Nearly $1M in campaign cash pumped into Ann Arbor-area Michigan House, Senate races

ANN ARBOR, MI – Nearly $1 million in cash contributions have fueled Ann Arbor-area state House and Senate races so far this election cycle, as candidates from both major parties jockey for position in new political districts.

That includes three new House districts and a Senate contest that 2020 presidential election results show are in play for both parties – and could be key to Democrats hopes of flipping the Michigan Legislature.

In total, two Senate seats and seven House seats are up for grabs in districts covering parts of Washtenaw County.

Cash has poured in from all over the country, and even the world, to back the candidates ahead of the Aug. 2 primary election.

In those races, candidates reported at least $994,000 in cash receipts, and an additional $20,000 in in-kind donations this year through July 17, spending roughly $600,000 during that time, an MLive/The Ann Arbor News analysis of recently released campaign finance disclosures shows.

Read more: Michigan House, Senate Democrats out-fundraise GOP counterparts

Roughly a third of the fundraising haul comes from one race, in the new 14th Senate District, stretching east from the northern half of Ann Arbor to cover much of Jackson County.

There, with almost $158,000 in campaign coffers, Democratic candidate and current Washtenaw County board Chair Sue Shink holds a more than two to one fundraising advantage over primary foe Kelsey Heck Wood, a former Jackson City Council member. Shink has also outspent Heck Wood by nearly $22,000, disclosures show.

Individual donors have driven the bulk of Shink’s campaign, with more than 400 people chipping in, buoyed by roughly $40,000 from her husband Tom Hatch, an attorney and business consultant.

Labor organizations have provided a significant boost to her opponent Heck Wood’s campaign, which has received at least $28,000 in cash from trade union locals and labor groups, including roughly $10,000 from the Michigan State AFL-CIO, which has endorsed the Jackson Democrat.

The district leans Democratic, based on 2020 presidential election results, but both Democrats have said their party’s victory is far from a lock, and the seat could be key to hopes of flipping the Michigan Senate blue for the first time in decades.

But waiting in the wings is Jackson County Republican Tim Golding, a Grass Lake Township trustee, who has amassed $77,000 and only spent about $10,000 of it without a contested GOP primary, campaign finance reports show.

Another candidate in a swing district crossing from northern Ann Arbor into deep-red Livingston County and a part of Jackson County is in a similar position.

Jennifer Conlin, a former journalist hoping to win Democrats a House seat in the new 48th District, has amassed roughly $188,000 — more than any other local candidate for state office during the pre-election period, according to MLive’s analysis.

Her campaign reports contributions from people and organizations with addresses in 43 states, the District of Columbia, France and the United Kingdom, including Democratic PACs aiming to flip conservative majorities in Michigan.

That includes The PAC for America’s Future – MI, which has funneled tens of thousands to Michigan Democrats and $5,000 to Conlin, and whose biggest backer this year is philanthropist Deborah Simon, according to campaign finance disclosures. Simon is a member of a well-known Indianapolis-area business family that built a fortune on shopping malls and who has directed millions to Democrats and progressive candidates across the country, according to Politico.

Conlin faces no primary challenger and her political fundraising so far more than triples that of the two Republican candidates competing in the August primary in the district, Livingston County Republicans Jason Negri and Jason Woolford.

Woolford, a Marine Corps veteran and Christian nonprofit leader, has raised roughly $30,000 in cash contributions, with Negri, an attorney and Hamburg Township treasurer, bringing in $25,000 in cash and almost $7,000 in in-kind contributions.

Tightly-contested primaries in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti areas are also pulling in big money.

In the new 47th House District, stretching from Ann Arbor to south of Jackson and including a mix of urban and rural parts of Washtenaw and Jackson counties, Carrie Rheingans of Ann Arbor is up against James Johnson Jr. of Clarklake on the Democratic ticket.

Johnson, a union organizer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, holds a fundraising edge, disclosures show, with his campaign bringing in nearly $58,000 in cash receipts and $1,800 in in-kind donations, while spending almost $48,000.

Nearly $40,000 of the campaign’s funding has come from labor groups, including an IBEW PAC, the Michigan AFL-CIO and metalworkers locals, according to the reports.

Rheingans, a project director for the Michigan Public Health Institute and a University of Michigan School of Social Work lecturer, has built a roughly $47,500 campaign mostly on individual donors, with some 294 people donating to the election push, which has spent roughly $30,000, according to a pre-election disclosure.

The Democrats’ potential GOP general election opponents are Jackson County Republican Tina Bednarski-Lynch, a Grass Lake Township trustee, and Teresa Spiegelberg, a resident of Washtenaw County’s Freedom Township and a University of Michigan electromyography technologist.

But their campaigns have drawn far less cash, with Spiegelberg claiming a reporting waiver available when a candidate doesn’t receive or spend more than $1,000, and Bednarski-Lynch raising roughly $6,000, a disclosure shows.

Across the county in a crowded primary for a safely Democratic House district covering the Ypsilanti area, the new 32nd District, two contenders have pulled away from the competition financially, each raising tens of thousands more than the rest of the field.

Democrat Robyn Lynn McCoy, an attorney and educator, has raised almost $57,000 in cash and $1,300 in in-kind donations, while Ypsilanti Township Trustee Jimmie Wilson Jr., an employee and union leader at the Ford Motor Co. Rawsonville Plant, has brought in almost $47,000 in direct contributions and $450 in in-kind donations, disclosures show.

In both cases, the two candidates were their own biggest campaign donors, with McCoy funneling $9,600 to her election push and Wilson just over $17,000.

Only their primary opponents Marshall Averill, an academic success coach, and longtime Democratic Party Precinct Delegate Roderick Casey Sr. reported raising or spending more than $1,000 on pre-election disclosures, with Averill taking in roughly $3,800 and Casey about $1,500.

A full picture of the money raised and spend during the primary season likely won’t emerge until early September, when candidates must file a post-election report showing their campaign activity through late August and after the primary election.

For more Washtenaw County election news, click here.

More form The Ann Arbor News:

Over $175K pumped into three Ann Arbor City Council races

Washtenaw County Democratic Party leaders call out candidates for skipping public forums

$40K DTE Energy donation fuels Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti transit millage campaign

Over $122K pumped into Ann Arbor mayoral race, criticisms fly

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