Michigan Republicans’ historic collapse nearing completion — thanks to Trump

If you can name all eight state Board of Education members without googling it, you are better than I.

What I can tell you is that the Democratic Party is on the doorstep of winning every single board seat, something that hasn’t happened since the Michigan Constitution expanded it to eight members back in 1964.

Tom McMillin and Nikki Snyder are the last two Republicans elected to the Board of Education. They both came in during Donald Trump’s surprise 2016 win in Michigan.

Since then, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has won by nearly 10 points twice. Joe Biden knocked off Trump. In all three elections, Democratic candidates won the available seats on the Board of Education, the results of which political pundits use to construct their political base numbers.

This year, McMillin and Snyder’s fortunes are again tied to Trump, and things suddenly aren’t looking all that great for him.

Trump hasn’t led in a Michigan poll in a month, and the gap seems to be getting wider as Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ surge gradually grows.

How significant would ANOTHER win for Democrats be this November? Historically significant.

Republicans have gone from controlling every lever of state government to controlling nothing in six years. Lose again? Four straight election cycles of striking out at the top of the ticket?

It’s happened, but not like this. Republicans always were able to score a Board of Education seat or a seat on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees. For example, even when Jennifer Granholm won the governor’s seat in 2002, Republicans did well.

Even in the post-Watergate 1970s, Republicans were always able to pick up a seat or two on the Board of Education. Then-Gov. Bill Milliken was able to carry a couple of Board of Education candidates over the finish line.

In 1964, eight seats of the reconstructed state Board of Education were put on the ballot in staggered terms. Two two-year terms, two four-year terms, two six-year terms and two eight-year terms were all on the ballot together. 

Unfortunately for Republicans, 1964 was when they picked Barry Goldwater to go up against President Lyndon Johnson. The GOP took a bath, losing all eight Board of Education seats. But in 1966, George Romney was back on the ballot and the Republicans won back two seats.

It’s been back and forth since. Republicans win a couple. Democrats win a couple.

With Donald Trump leading the Republican Party, Democrats have won a lot in Michigan while Republicans haven’t won as much as they once did.

The collapse of the Republican Party in Michigan is nearing completion.

Democrats are on the verge of picking every single member of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees if Trustee Dan Kelly loses this November, something that hasn’t happened since before 1960.

The reason lies at the feet of Donald Trump. 

For as beloved as he is to some people, Trump has never been a favorite of the clear majority of Michiganders. He won Michigan in 2016 with 47.5 percent of the vote. In 2020, it was 47.84%. The Republican gubernatorial nominees in 2022 and 2018 — both of whom Trump endorsed — did much worse.

It’s baffling to watch establishment Republicans in Michigan bend over backward to praise Trump or justify his bad behavior when the guy has done literally nothing but spur nasty divisions and losses in this state.

The Republicans have lost the Governor’s Office, the secretary of state position, the Attorney General’s Office and majorities in the House and Senate and on the Supreme Court. 

Now, if they lose again, they’ll have zero members on the Board of Education, zero members on the MSU Board, one member of the eight-member University of Michigan Board of Regents and one member of the eight-member of the Wayne State University Board of Governors.

At that point, Republicans may question where they go from there. Fortunately for them, they could only go up.

(Email Kyle Melinn of the Capitol news service MIRS at melinnky@gmaill.com.)