Democrat Dana Nessel was elected attorney general of Michigan, succeeding Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Schuette. Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives Tom Leonard, R-Dewitt conceded to Nessel with 97 percent of precincts reporting Wednesday morning.
Nessel has served as an assistant prosecutor and civil rights attorney and is the president of the Fair Michigan Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting LGBTQ and men’s and women’s civil rights.
Nessel ran in a feisty race against Leonard, campaigning on standing up for civil rights, supporting workers and labor unions, and protecting the environment, which entails shutting down Enbridge Line 5, a massive oil pipeline that runs through the Straits of Mackinac.
“The Republicans are scared of me … They’re labeling me ‘Dangerous Dana,’” Nessel said at a rally to University of Michigan students in October. “I am going to be dangerous to the Trump administration. I will be dangerous to anybody who infringes upon the rights and the civil liberties of the people who live here in the state of Michigan.”
As attorney general, Nessel will be inheriting several high-profile, unfinished cases, including charges against city and state officials in the Flint water crisis, an investigation into Michigan State University’s handling of Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse and an investigation into sexual abuse in Michigan’s Catholic dioceses.