Voters in a central Michigan district will participate in a special election Tuesday to fill a state Senate seat, concluding 16 months during which the district remained without direct representation in the state's legislative body. This electoral event, framed as a contest for control of the chamber, highlights the ongoing struggle within the bourgeois political system to manage the contradictions of capital, offering a limited choice to the working class.
The Illusion of Choice
The special election seeks to fill the seat previously held by Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet, who vacated it in January 2025 following her election to Congress. The Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced the special primary date in August 2025, leading to a Feb. 3, 2026, primary and the special election on Tuesday, May 4, 2026. This prolonged vacancy underscores the state's prioritization of electoral cycles over immediate representation for its constituents.
The nominees for the seat represent the established political parties: Democrat Chedrick Greene, Republican Jason Tunney, and Libertarian Ali Sledz. Greene, a firefighter and former state Senate aide, emerged from a six-candidate Democratic primary. Tunney, an attorney and former executive at his family’s roofing company, secured the Republican nomination against three opponents. Sledz, a graduate student and Army spouse, received the Libertarian Party nomination. The contrast between a candidate with a background in public service and one rooted in corporate executive leadership illustrates the class divisions inherent in the political landscape.
Managing Contradictions
Michigan Democrats secured a state government trifecta 4 years ago in 2022, gaining control of the governorship and both legislative chambers. However, they lost the state House 2 years ago in 2024 and currently maintain a narrow 19-18 state Senate majority. A Republican victory in this special election would result in a 19-19 deadlock in the Senate. While the state constitution allows Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II to cast tie-breaking votes, a Republican bloc could still prevent legislation from passing by withholding votes, as a 20-vote threshold is required for passage. This mechanism demonstrates how the state apparatus, even when nominally controlled by one faction, can be used to obstruct or facilitate policies that serve specific class interests.
State Senate District 35 encompasses parts of Bay, Midland, and Saginaw counties. Despite Republican Donald Trump carrying all three counties in the 2024 presidential race, the specific portions within District 35 have shown more competitive results. Democrat Kamala Harris narrowly surpassed Trump in the district in 2024, securing 49.7% to his 48.9%, largely due to a 17-percentage-point lead in the Saginaw portion. District voters also favored Democrat Joe Biden over Trump in the 2020 presidential race by a slightly larger margin. These shifting electoral preferences reflect the ongoing attempts by the ruling class to channel working-class discontent into partisan contests rather than addressing underlying structural issues.
The winner of this special election will serve the remaining eight months of the term. Both Greene and Tunney have already filed to run in the Aug. 4 primaries for nomination to a full term, ensuring the perpetual cycle of electoral campaigning continues. The electoral process, with its detailed rules on recounts and vote tabulation, serves to legitimize the outcomes of these contests, regardless of their impact on the material conditions of the working class. Nearly 46,000 voters participated in the Feb. 3 special primary, a significant drop from the approximately 116,000 ballots cast in the regularly scheduled 2022 general election, indicating a potential disengagement from a system perceived as offering limited real change.