Most hotly contested primary race? It’s for Meridian Township clerk

The Lansing area’s hottest Aug. 6 primary race isn’t a national, state or even countywide contest.

It’s in Meridian Township, where Clerk Deborah Guthrie failed to pay an outstanding $150 campaign fine before she filed and was kicked off the ballot two weeks before the filing deadline.

In the mad scramble that followed, three Democrats filed for the nomination:

— Angela Demas, a 21-year-old Michigan State graduate who has been working for elected public officials such as then-Sen. Curtis Hertel since she was in high school.

— Mike McCurdy, 49, co-chair of a nonprofit prison reform project designed to help exonerate wrongly accused inmates. Before that, he ran a student housing cooperative at Michigan State.

— Emily Stivers, 43, a former Ingham County commissioner who served on the Meridian Township Appeals Board and the Planning Commission.

Guthrie tried to marshal a write-in campaign but quickly abandoned that effort. 

One Republican, Patty McPhee of Haslett, filed, but she has not been as visible in the primary. 

Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, Rep. Julie Brixie, Hertel, Sen. Sam Singh and the rest of the traditional Democratic establishment quickly got behind Demas, who made a strong impression on them as a campaign volunteer. Demas has united with the incumbent supervisor, treasurer and three trustees to run as a slate.

The elected leaders saw promise in a fresh-out-of-school leader who was instantly ready to serve her community. Earlier this year, she was among the final three applicants for a vacant township trustee appointment. When she didn’t get it, her initial plan for 2024 was to run the communications shop for Hertel’s congressional campaign.

McCurdy scored progressive community support: former Rep. Lynn Jondahl, Ingham County Commissioner Bob Peña, former Judge Jim Giddings and the clerk in Washtenaw County endorsed him. His selling point was that he’s run a smaller organization before and has the managerial experience. Politically, he’s been working for U.S. Senate candidate Hill Harper, campaign finance records show.

And Stivers has touted her friendship with East Lansing Clerk Marie Wicks and her background in serving in various posts within state, Ingham County and Meridian Township government.

The friction started fairly early when McCurdy sent out an email accusing Demas’ stepfather, political consultant Joe DiSano, of being the brains behind an organization called “Meridian Democrats for Biden” that McCurdy said attacked his character through robo-calls and text messaging.

The presumption was based on DiSano calling out McCurdy over social media for a union bug not being visible on a campaign sign and questioning McCurdy’s allegiance to President Biden, among other things.

McCurdy has vocally supported Palestinians, having worked in the Gaza Strip in 2003 as a human rights observer. His strong opinions on “Jewish extremism” and “Jewish supremacy” caught the attention of Demas, who is Jewish herself.

“Those words raise some red flags to me,” she said. “I know that this is a clerk’s position, and it should be focused on our elections and also as a voting member of the Meridian Township board, but I can see how that would relate.”

McCurdy supporters have told me his comments have been taken out of context.

Otherwise, Demas made it clear that anything DiSano is or isn’t doing has nothing to do with her campaign. She said she, alone, speaks for her campaign.

On the ground, McCurdy seems to be winning the yard sign battle, but both he and Demas have been working the doors hard. Both are raising money, although Demas’ numbers are higher because she’s given her own campaign $54,403.

Meanwhile, Stivers is running an admittedly “bare-bones campaign” due to temporary physical limitations. She’s tried to stay out of the line of sight of DiSano, whom she calls “frighteningly intimidating” and says “thrives on discord.”

All the while, Demas’ young age is an underlying factor in the race. McCurdy said he doesn’t have anything against his opponent but “she doesn’t have the experience for such an important role.”

Demas said she isn’t running away from her age. Yes, she’s young, but she’s learning the job firsthand in Delhi Township as a seasonal worker in the Clerk’s Office.

How does it all turns out? I’m not a Meridian Township voter and don’t have a position.

That said, amid a rather dull primary season locally, the race has given political observers like me something to watch.

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