Michigan
A lynching in the family inspired Michigan's first Black woman elected justice to pursue the law
LANSING, Mich. – During Michigan Supreme Court Justice Kyra Harris Bolden’s first campaign, a critic told her she wasn’t Michelle Obama or Kamala Harris, “but you feel emboldened to run for this office.”
She later named her first child Emerson, so it could be shortened to “Em Bolden.” The word has driven her ever since.
Bolden, now 36, won that race, for the statehouse in 2018, and in 2022 she was appointed as the youngest-ever justice, and first Black woman, on Michigan’s top court. Voters affirmed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s choice by electing Bolden to her seat in November.
“It’s been a long journey for me,” Bolden told The Associated Press, one that began generations ago when her great-grandfather was lynched and her family fled the South.
Michigan has a long legacy of electing women to its highest court. When Democratic-backed candidate Kimberly Ann Thomas joins Bolden on the bench in January, five of the seven justices will be women. It is the sixth time a female majority has made up the court, according to the Michigan Supreme Court Historical Society.
But only 41 Black women have ever served on a state supreme court, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which tracks diversity in the judicial system.
Bolden’s election means that Black people in Michigan — about 14% of the population — still have representation. Across the state line in Ohio, where Justice Melody Stewart had been the first Black woman justice, her reelection loss makes for an all-white court.
In Kentucky, Court of Appeals Judge Pamela Goodwine became the first Black woman elected justice. Kentucky also will have its first female chief justice and, for the first time, a female majority.
It was an act of racial terror that sent Bolden on her path to the court. She didn’t know the details until she was nearly a college graduate in psychology and spent some time with her aging maternal great-grandmother, who shared family recipes and history, including what really happened to Jesse Lee Bond.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative, Bond was lynched in 1939 in Arlington, Tennessee, after asking a store owner for a receipt. Bond was fatally shot, castrated and dumped in the Loosahatchie River. Two men were swiftly acquitted in the murder.
Bolden said she is still trying to reconcile with the trauma this caused.
“I wanted families to see justice in a way my family had not seen justice,” she told the AP.
So she took action: earning her degree at Detroit Mercy Law School and working as a defense attorney before serving on the House Judiciary Committee, where she pursued criminal justice reform and domestic violence prevention.
“She believes in justice and believes in fairness for everybody,” said her mother, Cheryl Harris, with pride heavy in her voice. “And to see her in this position — it’s making me tear up right now.”
Goodwine, for her part, said she was inspired as a teenager by the work of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice. She started as a court stenographer and worked her way up through the four court levels of Kentucky, making history at almost every step along the way.
“It is absolutely essential that our younger generations are able to see someone who looks like them in every position, particularly a position of power,” Goodwine said.
Bolden broke another barrier knocking on doors as the first Michigan Supreme Court candidate to run while pregnant, according to Vote Mama Foundation, a group that tracks mothers running for office.
“There are so many people that don’t know that this is achievable,” Bolden said.
U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence, a Michigan Democrat who served in Congress from 2015 through 2022, spent years working to see a Black woman like herself serve as a justice.
“I just sit back, you know, with such pride,” Lawrence said. “She’s a hard worker and she’s what the state needs.”
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Amazon Prime Day 2026 will span four days next week. Here’s when
Amazon Prime Day 2026 begins next week and will last for four days. Only Prime members benefit from Amazon’s biggest annual sales event.
Prime Day is in full swing, and as Michigan residents scroll though deals, there are Michigan-themed coffee/tea mugs to consider, perhaps for a gift or to spice up your morning sip.
Amazon Prime Day — the 4-day event of discounted items for Prime members — begins at 3:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday, June 23, and ends at 2:59 ET, on Friday, June 26.
Here are five fun Michigan-themed mugs to consider as you shop for deals this week:
Michigan coffee mug by Primitives by Kathy
The 18-fluid-ounce Michigan-inspired stoneware mug is designed to represent the state with its scattered wraparound design. It includes a large outline of the state and a deer, surrounded with key words such as “yoopers,” “fudge,” “Big Mac,” “dunes,” “Great Lakes,” “we’re smitten in the mitten,” and others.
It is priced at $11.48 on Amazon Prime. Primitives By Kathy is the name of the company.
Sip and admire a detailed map of Michigan by Xplorer Maps
The founder and owner of the company, Xplorer Maps, illustrates maps by hand on everyday items such as a mug. On Amazon, there is a 16-fluid-ounce mug available that features a map of Michigan on one side with landmarks, and other illustrations of what Michigan is known for on the other side.
It is priced at $19.99 on Amazon Prime.
Represent Michigan with a Detroit Lions coffee mug
There are several Detroit Lions-themed coffee mugs available on Amazon Prime. One design by Rico Industries is a 12-ounce campfire mug fully coated in the iconic honolulu blue shade with a speckled print and the team’s logo.
It is priced at $16.52 on Amazon Prime.
On-the-go Michigan-inspired travel mug
In another busy Michigan design, Swig Life’s 22-ounce insulated travel mug is scattered with the state’s landmarks and key illustrations. The travel mug is cup holder friendly and is stainless steel with a handle.
It is priced at $30.07 on Amazon Prime.
Simple Michigan coffee mug deal on Prime Day
For those who are looking for a more straight-forward design, the coffee mug by Andaz Press via Amazon is perhaps an option. The 11-ounce mug includes a simple print of Michigan’s silhouette with the word “home” beside it.
It is priced at $14.21 on Amazon Prime.
Contact Sarah Moore @ smoore@lsj.com
Lansing — Michigan residents will be able to begin voting this week in the state’s Aug. 4 primary election with nominations for governor, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House and the Legislature hanging in the balance.
Under the Michigan Constitution, by Thursday — 40 days before Election Day — clerks have to ensure that absentee ballots are available for voters and that ballot dropboxes, through which the ballots can be returned, are accessible.
Michael Siegrist, the clerk in Canton Township, said this week marks the start of the election.
“Most of the voters in Michigan are going to have a ballot in their hand within the next week or two,” Siegrist said.
Siegrist, a Democrat and the president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks, was referring to the fact that most of the vote in the primary election is expected to come through absentee ballots.
In the August 2024 primary election, as an example, about 65% of the vote in Michigan’s largest county, Wayne County, came via absentee ballots.
Adrian Hemond, a Michigan political consultant and CEO of the firm Grassroots Midwest, said it will be difficult this year for candidates who go into Election Day behind their opponents on absentee ballots to catch up.
“It’s basically the election,” Hemond said of the absentee ballot window.
A larger portion of the vote in primaries comes through absentee ballots than in general elections because there’s usually a smaller pool of voters in primaries and primary participants tend to be more educated about their ballot options.
Before 2018, Michigan voters generally had to have an explanation to cast an absentee ballot, like they planned to be out of state on the date of the election. But in 2018, they approved a ballot proposal that allowed for no-reason absentee voting, broadly providing the option to submit an absentee ballot through the mail, a dropbox or by turning it in at the clerk’s office.
Local clerks can’t begin processing and tabulating the absentee ballots until July 27, at the earliest.
Also, in July, Michiganians can begin voting early in person into a tabulator. The exact date of the early voting window opening depends on decisions made by local clerks, but it has to start statewide by July 25.
In Michigan’s last primary election in a year when the governor’s office was on the ballot, about 2.17 million voters participated, according to the Secretary of State’s tracking.
Both Republican and Democratic primary ballots have contested races for their gubernatorial nominations this year.
On the Democratic side, voters will pick between Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson of Detroit and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. On the GOP side, there are four candidates on the ballot: former Attorney General Mike Cox of Livonia, U.S. Rep. John James of Shelby Township, businessman Perry Johnson of Bloomfield Hills and state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Porter Township.
Early polling has indicated that Republican gubernatorial race and the Democratic campaign for U.S. Senate might be close. The Democratic U.S. Senate contest has three contenders: former public health official Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow of Royal Oak and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens of Birmingham.
Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is the lone Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.
Tony Forlini, the clerk in Macomb County, said he expects voters who are on the permanent absentee ballot list to begin getting the ballots in the coming days. Some of them will turn their filled-out ballots in as soon as they have the chance, Forlini said.
“We’re ready for it,” said Forlini, a Republican who’s running for secretary of state this fall
In Michigan’s largest city, Detroit, election officials are sending out 99,000 absentee ballots for the primary, said Matt Friedman, spokesman for Detroit Votes, the nonpartisan voter information campaign that partners with Detroit’s elections department.
“Voters are starting to receive absentee ballots this week for the primary election, as they have for the third consecutive year in Detroit, under Michigan’s absentee and early voting laws that took effect in 2024 as part of Michigan’s Constitution,” Friedman said.
In the August 2024 primary, about 63% of Detroit’s 84,994 ballots cast were absentee, about 3% were early votes and about 34% were in-person Election Day votes.
cmauger@detroitnews.com,
(FOX 2) – Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel is stepping down from her position, the governor’s office announced.
Hertel led the division for several years while serving under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, including during the pandemic. While she will be tackling a new chapter in her career, it’s unclear where her next position will be.
Amy Epkey has been promoted to acting director of the agency. She will assume the role on July 1.
What they’re saying:
“Amy Epkey brings decades of experience in state government and a proven record of leadership, and I am confident she will continue the important work of the Department of Health and Human Services,” the governor said in a statement. “I also want to thank Director Hertel for her dedicated service to our state. Under her leadership, MDHHS helped Michigan navigate unprecedented challenges, expanded access to health care, strengthened behavioral health services, and improved outcomes for families across our state.”
Dig deeper:
Epkey previously worked in the financial operations administration at MDHHS, overseeing the agency’s $40 billion budget, contracts and grants, as well as finance and accounting.
Epkey has also worked within the state’s environmental and agricultural departments.
Zoom out:
Hertel cited the expansion of behavioral health services, designing two new state-of-the-art psychiatric hospitals, as well as launching the Keep Kids Safe Action Agenda as among her accomplishments.
The Source: The Michigan governor’s office issued a news release that was cited for this story.
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