MichMash: Looking back on the state’s top political stories of 2024
Host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer’s Zach Gorchow review some of the most surprising, most under-the-radar and biggest political stories of 2024.
Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra.
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In this episode:- Dysfunction in the state Legislature that bookended 2024
- The Republican comeback in the 2024 election
- Political stories to keep an eye out for in 2025
Gorchow says what played out in the Michigan Republican Party in 2024 is a good subtext for the entire year, in that it captured the arc of the Republican comeback.
A year ago, Kristina Karamo was chair of the Michigan Republican Party, and nothing was going well. She was turning against former allies in the party, donors had closed their wallets and the party was broke and in disarray.
But party members removed her and put former Congressman Pete Hoekstra in charge.
“Pete Hoekstra really saved what was a sinking ship,” Gorchow said. “He reestablished the party as at least an active presence in campaigns; some key groundwork was laid to assure that state House Republicans were no longer totally on their own — which they were until he was in charge.”
Roth reflected on the most recent dysfunction in the Legislature during lame duck, noting that the Democrats’ gameplan of playing it safe until the 2024 election didn’t go as planned.
“It seemed like their thinking was, ‘In 2024, there’s an election year. We don’t want to pass anything that’s going to come back to haunt us during the election. So we’re going to save everything for after that election.’ That seems like such a bad idea, because nobody likes to have these marathon sessions,” she said.
But after 54 Republicans and Democratic Rep. Karen Whitsett refused to participate in last week’s legislative session, the state House was brought to a standstill — leaving all bills on their agenda dead on the floor.
“Presidential election cycles, at least in the Trump Era, has become the good session for the Republicans,” Gorchow said. “For decades it was the opposite.”
The state House will be back in session in early January, with Republicans at the helm.
More from WDET:
- MichMash: Potential ‘difficult lame duck session’ looms for Democrats
- MichMash: Will Chatfield embezzlement charges push legislature to act on financial disclosures?
- Detroit Evening Report: Mary Sheffield enters 2025 Detroit mayoral race
