Democrats won big in Michigan on election night 2018, sweeping the statewide offices of governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Democrats also flipped two historically safe Republican congressional districts and flipped five state Senate seats and five state House seats.
The 2018 results ushered in a wave of liberal Democrats in the Great Lakes State, who won by appealing to the radical left while maintaining a veil of moderate charm to hold on to working class families and Midwestern Democrats who were not as giddy about socialism.
This makes Michigan a unique place we can turn to for insight into what the future of our nation will look like should today’s Democratic Party, dominated by the radical left, succeed in taking over America as we know it.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she wanted to work across the aisle to get things done, making “fix the damn roads” her campaign moniker, yet recently vetoed $375 million in the state budget that would have fixed the roads because the legislature did not include a 45-cent gas tax increase as a part of the budget.
Whitmer, who on the campaign trail called assertions she would have to raise the gas tax at least 20-cents “ridiculous” for her roads plan, announced her 45-cent gas tax earlier this year and both Republicans and Democrats balked. Her own party publicly said she didn’t have support for the drastic tax increase in the state House, where Democrats know just how unpopular the hike would be with constituents.
Instead of continuing good-faith negotiations, Whitmer chose to use autistic kids, school children, public safety officers, and other critical services as leverage to get her way. Whitmer vetoed critical funding for families of autistic children, rural healthcare, public safety officers, and charter school students as a way to try and force Republicans to budge on their refusal to support a massive 45-cent gas tax increase.
Whitmer personally initialed the elimination of the Autism Navigator — a hotline that provides counseling for families with autistic children and finds assistance with diagnosis, insurance questions, treatment providers and expert caseworkers. Whitmer made the conscious decision that eliminating this critical service was an appropriate power move in order to get her massive tax hike. Whitmer has left many wondering how low she will go to get her gas tax increase.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. House of Representatives, Michigan boasts a member of “the squad” with radical leftist Rep. Rashida Tlaib. A leader of the socialist takeover of the Democratic Party, Tlaib recently made blatantly racist remarks against law enforcement. During a tour with Detroit’s African American police chief James Craig, Tlaib said that only African Americans should operate facial recognition software in Detroit because white people think black people all look the same. Craig pushed back, calling Tlaib’s remarks racist and delusional.
Another freshman from Michigan, Rep. Haley Stevens, made news for screaming at constituents over the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. “That’s why the NRA has to go!” Stevens screamed in an unhinged manner during a recent town hall at a gun range in Michigan’s 11th district, repeating the line multiple times at the top of her lungs.
If she is this passionate against the Second Amendment and the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, what else will she go after? Stevens’ stunning display of erratic behavior reveals her true intentions — appease liberals in Washington over the people she was elected to serve.
Stevens’ comments were quickly denounced by her own Democratic colleagues in the Michigan delegation, with Rep. Debbie Dingell telling a local TV show she too made stupid comments about the NRA when she was younger, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin telling town hall attendees that the NRA was not the problem. Slotkin was forced to distance herself from the comments after a town hall where she was confronted with shouts of “fake news” by constituents upset that Slotkin is choosing to focus on impeachment over issues like healthcare and passing the USMCA.
In the U.S. Senate, career politician Sen. Gary Peters is attempting to hide his true position on “Medicare-for-all” in order to distance himself from the liberal takeover of the party. Peters is on the record supporting Medicare-for-all as recently as 2018, where he told a crowd of town hall attendees they would have the controversial policy that eliminates employer-sponsored health insurance “down the road,” but is now attempting to hide his past support as polling shows a vast majority of Americans oppose the proposal which would eliminate private insurance for millions of Michiganders.
All of this comes on the heels of Southfield City Clerk Sherikia Hawkins — who was honored in May by the Michigan Democratic Party with the prestigious Dingell/Levin Award — being charged with six felonies for altering absentee ballots in the 2018 election.
Hawkins has been an election official in Michigan for 10 years — raising questions about previous elections she has overseen and causing alarm among many because also receiving voter approval in the state in 2018 was a proposal to expand absentee voting through “no reason absentee.” Local elections have already seen double digit increases of absentee voting and the chance for increased fraud must be met with vigilance.
Michigan can serve as a warning to Republicans across the nation. Whitmer, Tlaib, Stevens, Slotkin, Peters and their inability to govern are the future of America should the radical left assume total control of government.
Tori Sachs is executive director of Michigan Rising Action. She previously managed the 2018 John James for U.S. Senate campaign and served six years in former Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration. Tori resides in Michigan with her husband and three young daughters.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.