Michigan
Socialist Equality Party candidates submit 20,000 signatures to appear on Michigan presidential ballot
The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) candidates in the 2024 US presidential elections, Joseph Kishore and Jerry White, announced Thursday that their campaign had submitted “far in excess” of the required signatures to appear on the ballot in Michigan.
The ballot access laws for third-party candidates are different in every state, compounding the difficulty of running a nationwide campaign. For Michigan, the socialist campaign was required to gather at least 100 signatures from a majority of the state’s 13 congressional districts and at least 12,000 total. A campaign manager for Kishore/White told this reporter that the campaign exceeded that total in at least 11 congressional districts, and as a whole the campaign submitted 20,000 signatures.
Presidential candidate Kishore stated in a video accompanying a press release that the gathering of the signatures was a “tremendous achievement” that “would not have been possible without the self-sacrifice and dedication of SEP supporters from throughout the state and indeed across the country.”
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Vice presidential candidate Jerry White said, “In the course of this campaign, we spoke with hundreds of thousands of people. There is enormous opposition to the genocide in Gaza, the escalating global war, extreme levels of social inequality and the turn of the ruling class toward dictatorship and fascism…
“As we turned these petitions in, the Republican National Convention was being held, a festival of fascistic reaction. In the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Trump, the line from the Democrats and Biden, dripping in blood from the genocide in Gaza, is “unity”—which means the unity of the ruling class in war abroad and war on the working class at home.”
Explaining the purpose of the SEP campaign, Kishore stated that it “gives expression to the interests of the working class, in the US and throughout the world.
“We are developing within the working class an understanding that our interests cannot be realized except through the fight against capitalism–that is, the taking of power by the working class, the expropriation of the rich, and the creation of a society free of war and exploitation, a society based on equality.”
Michigan is considered a “must win” state by both the Republican and Democratic campaigns. It is the third most populous state in the Midwest, with over 10 million people and 15 Electoral College votes. President Joe Biden won the state in 2020 by roughly 155,000 votes, while Donald Trump was able to best Hillary Clinton in the state in 2016 by some 11,000 votes.
In addition to the automotive industry, which still employs over 1.1 million workers in Michigan, tens of thousands of workers in the state labor at technology companies, such as Google, and in the healthcare industry, including at major facilities at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, and Corewell Health, a recently merged system that covers the entire state.
As of this writing, Kishore and White of the SEP would join Jill Stein of the Green Party and right-wing anti-vaccine zealot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot in Michigan. The campaign for Dr. Cornel West is still awaiting certification by the state, according to their campaign website.
In a bid to block the emergence of an independent, left-wing movement in the working class to the capitalist two-party system, both the Democrats and Republicans have used the courts, legislature and election boards to deny ballot access. Just this week, Democrats on the North Carolina State Election Board voted to block West from appearing on the ballot despite the fact that his campaign submitted over 3,200 verified signatures above the minimum limit.
According to the SEP campaign manager, a majority of the signatures were collected in populous Wayne County, home to Detroit, with over 1.7 million residents. The Kishore/White campaign was warmly received throughout the county, including in Dearborn, which is home to the largest Muslim population in the US per capita.
In Dearborn and throughout the state, there is mass outrage over the Democratic Party’s and Biden’s unwavering support for the genocide in Gaza, which a recent Lancet study estimated has claimed the lives of over 186,000 people. Petitioners for Kishore/White regularly campaigned outside halal grocery stores, mosques and community events, where they explained that the fight against Zionism requires a break from both the Democratic and Republican parties and a fight against the capitalist system which they all defend.
While over 11,000 signatures were gathered in Wayne County alone, the campaign also garnered over 6,000 signatures total in the other three counties of the greater Detroit-Ann Arbor metropolitan area, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw. Over 650 people signed the petition each in Genesee County, home to Flint, and Kent County, where Grand Rapids is located. Triple-digit signature totals were also gathered in Ottawa, Kalamazoo, Ingham and St. Clair counties. In total, the campaign gathered signatures in 74 of Michigan’s 83 counties.
The widespread and broad support for the socialist campaign in Michigan refutes notions advanced by demoralized middle-class elements that workers and students in the United States are hopelessly backward and incapable of entertaining the possibility of a socialist perspective.
Less than two years ago, some 5,000 autoworkers voted for socialist Will Lehman for president of the UAW, including many in Michigan. This was an expression of growing opposition in the working class to the UAW apparatus and support for an internationalist and socialist perspective.
The SEP is continuing to gather signatures in other states where it is fighting to get on the ballot.
A decade of Celebrate Michigan: See the images that won from 2015 to 2025
The Detroit News’ Celebrate Michigan photo contest is 20 years old. We’ve assembled the best of the best: Winners and runners up from 2015 to 2025.
The Detroit News
Gotion Inc. has asked a federal judge to order the Michigan township where it was supposed to call home to repay the roughly $23.7 million it owes the state in taxpayer-funded incentives.
Green Township’s actions opposing Gotion’s planned battery parts plant made it all but impossible to move forward, the company argued, leaving Gotion in default under its agreement with the state and on the hook for the $23.7 million in taxpayer-funded incentives it received for land purchases and improvements.
“Now that it is clear the project cannot move forward in the face of this continued opposition and the state of Michigan’s withdrawal of support, Gotion seeks to add these constitutional claims and request damages as a result of the township’s breach of the development agreement and violation of Gotion’s constitutional rights,” a May 29 court filing in the case said.
Last week’s filing seeks to amend an earlier lawsuit Gotion filed against Green Township over zoning changes that made its development all but impossible to proceed.
In February, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Gotion’s lawsuit, arguing that it was moot because the state had already found the project in default and had demanded back roughly $23.7 million that had been given to the subsidiary of a Chinese company to purchase and prepare land in Green Township. In light of that ruling, Gotion is seeking to amend its lawsuit to seek additional damages.
“…the Sixth Circuit implied that given the facts of the dispute at this point, the correct form of damages for Gotion’s breach of contract claim against the township is likely monetary damages and no longer injunctive relief,” Gotion said in the May 29 filing.
The amended filing includes demands for damages arising from the “millions” Gotion paid or spent in reliance on the project moving forward, lost profits the company would have made if the manufacturing facility were built, attorney fees and an amount “not less than $23,670,873.56 for funds advanced towards land and development costs related to the project that the state of Michigan is now claiming should be repaid.”
Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office, which is seeking to recoup the $23.7 million on behalf of the Michigan Strategic Fund, said it was aware of Gotion’s May 29 filing against Green Township and is “monitoring the situation.” The office declined further comment, citing attorney-client privilege.
Gotion first sued Green Township in March 2024 after the board — all of whom had been replaced in November 2023 with members concerned about the Gotion project — rescinded two resolutions needed for the project to move forward. Gotion sued in federal court for breach of contract, and a U.S. district court judge issued a preliminary ruling in Gotion’s favor.
But the Sixth Circuit later blocked the case after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration, last fall, found Gotion to be in default of its grant agreement.
The state’s finding of default was in part due to the Green Township lawsuit. The company’s agreement with the state prohibits involvement in a suit that “would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the project or the grantee’s performance of its obligations under this agreement.”
The state also maintained Gotion’s “cessation of eligible activities” for a period of 120 days constituted an “abandonment” in violation of the grant agreement.
The Michigan Strategic Fund said it would seek to recoup the $23.7 million used to purchase and prepare land for Gotion in Green Township.
The Gotion project in Green Township was fraught with controversy shortly after its announcement. The company had planned to locate a battery parts plant in the Big Rapids area, creating up to 2,350 jobs and receiving about $175 million in taxpayer-funded incentives for the project.
Local opponents pushed back on the project because of the secretive nature with which it was negotiated, the unknown environmental effects of the project and Gotion’s parent company in China. Those concerns were amplified by Republican candidates in 2024, including both Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump.
The legal maneuverings with Gotion have already come at a cost to the township.
For the past three years, the state Treasury Department has flagged Green Township in Mecosta County because its expenditures have exceeded the amount of money authorized in its annual budget. In a corrective action plan submitted to Treasury last month, the township said its deficits were “primarily due to the legal fees.”
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
A group of residents on Holland Road in Taylor, Michigan, say they are now doing everything they can to keep their neighborhood the way it is after some of them received a letter saying the city is considering rezoning their neighborhood.
“People across the street from me could have warehouse front property instead of woods and nice residential homes,” said Matthew Streicher.
Streicher, whose family has owned property on Holland Road for more than 100 years, says that has been his concern after he received a letter from the city about a proposed rezoning from residential to light industrial directly behind his home near Wick and Holland roads.
“So that’s when I also decided to start knocking on doors around here and saying this is what is going on, we need to speak out and have a voice as to what happens in our backyards, literally,” said Streicher.
Streicher told CBS News Detroit that three of his neighbors received that letter, informing residents that there’s a possibility of a new cold storage warehouse development if this land is rezoned.
“Nothing that belongs in a neighborhood,” said Tim Adkins.
“Heartbreaking, heartbreaking, you know,” said Denise Haggadone.
Many who live on Holland Road say this possibility is even more disturbing because of how long everyone has lived on this quaint road. And these same homeowners say that an industrial facility would only bring in more traffic and take away natural green space, most likely hurting their property value as well.
“It’s nice to see the wildlife, you know, there’s so few places left,” said Adkins.
On Tuesday, CBS News Detroit spoke off-camera with City Council Chairman Charley Johnson, who also lives on Holland Road. Johnson says he understands all of his neighbors’ concerns and agrees with them.
He says the company proposing this rezoning has every right to do so, and that the planning commission will vote on it Wednesday evening.
“It’s sad, I raised my kid here, and he’s planning on having this home after I pass or retire or what have you,” Haggadone said,
The residents hope to see a big turnout at Wednesday’s planning commission meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, at Taylor City Hall.
The Sterling Heights City Council is set to consider a resolution Tuesday evening opposing tax policy bills in Lansing that one councilmember contends put every municipality “at risk.”
The Michigan House voted in May to pass several bills that would slash property taxes across the state, but skipped a vote on a bill needed to replace some of the more than $5 billion in lost tax revenue.
At its Tuesday evening meeting, Sterling Heights City Council is slated to consider the adoption of a resolution opposing Michigan House Bills 5872 through 5879 due to “their potential negative impact on local government revenue, financial planning, and administrative operations,” a city document said. Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool said the city would lose about $5 million in annual revenue from the bills. He said there’s no “guaranteed replacement” for the lost revenue, and the city would need to cut services, he said.
“So we’re deeply concerned about that,” he said.
The House’s sweeping tax cuts can’t be implemented without the passage of a separate bill levying a loosely defined 6% sales tax on services that has yet to be revealed. Republicans who control the House did not hold a vote on the sales tax hike bill, which remains in committee.
All combined, the four property tax cuts passed by the House are estimated to result in a tax revenue loss that could progress from $5.5 billion to $7.5 billion a year, according to a series of nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency analyses.
Vanderpool, the Sterling Heights city manager, said he wants the state Legislature to work “hand in hand” with cities, townships and villages to come up with a solution for “guaranteed revenue replacement.”
“We are more than willing ― I think our reputation precedes us ― to work with our state legislators hand in hand to come up with viable solutions that … may reform property taxes without harming communities across the state,” he said.
Sterling Heights Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko said the legislation reduces the city’s revenue without a guarantee of what it will be replaced with. She said that in the future, the legislation could prevent the city from maintaining positions that it has promised residents it would maintain, including public safety roles.
“When they put the burden on our local government, they’re actually putting it on the residents of whatever community it is,” she said.
State Rep. Steve Frisbie, a Calhoun County Republican, previously said that Michigan residents need to see tax relief immediately. He noted a ballot proposal collecting signatures last year would have eliminated all property taxes in the state. That citizens’ initiative, known as AxMiTax, fizzled out and won’t be on the ballot this fall.
“They realized that our property taxes are too high and they demand that we take action now,” Frisbie said.
More on the bills
The cuts passed by the House in May would eliminate the 6-mill State Education Tax and eliminate the 0.75% real estate transfer tax assessed on the sale price of real estate.
House Republicans also signed off on eliminating the personal property tax. That bill, largely intended to benefit utility companies, is tied to separate legislation that requires utilities such as Consumers Energy and DTE Energy to pass on personal property tax savings by cutting electric and gas rates for their residential customers. It also requires utilities to freeze rates for two years.
Jennifer Varney, Sterling Heights’ finance and budget director, said the elimination of the personal property tax would result in a $4.3 million annual revenue loss for the city. She said the personal property tax refers to the taxes that businesses pay on their assets, such as their machines and vehicles.
Another tax on the chopping block is the so-called “pop-up tax,” an increase in a property tax bill that occurs when a house transfers from one owner to the next in Michigan, uncapping a constitutional limit on the property tax increase on a home’s taxable value.
Under the state Constitution, a property’s taxable value cannot increase by more than the rate of inflation or 5% each year. But when a property is sold, that cap lifts and is reset at a new, often higher taxable value, resulting in a “pop-up” in property taxes.
Varney said the “pop-up” is the only way cities “recapture” the true value of a home. Michigan also has the Headlee Amendment, a state law that requires local governments to roll back millage rates if taxable property values rise faster than the rate of inflation.
“If you take away the pop-up … and you keep the rollback of the millage, you’re basically limiting any kind of growth in taxable base for municipalities,” she said.
Staff Writer Beth LeBlanc contributed.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
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