Parties go in different directions in their choices of new leaders

Michigan’s two major political parties took two entirely different roads to get to their new chairs, whom delegates elected last week in Detroit.

The Democrats took the traditional path. Labor leaders pinpointed someone they thought would do the job. They got the other stakeholders on board. Viola! It literally wasn’t even a race.

For Republicans, the new chair came in through the back door. State Sen. Jim Runestad quietly bottled up enough support over the last few months so that by the time Donald Trump and the powers that be realized he was a serious threat, it was too late.

But let’s start with the Dems. East Lansing’s own Curtis Hertel Jr. is the new chair, and that’s not great news for Republicans.

Folks shouldn’t remember the former state senator and Ingham County register of deeds for last year’s awkward congressional campaign. That was Hertel falling captive to the top-down, one-size-fits-all playbook the D.C. mothership beamed down to his out-of-town consultants.

This time, Hertel’s free to do things his way, and his way typically works out.

Hertel masterminded the Democrats’ taking the Michigan Senate for the first time in 40 years in 2022. As the governor’s lobbyist, he helped broker deals on the budget, economic development incentives and tax cuts that seemed out of reach.

In short, the guy makes stuff happen.

Here’s what I mean: Before Hertel was even an official candidate, Keith Williams, the MDP’s Black Caucus chair, said he felt like a Hertel candidacy was being “shoved down our throat.”

With the departure of MDP Chair Lavora Barnes, who happens to be Black, and Kamala Harris’ loss, Williams said on Nov. 25:

“What is even more insulting after all of this, white women (and) white progressives abandoned a qualified Black woman — my friend Kamala Harris ... . (Now) we’ve been asked to cave in again. This time to support a white male, someone who lost a bid for Congress, (as our) next party chair. My response is simple: Hell no.”

A month later, the MDP Black Caucus stated it was “proudly” getting behind Hertel. Williams issued a quote reading that Hertel “is the best choice to move our Party forward and has committed to advancing our policy agenda,” which includes promoting the interests of African Americans.

Keep in mind that one of the other candidates in the race was a Black male, Al Williams.

The race was over at this point.

Over on the Republican side, the dynamics were much different.

The delegates who select the state party chair are proudly independent. They DO NOT like anyone telling them what to do. At all.

If they meet a candidate they like, they’ll go to the wall for that person, regardless of what anyone says. That includes Donald Trump.

Trump parachuted into this race at the last minute to help a long-time ally, Meshawn Maddock, who had ridden the “outsider” label for so long that she crossed the line into being ... ESTABLISHMENT.

You don’t want that title in a Republican caucus race.Maddock had a few other things working against her, too, however. She and millionaire Ron Weiser ran the party to a convincing across-the-board defeat in 2022. Her husband, Rep. Matt Maddock, also ran primaries against some conservative House incumbents that year. People didn’t like that.

This year’s victor was Runestad, an undisputed conservative who isn’t in Lansing to make friends.

The guy’s top job has been to advance a conservative agenda, and he’s been pretty effective at it. He’s won competitive elections before. He stayed away from going negative on Maddock and his other opponent. He left no stone unturned to drum up votes. He’s actually the Maddocks’ state senator, FWIW.

The Republicans delegates couldn’t find anything bad to say about him. They kept going back to him doing two full-time jobs.

Now, it’ll be up to him to prove it can be done.

(Kyle Melinn is the editor of the Capitol news service MIRS. You can email him at melinnky@gmail.com.)