Michigan
Michigan GOP can sweep 2026: Stick to issues, avoid Trump | Opinion
How to register to vote in Michigan: Step-by-step guide
Registering to vote in Michigan is simple and can be done online, by mail, or in person, depending on how close you are to Election Day.
The 2026 midterm election year is upon us. In Michigan, that should be a good year for Republicans.
Why is that, especially when this is a midterm election with Donald Trump in the White House? The last time that happened, in 2018, Democrats won virtually every statewide election in Michigan. And, in the most recent off-year elections, Democrats again won everywhere, from the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia to statewide seats in Georgia, of all places.
Nevertheless, I see three reasons why 2026 is poised to be a good year for Republicans here in Michigan.
A short list of things Democrats didn’t fix
The first is history. Since Republican William Milliken became governor in 1969, the office has flip-flopped back and forth between Democrats and Republicans. From Milliken to Democrat Jim Blanchard, then from the GOP’s John Engler to Democrat Jennifer Granholm, and most recently from Republican Rick Snyder to Democrat Gretchen Whitmer. Thus, Republicans have one of the enduring campaign themes on their side — time for a change.
Issues are the second reason Republicans should do well in 2026, because much needs fixing in Michigan.
Whitmer ran in 2018 on the slogan “fix the damn roads.” It took her seven years to get a package through the Legislature — and then, only with the prodding of the Republican House speaker.
Now, the Democrats say, they are focused on children’s literacy. Now? After holding the governor’s office for eight years? If young girls and boys have not learned how to read, then they are incapable of reading to learn. Without the ability to read, no education is possible.
Incredibly, even the state of Mississippi is doing a better job of teaching their students how to read. This is a damning indictment, and should serve as a clarion call to action. Reading is not a partisan issue.
Then there is the issue of population. Michigan’s population is aging and declining. What is worse, we are losing our best and brightest, the graduates of our great colleges and universities such as the University of Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Wayne State. Barely half of MSU grads stay in Michigan after graduation ‒and that’s according to a study by Michigan State. This is unsustainable.
The solution is jobs. Michigan didn’t even have a tourism campaign in the 1960s, but families flocked here for good jobs and good paychecks at Ford, GM and Chrysler. Bring jobs to Michigan, and the population will take care of itself.
Republicans’ secret weapon: Mike Duggan
The third reason Republicans should do well in 2026 is the independent campaign of former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. Duggan has a lot of skills. He is smart, tenacious and he gets things done. Detroit is 1000% better off because of his time as mayor.
What I don’t know is whether Duggan is a safecracker. He’ll need that skill to capture Republican votes this fall.
Why do I say that?
In 2022, 1,852,510 voters cast their ballot for the Republican nominee for secretary of state, Kristina Karamo. Karamo had no name ID, no discernible skill set and no money to run a campaign. She received 1.8 million votes only because she had an “R” next to her name.
If 1.8 million women and men voted for Kristina Karamo, then they’ll vote for anyone with an “R” next to their name for governor. Good luck safecracking that, Mr. Mayor.
To the extent Duggan gets any Republican support, it will come from an incredibly small group of Never-Trump Republicans. Trust me, we could all fit in a cab.
Duggan’s real support will come from voters who call themselves independents, from some Detroiters who supported him as mayor and from a handful of moderate Democrats in southeast Michigan who like what he did for Detroit.
In short, Duggan’s support will almost entirely come right out of the Democratic column.
I do not think Duggan will win. But if he gets 20% or more, then the 41% base Republican vote will put a GOP’er back in the governor’s mansion.
Eyes on the prize, GOP
The one caveat to all this, the one fly in the ointment, is President Donald Trump. In 2022, all the Republican statewide candidates asked for, and received, Trump’s endorsement. Then they proceeded to speak and act like Trump. And all of them lost by hundreds of thousands of votes.
Republicans have a great shot at winning if they focus on the issues, the cares and concerns of hardworking Michiganders who want more jobs, better schools, better roads and a plan to bring down prices.
But the GOP will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory if the party focuses on debating who won the 2020 election (spoiler alert: it was Biden), attacking Venezuela, debunked conspiracy theories, attacking Colombia, calling women ‘Piggy,’ attacking Canada, shooting peaceful protesters and attacking Greenland. If this is what Michigan Republicans support, get ready for another Dunkirk.
Victory is there for the taking, Republicans. Keep your eyes on the issues, and the votes will take care of themselves.
Contributing columnist Rusty Hills is a past chair of the Michigan Republican Party, and was the top adviser to former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.
Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print ― or submit a question for our Opinion Mailbag:
Sterling Stamping Plant is the largest in the world
Ed Daniels, vice president of North America injection and stamping operations, discusses the process of producing metal parts for Stellantis models.
Warren — Hulking metal presses line one wall of Stellantis NV’s cavernous stamping plant here, punching out the raw shapes of Jeep doors, Dodge hoods and Ram tailgates in rapid succession.
Nearby, swinging yellow robots continue the tightly choreographed work, gluing and pressing and welding smaller components to the sheet metal that eventually will start to resemble the shape of a truck or SUV.
Seven miles north, in Sterling Heights, Stellantis operates an even larger stamping plant — the biggest in the world, at 2.7 million square feet — that does much of the same work, churning out various shapes of steel and aluminum 24 hours a day.
Together, these lesser-known links in the manufacturing supply chain support all of Stellantis’ big North American assembly plants — from next-door Warren Truck Assembly Plant, where the Jeep Grand Wagoneer SUV is built, to facilities in Windsor and Mexico that make minivans and pickups.
Inside Stellantis’ Huge Detroit Stamping Plants
The Detroit News recently got a rare look inside the automaker’s Sterling and Warren stamping plants, which are key to the company’s turnaround plan.
The Metro Detroit stamping plants, the automaker’s only two such facilities in the United States, have at times struggled in recent years, facing major job cuts and worker morale issues amid slowing sales and shifting production plans. But under Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa, the facilities are expected to cram in more workload — and add staff — as Stellantis begins a new five-year strategic turnaround plan, which includes a heavy focus on its most profitable North American market.
The carmaker’s goal: grow sales by more than a third to 1.9 million annually by 2030 as it launches 23 vehicles, including 11 all-new models. The company also is directing billions of dollars of investment into its U.S. manufacturing footprint due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“Stamping has never really been viewed as the sexy side of automotive manufacturing, we’re relatively invisible,” said Ed Daniels Jr., vice president of North America injection and stamping operations. “Because when you look at the commercials and advertisements, it’s always a beautiful Ram rolling off the assembly line or climbing the side of a mountain.
“But we’re the inception of that vehicle,” he said. “This is where raw materials are turned into commodities and parts.”
The Detroit News recently got a rare look inside the two plants that combined employ about 3,000 people. The automaker wanted to show off a newly-installed blanking press at Warren Stamping and other machinery like a high-speed transfer press and a robot that spots flaws in the metal.
Hiring expected
The blanking press unspools long coils of metal and chops them up into pieces that can then be shaped into roofs, fenders and floor pans. Stellantis shipped the massive machine to Warren from its idled Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois last year.
After upgrades to the machine, executives said it’s able to produce as many as 120,000 metal blanks per week. It will save Stellantis money since the plant will no longer need to pay a supplier to break down the coils before the metal arrives there.
The blanker addition is a big deal for the plant and signals that the company wants to bring more work in-house and invest in the facility over the coming years, said Romaine McKinney III, president of United Auto Workers Local 869, which represents workers at the factory.
The plant has already brought back all of its laid-off UAW workers, and McKinney said he anticipates more hiring to get underway if sales grow and new Stellantis vehicles come to market.
In another corner of the Warren facility, one of the fastest press lines in the world — known internally as the Hellcat — pushes as many as 15 pieces of metal through per minute. Dies that weigh up to 50 tons apiece squish the material into the shapes of doors and hoods before robotic arms snatch them out and place them on conveyor belts. Midway through a shift, workers can reconfigure the machine to make a different component, a process that takes just five minutes.
Robots check for quality
Curtis Booth, who manages Warren Stamping, said manual processes inside the plant have become increasingly automated, and safer, over the last couple decades, even as the automaker’s two stamping factories still utilize some presses that were installed in the 1960s.
The latest high-tech addition is the Automated Body Inspection System, or ABIS. It’s a camera system mounted on a robot that automatically checks the quality of components and flags anything in need of repair.
Auto plants of all kinds are increasingly turning to these types of camera systems, infused with artificial intelligence, to catch flaws in sheet metal and other components before they are shipped. Booth said worker visual inspections are still used. But in some cases the human eye has too much subjectivity, and the ABIS removes the guesswork.
Greg Bauer, who manages Sterling Stamping, said his plant has added staff over the past year, and expects to continue hiring as more work is assigned to the facility. There is no space at the plant to add more presses, but officials have figured out how to increase efficiency — quickly toggling back and forth between making doors for a Chrysler Pacifica and Dodge Charger on on a single machine, for example.
“We want to bring high-volume parts into the plant, and we want to maximize the capacity of the equipment,” Daniels said.
lramseth@detroitnews.com
MENOMINEE, Mich. (WLUK) — 24-year-old Ethan Raymond Masters of Menominee was arrested on sexual assault charges June 30th, according to the Menominee County Sheriff’s Office.
According to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office, deputies learned of an incident involving a 24-year-old man and a 12-year-old girl which happened in Menominee June 22nd. Following a sexual assault investigation, police charged Masters.
Masters was arraigned July 2nd on 2 counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct First Degree. He remains in the Menominee County Jail on a $250,000 cash bond.
Menominee City Police and the Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory of Marquette assisted with the investigation.
Michigan
Michigan immigration advocates react after Supreme Court ruling on Temporary Protected Status
Twenty-four thousand immigrants in Michigan have Temporary Protected Status (TPS), but a recent Supreme Court decision could put their protection in jeopardy.
TPS is a humanitarian protection granted to U.S. immigrants fleeing dangerous situations in their home countries, often from natural disasters or political instability. The status allows immigrants from the designated countries to live and work in the U.S.
The Supreme Court overturned those for 356,000 Haitians and Syrians in a recent decision. While the court’s decision directly impacted Haitian and Syrian immigrants, it also established that the Secretary of Homeland Security has the authority to determine TPS status without judicial review or input from the courts.
That means that the Secretary of Homeland Security can eliminate TPS for any immigrant group that is currently in the U.S. under protection. That puts 1.3 million immigrants in the U.S. at risk of deportation. In Florida, 113,000 healthcare workers with TPS are at risk of deportation. The Haitian population in Philadelphia is also expressing concerns about what comes next for them.
“The Supreme Court turned its back on our moral and legal commitments to people seeking safety,” said Christine Sauvé, manager of Policy and Communication at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. “The decision eliminates legal protections for people fleeing danger and allows the Trump Administration to really advance its mass deportation agenda.”
Left without the ability to live or work in the U.S., these Haitian and Syrian immigrants with TPS now face deportation. But going back home could still be incredibly dangerous.
“It’s not really an option to go back to their home country,” said Melanie Goldberg, immigration attorney with the Institute of Metro Detroit. “In the case of Haiti, they don’t even have an airport in Port-au-Prince that’s operational. Yet they say it’s safe for these citizens to go back.”
In Michigan, immigrants with TPS have contributed $349 million to the state’s economy, a sign that they are deeply embedded in the community, according to Sauvé.
“Many TPS holders have been in our communities for a very long time,” Sauvé said. “They’ve really spent decades building their lives here in Michigan. We welcomed them here, only to see that completely ripped away with the stroke of a pen.”
The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center encourages Haitian and Syrian immigrants with TPS, as well as any immigrants in the U.S. with a TPS designation, to seek out a qualified legal service provider and review the “Know Your Rights” Materials on the MIRC’s website
-
North Dakota2 minutes agoSchulz to transition from ND Parks and Recreation to ND Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
-
Ohio5 minutes agoMarion lecture to focus on expanding youth learning programs
-
Oklahoma10 minutes ago‘THE SPIRIT OF OKLAHOMA!’ Cherokee artist restores landmark to honor father’s legacy
-
Oregon17 minutes agoOregon ‘mega-mansion’ sits unfinished 30 years later
-
Pennsylvania20 minutes agoHere’s how to see Big Boy, the world’s largest steam locomotive, in western Pennsylvania
-
Rhode Island25 minutes agoOur Favorite Write-Ins From the 2026 Best of Rhode Island Readers’ Poll – Rhode Island Monthly
-
South-Carolina32 minutes agoSouth Carolina National Guard lifts suspensions for pilots in July Fourth flyover
-
South Dakota35 minutes agoSouth Dakota T. rex could bring $30 million or more at auction
