Q&A: What’s next on GOP ‘mission’ after flipping the Michigan House
- In Q&A, state Rep. Bill Schuette explains how Republicans flipped the Michigan House running on a ‘Mission for Michigan’
- Former Gov. Rick Snyder helped House Republicans raise record sums but the party was still outspent by Democrats
- Republicans are willing to work with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but ‘you never compromise your principles,’ Schuette says
State Rep. Bill Schuette sees a simple recipe for Republican success in Michigan: Deliver on the basic stuff.
As chair of the House Republican Campaign Committee, the Midland Republican helped his party regain control of the chamber earlier this year. The upcoming shift will break a two-year Democratic trifecta and give Republicans crucial influence in policymaking for the remainder of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s tenure.
The GOP caucus pitched a statewide “Mission for Michigan” with a companion website that laid out Republican priorities in just 10 points, focused primarily on the economy, education and crime.
They also attacked Democrats on a few key issues, including for allowing a one-year automatic income tax cut to expire and scaling back onetime school safety funding after COVID era surpluses ended.
“You can be a Republican, you can be a Democrat, but at the top of your mind is also the safety and security of our students in our schools," Schuette said. “The fact that Michigan Democrats would make a foolish decision to cut school safety funding by 92% I think helped our message cut across party lines.”
The GOP took the House by flipping four districts: the 28th district in downriver Metro Detroit, the 58th in Macomb County, the 44th surrounding Battle Creek and the 109th surrounding Marquette in the Upper Peninsula.
They did so despite raising less campaign cash than Democrats. Still, the campaign committee that Schuette chaired set GOP records by raising roughly $8.9 million through the end of October with the help of former Gov. Rick Snyder and others.
Related:
The next legislative sessions will open in 2025 with a 58-52 Republican majority and with Rep. Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, as speaker.
Schuette spoke with Bridge about how Republicans found success in this election and what they need to do to defend or grow their majority in future years. Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Bridge Michigan: What was the message you sent to voters, and how do you feel that that helped persuade some of them?
Schuette: Why you saw Republicans be successful here in Michigan and frankly, across America, was because we were talking about the issues that were most top of the minds of voters, and that was their kitchen table issues, the fact that the price of gas and groceries has been going up and up the people's take-home pay was less than it was previously, and we presented solutions to that.
Those were the issues on which we ran this campaign, and I think that's one of the reasons you saw us have victories from the Upper Peninsula on down.
What are the promises that you need to follow through on in order to ensure that you maintain the support of Michiganders that voted for you?
It’s easy in our current political landscape to just go negative and just talk about how bad the other side is, but we're very intentional as the House Republican Campaign Committee, to talk about our mission for Michigan, talk about those issues that we want to deliver on for Michiganders.
The first point on that was affordability, and also included with that was affordable and reliable energy. Also in that is making sure that our students are learning in our schools.
These are all issues that I think matter to Michigan, matter across the socio-economic divide, and they're going to be top priorities for our caucus going into the new year.
Democrats had some policy changes of their own to tout, including a couple of different tax cuts. Why do you think they weren't able to communicate those effectively, or those weren't persuasive?
I think the Democrat approach was the opposite of that. Where do they spend the bulk of their money on? It was giving a billion dollars of taxpayer money to a company with direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party and then saying, ‘We're going to raise your income taxes in the next year's budget.’
[Editor’s note: Michigan lawmakers approved $175 million of the nearly $800 million in state and local incentives for Chinese-owned Gotion Inc. to build an electric vehicle battery plant near Big Rapids.]
That does not resonate with people in any corner of our state. And I think voters saw through that hypocrisy.
How are House Republicans going to deliver with the Senate and the governorship still controlled by Democrats, in order to maintain this majority moving forward?
You can look at our 10-point plan. I think those are issues and items that 70- 80% of Michiganders can agree on. And because of that, I feel very good about our ability to lead on those issues.
It takes two to tango in the legislative process, it sometimes takes three. And I think we'll be able to talk about those priorities, and hopefully the Democrats are willing to play ball.
This is somewhere where you think, through negotiation or maybe even compromise, you might be able to gain some ground?
You never compromise your principles. But again, we'll be 1/3 of the legislative process. We'll be willing to have a conversation on these issues and priorities for Michigan.
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