Lansing — Michigan House Democrats’ campaign chairwoman and finance chairwoman have resigned from their campaign leadership posts with just four months remaining until Election Day.
House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, acknowledged the resignations during a virtual meeting of House Democrats that took place at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to three participants who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak about the internal discussions.
Then, Rep. Regina Weiss, D-Oak Park, who had been the campaign chairwoman, and Rep. Samantha Steckloff, D-Farmington Hills, who had been the finance chairwoman, confirmed their resignations Wednesday morning.
“The speaker is in the process of revising the caucus campaign structure and fine tuning the operation,” Tate’s spokeswoman Amber McCann said. “He appreciates the hard work of Rep. Weiss and Rep. Steckloff over the past several months and looks forward to their continued support heading into November.”
The development was a sign of turbulence among Democrats in the battleground state, where concerns about President Joe Biden’s performance in a debate last week have dominated recent headlines. Michigan Democrats are hoping to retain a narrow 56-54 seat majority in the state House in the Nov. 5 general election.
“I made the decision to take a step back from my role as finance director for the House Democrats,” Steckloff said Wednesday. “While this was not an easy choice, it was done for multiple reasons. Most importantly, it will afford me the opportunity to focus on family and personal issues that require my attention.
“I will still remain active in the campaign and am committed to keeping the majority come November.”
Normally, Weiss and Steckloff would be key figures in the effort to retain the majority by advising the political efforts of Democratic House candidates and incumbents — and raising money for them.
Weiss, a former teacher, and Steckloff were among a group of House Democrats frustrated that House Democratic leadership approved a state budget last week without advancing a separate bill that guaranteed longer-term funding help for school districts.
Weiss and Steckloff resigned from their campaign positions as the disagreements played out in recent days.
Neither Weiss nor Steckloff referenced the budget dispute in their statements to The News on Wednesday.
Weiss said she was proud of the work she’s done over the past year and a half. She said her decision was in part motivated by the need to focus on her own 5th District race, where Weiss faces three Democratic challengers in the Aug. 6 primary.
“I made a decision to step down as chair to focus on my race in a newly drawn seat and balance that with being present for my family,” Weiss said. “I remain fully committed to maintaining and expanding our majority, and look forward to working with the new caucus chair to deliver a House Dem victory in November.”
The state budget has drawn criticism from many school leaders because it doesn’t include a traditional per-pupil increase in the districts’ base foundation allowances, currently at $9,608 per student. Instead, the budget covers about $598 million of school districts’ employee retirements costs, freeing up those dollars to go into classrooms.
But some superintendents are concerned the retirement funding isn’t guaranteed to remain in future budgets and won’t counteract the impacts of inflation and rising health care costs.
The Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators issued a statement last week, saying the budget plan “will lead to layoffs this fall and in the future.”
House Democrats approved a bill on Thursday morning that would have capped districts’ retirement contributions going forward, but Tate’s leadership team didn’t send it to the Senate before the Senate adjourned for summer break.
Six members of the majority House Democratic caucus told The Detroit News last week that they believed they had been misled by Democratic leadership in the budget votes. They believed the longer-term retirement bill was going to be sent to the Senate for a vote.
In November 2022, Democrats won a majority of the seats in the Michigan House for first time since the 2008 election. Democrats currently control state government, holding the House, the Senate and the governor’s office.
But Republicans have a chance in November to cut into Democratic power, by flipping the House.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
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Michigan House Democrats’ campaign, finance chairs resign from posts – Journal Important Internet
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