.
Hosted by the Washtenaw County Democratic Party, the forum on Saturday featured former state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing), who recently lost his bid for the U.S. House; Michigan Democratic Party Rural Caucus Chair Mark Ludwig; and community organizer Al “BJ” Williams. Each is seeking to replace Lavora Barnes, who announced in November she would not seek reelection to the post she had held since 2019.
One area all three agreed on was that the party needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, with more focus on grassroots supporters and less of a top-down approach, which, in one form or another, they all identified as a contributing factor to disappointing election results in November, in which Democrats lost their state House majority and failed to deliver Michigan for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I’ve talked to every county chair in the state, and you talk to people in the Upper Peninsula and you talk to people in Detroit. You talk to people all across [Michigan] and they feel like there’s been a lack of communication that they feel like they don’t matter. That has to change,” said Hertel.
Ludwig was more direct in his criticism of the state party, which he said was completely disconnected from its members.
“What became clearer as I started getting around the state as a candidate is that neglect of our members, our parties and our clubs, is truly universal,” said Ludwig. “Calls and emails are seldom returned, our employees lack direction, and our party officers are notably absent from the media or even our county and club events. Meanwhile, our trifecta has eroded to a bipod, lame duck was extra lame on one side, and there is little agreement on exactly how we should proceed.”
Ludwig was referring to Democrats now only controlling the governor’s mansion and the state Senate this term. He also appeared to be criticizing the House for failing to act on a number of bills in the final days of the Democrats’ majority last year, in contrast to the Senate. Many other Democrats have aired similar frustrations.
Williams agreed that grassroots members had been neglected, and said the fix had to begin at the precinct level and work up from there.
“We need to operate in every single county,” said Williams, noting that several counties in the state did not have functioning county parties.
“We cannot [be] operating Project 83 and we don’t have 83 Democratic county parties. That doesn’t even make sense to me,” said Williams. “The job of chair is standing up our county parties, making sure that we have a precinct delegate in every single precinct, because remember we lost [the presidential election] in 2016 … just over 10,000 votes, the exact number of precincts 2.2 voters per precinct. So just think if we actually had a fully functioning precinct delegate program statewide and each precinct delegate just took two people to the polls with them. Guess what? We would not have lost in 2016.”
Another point of agreement among all three hopefuls was a condemnation of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s decision to run as an independent for Michigan governor in 2026, with each seeing it as an unforgivable betrayal by the former Democrat.
“The idea that he actually stood up at the Democratic National Committee and showed up every time that the vice president was here and now wants to demonize this party using right-wing tropes is absolutely ridiculous,” said Hertel. “We have seen people before that run populist campaigns paid for by billionaires. That’s what Mike Duggan is. We have to be willing to punch him in the mouth and say exactly who he is. And I’m not here for it.”
Ludwig also didn’t mince words.
“Mike Duggan can go straight to hell as far as I’m concerned. The disloyalty to turn his back on this party after 40 years of enjoying our warm embrace is gross,” he said.
Williams, meanwhile, called Duggan a “fox in the henhouse” who was only a Democrat of convenience in order to run as Wayne County prosecutor and later as Detroit’s mayor.
“So to let him … into the hen house, take all of our data, all of our relationships, and then walk away with it? Man, if you’re not pissed off, I’m upset about that and he can’t come to me asking for nothing. He can’t be my friend after that. I feel absolutely betrayed,” said Williams. “As a chair of the party, we are going to win in 2026 and we’re going to put together a strategy to beat Mike Duggan with as many independents in the race as possible.”
The forum was mostly cordial until the closing statements, during which Ludwig took direct aim at Hertel’s motivation for seeking the position of MDP chair.
“I do not believe that the state party chair is a consolation prize for losing the 7th [Congressional District race]. I believe we need to focus on the bottom of the party. We do not need another Lansing actor. We do not need the governor’s friend,” said Ludwig, apparently referring to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s endorsement of Hertel.
“We need somebody who will go to hard places, say hard things and take a clear-eyed look at the real problems in this party,” Ludwig continued. “You need someone who commits to stay out of the ideological fights within the party and focus on what we need to do to rebuild a grassroots aggressive up and down the ballot party, not mess around in the politics of Lansing.”
Hertel kept his response brief to close out the forum.
“I’m going to choose to ignore what was said at the end of this because I don’t think that’s actually what politics is about and I think it’s become too much of that to be honest with you,” he said to applause from the audience.
“I believe that a party is made up of the people that are willing to go out and do the work and that we have failed to do is actually have real communication and go out and work with those people. As chair, I’m going to do that.”
Democrats will select their next party chair at their biennial state convention in February at Detroit’s Renaissance Center.
Michigan Republicans will also decide on a new party chair at their convention, also in February in Detroit, after it was announced that current chair, Pete Hoekstra, would be nominated to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s ambassador to Canada.
The four GOP candidates in the running to take the helm of the state party include former party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock, state Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake), Republican consultant Scott Greenlee, and Joe Cella, former ambassador to Fiji during the first Trump administration.
Maddock is among 15 people charged in the 2020 fake electors case, where they stand accused of sending false electoral votes for Trump to the U.S. Senate and National Archives. That case is still pending in court.
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