Three Democrats and four Republicans are hoping to advance past the Aug. 6 primary for southern Macomb County’s redrawn 13th House District — a seat that for the last three months has been held by Democratic Rep. Mai Xiong, Michigan’s first Hmong American lawmaker.

The district’s boundaries look drastically different than they did last spring, when Xiong won a special election to join the House. Instead of centering on Warren and a slice of Detroit, the district now runs east from Warren, into Roseville and St. Clair Shores. Xiong’s Warren residence remained inside the revamped district.

”There is an education component to our campaign because people are confused about the redistricting process,” said Xiong, a former Macomb County commissioner.

Xiong beat Republican Ronald Singer in the April 16 special election that was needed after Lori Stone of Warren vacated her House seat to become mayor of Warren. Xiong’s victory helped Democrats regain a narrow 56-54 majority in the House.

Now, the 39-year-old mother of four has drawn a few serious challengers as she seeks a first full two-year term in office.

In the Democratic primary, Richard Steenland, 62, is a former state representative who has served several other roles in both Macomb County and Roseville city government over the years. Patricia Johnson Singleton, 61, is a caregiver for mentally disabled people who is also a substitute teacher and previously served a stint on the Detroit Board of Education.

In the Republican primary, Singer, 73, is running again. He is an electrical and mechanical engineer who has long been involved in GOP politics. Mark Foster, 61, has long owned a real estate firm and been involved in local government in St. Clair Shores. Jerrie Bowl Bilello, 53, is a claims processor making a first run for office. John Sheets is the final GOP candidate who didn’t respond to requests for more information on his candidacy.

More: Michigan House primary: Two Dems challenge incumbent Edwards in redrawn 12th District

Democrats

Xiong arrived at the state Capitol just as the hectic budget process was underway, calling her early weeks “a learning process of how things happen in Lansing.” Nevertheless she said she was proud to work with colleagues to bring back several infrastructure investments for her area, including money to repair Roseville’s sewer and pump station, water system fixes, and money for additional fixes to Mound Road.

“I’m also really proud of the investments we made in education,” she said, citing the passage of legislation that allows students to attend community college tuition-free. Xiong said she also pushed bills around consumer protection and healthcare, including one that would ensure the state has a robust pipeline of respiratory therapists.

The new lawmaker said she’s consistently heard from constituents about the rising cost of living. “I want to find ways to lower costs for families, to address the cost of living, and put more resources into services like our food pantries, because families are relying on these,” she said.

Steenland previously served stints on Roseville’s City Council and as its city clerk, and in 2020 he was elected to the House, serving one term, before he lost his reelection in 2022. He also worked in Macomb County government over the years, primary in the the courts system. He said he has unfinished business in Lansing.

“I didn’t feel like I was ready to go when I left,” Steenland said. ”I work very well with the other side of the aisle. My job is not to worry about politics, but worry about the people.”

Steenland said his deep experience in government and the court system helped him navigate the Legislature, and he had multiple pieces of legislation signed into law. One that he was most proud of involved ensuring municipalities had a way to approve raising tax revenue for police and fire services. He was also focused on helping military veterans.

“Experience does matter, and that’s one of the things I’m going for right now,” he said.

Singleton, of Roseville, pledged she would be a strong voice for the mentally disabled community if elected, having served as a caregiver for a decade. She pledged to advocate for improved conditions inside Michigan’s adult foster care homes, and also argued that Michigan’s mental health code is outdated and needs a thorough review.

Education would be another area of focus, said the former school board member. Singleton said the state must look more closely at how to keep more talented teachers from leaving, including by a fully funded teacher pension fund, as well as the ability to hire more paraprofessionals in classrooms.

Republicans

Singer, an engineer for an automotive supplier who lives in Warren, has long volunteered for Republican campaigns and causes in Michigan, and now says he has the urge to step up himself.

He cited concerns about the Democratic-controlled Legislature’s “out-of-control spending that causes tax increases,” and in his view had made the state less competitive. He said he’s also worried about what he views as an underperforming Michigan public education system.

Singer also said his engineering background would be useful in Lansing, especially as lawmakers consider subsidizing clean energy sources such as wind or solar, or clean transportation options, such as hydrogen-powered cars. “From an engineering perspective, you need to figure out what works and what doesn’t,” he said.

Foster runs The Fosters Real Estate firm in St. Clair Shores, and unsuccessfully ran for a House seat once before. He spent almost 20 years serving in an appointed position on the St. Clair Shores zoning board of appeals.

He said he’s most passionate about the economy, election integrity issues, and the border, though he acknowledged, “I don’t know how much we’ve have to do with the border” in the Michigan Legislature.

Foster said he’d advocate for only allowing in-person voting on Election Day, eliminating early voting unless voters were approved for certain reasons to vote early. However, in 2022, 2.5 million Michigan voters voted to enshrine nine days of early, in-person voting in the state constitution, meaning the Legislature has little recourse to curtail early voting.

Bowl Bilello said she stepped up to run because the Michigan House needs more “good people,” who “won’t be bribed or blackmailed or threatened.” She said she started to become more politically engaged during the pandemic lockdowns, which she said were wrong, and decided to switch to the Republican Party in 2020.

She pledged to have an open-door policy with constituents, if elected, including by holding small meetings and town halls frequently in the district. Bowl Bilello said she would want to serve on the Education Committee, because the believes some Michigan schools are “indoctrinating our children” by having sexualized books in curriculums and libraries, noting she has protested at local school board meetings in the past.

“Our future of our country is in the children’s hands,” she said. “It’s very important that we stop this indoctrination that they’re trying to do to these children.” 

lramseth@detroitnews.com

@lramseth

This week, multiple reports have surfaced suggesting a notice of allegations is expected to be handed down from the NCAA to the University of Michigan soon regarding the Connor Stalions sign-stealing investigation. However, some of those reports are in conflict over the level of punishment the Wolverines could be facing.

One such report from On3’s Chris Balas suggests the NCAA is seeking a one or two-year postseason ban for Michigan, but Rival’s Josh Henschke reports there is “zero concern” in U-M’s athletic department that any postseason or bowl ban will be handed down. According to Henschke, the NCAA has struggled to find a direct link between Stalions’ operation and Michigan’s football program.

Henschke also reports, “there have been ZERO level 1 charges found regarding U-M” during the NCAAs investigation. Stalions’ actions, however, are expected to result in either a level 1 or level 3 violations depending on the interpretation of NCAA rules.

While Stalions was initially lauded by a vocal portion of Michigan’s fanbase, it appears that over time support for the centerpiece behind the NCAA’s sign-stealing investigation has waned. According to a recent poll conducted by Winged Helmet Media shows that nearly 70 percent of Michigan’s fanbased has an “unfavorable” view of Stalions.

Later this month, Stalions will be featured in an upcoming Netflix documentary called “Sign Stealer,” where he’s expected to share his side of the story. The documentary is scheduled to be released on Aug. 27, four days prior to Michigan football’s 2024 season-opener against Fresno State (7:30 p.m. / NBC) at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — They may share the same first name, role on the Michigan football coaching staff and desire to blitz.

But new Wolverines defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale has done his best this offseason to quiet the skeptics who suggest he’s just another polished, more successful version of Don Brown.

“It’s ridiculous,” Martindale told reporters Tuesday ahead of training camp. “As I see it, it’s ridiculous. You have defenses that are ranked No. 1 in the NFL, in the top 5 three years in a row, and you come into a new system in New York and you go into the playoffs and what do they want to talk about?

“All they want to talk about is last year, the last year (in Baltimore).”

Martindale was referencing his 2021 season with the Ravens, the low-point of his career as a coordinator in the NFL. Not only did Baltimore fall to 19th in yards allowed per play that season, but did so blitzing at an uncomfortable 31.1 percent rate. Uncomfortable for Martindale, anyway.

In four of his seven seasons as an NFL coordinator, Martindale-led defenses were No. 1 in blitz rates — including three of his four seasons in Baltimore, where the Ravens chased after the quarterback on 39.6 percent of dropbacks in 2018, 54.9 percent in ‘19 and 44.1 percent in ‘20. It wasn’t until his final season, after which head coach John Harbaugh elected to move on from the longtime assistant coach, that he let off the gas.

More: Martindale reassures U-M players upon arrival: ‘I’m the OG of of this system’

“Am I an aggressive playcaller? Yes, I’m an aggressive playcaller,” Martindale, tasked with taking over the No. 1-ranked Michigan defense, conceded. “We’ve won a lot of football games calling games aggressively. When it doesn’t work, that’s when everybody comes out and says, ‘He’s blitzing too much.’ You don’t hear that at all when you win. You hear about how creative you are.”

The task this fall for Martindale, 61, who inked a massive three-year, $7.5 million contract to take over for the departed Jesse Minter. Martindale knows the Michigan defense well for someone who’s been absent from the college ranks for more than two decades; he helped build it in Baltimore, where Michigan’s two previous coordinators (Minter, Mike Macdonald) learned under him.

But the Michigan fanbase still has flashbacks to the Don Brown era circa 2016 to 2020, when the Wolverines owned top-10 defenses through a healthy dose of blitzing that never seemed to work against high-powered offenses. The approach eventually fell apart in 2020 and Brown was dismissed from his post.

His successors, Macdonald and Minter, installed and adapted the Ravens’ scheme in Ann Arbor to the modern complexities of college football, where no-huddle, fast, pass-heavy offenses rule the land. To be successful, it is imperative that a unit be mendable in order to get off the field in a timely fashion. And they did, to great success. Minter was lauded for masterfully mixing up fronts, working in zone coverages on the back end and simulating blitzes to confuse opposing offenses.

Martindale, speaking Tuesday, said he believes in a healthy balance of both — man-coverage from the outside corners, a unit that includes All-American Will Johnson, and safeties who do it all — including bull-rushing the quarterback.

“When you start out teaching the principle of man (coverage), which we’ll do in the first practice, you can play zone to win games,” Martindale said. “Zone teams that play nothing but zone can never play man to win the game. Teams that don’t pressure when they have to pressure, it don’t usually look right because they don’t practice it enough.

“If they know that you’re just going to be a four-man rush coverage team, you don’t have a very high success rate.”

During an appearance on the “GM Shuffle” podcast with former NFL general manager Michael Lombardi earlier this summer, Martindale described his defense as “flexible,” “player-friendly” and “position-less football” while acknowledging the different nuances in the college game.

“There’s more simulated pressures that you see watching tape that work just as effectively as sending them all,” Martindale told the podcast. “I think it’s going to be a wait-and-see as we get through fall camp and everything else, but let’s make no mistake about it: I’m more aggressive than probably both of those guys (Macdonald, Minter) — sometimes to a fault.”

Helping matters, Martindale will be armed with a healthy dose of elite playmakers and experience on all three levels of the defense. Defensive tackle Mason Graham is a preseason All-American while his tackle partner, Kenneth Grant, is among one of the best in the Big Ten. Edge rushers Joasiah Stewart and Derrick Moore both saw extended playing time during the Wolverines’ national title run last year. Linebackers Ernest Hausmann and Jaishawn Barham both started games at their previous stops. Throw in Johnson, returning safety Makari Paige and a group of four transfer defensive backs with starting experience elsewhere and Michigan has the needed depth to make it work on the back end.

The situation is primed for Martindale to succeed, even as Michigan is set to play a difficult schedule in the expanded Big Ten. He’s chosen to keep the four “pillars,” or points of emphasis with the players — block destruction, effort, ball disruption and communication — in an effort to boost turnover numbers.

“We’ll find the right mix of pressure and simulated (blitzes) and all that,” Martindale said Tuesday. “We’ll find the right mix. That’s what training camp is for.”