Michigan Democrats this year are hoping they will achieve something they have not attained in 18 years – a majority in the state Senate.
Republicans have been in power in the Legislature’s upper house longer than they have controlled any other state governmental body.
For that reason, many Senate races are watched for the possibility that it could change hands.
Democrats are hoping to continue their streak in the 18th District with former state Rep. Liz Brater party’s banner. Republicans are hoping for an upset in the district with Scio Township Trustee Gordon Darr of Dexter, a fiscally moderate but socially conservative technology consultant.
Brater, a former Ann Arbor mayor who was term-limited out of the House in 2000 after serving three two-year terms, said one area of interest to her is mental health policy.
“When the governor closed 15 of out 21 of our mental hospitals, a number of people who were formerly in those hospitals ended up in the criminal justice system,” she said. “And those that are nonviolent among them belong in the mental health system, not in the criminal justice system.”
If elected, Brater said she also worries about suburban sprawl in the communities surrounding Ann Arbor, where developers are buying up farmland and turning it into residential and commercial areas.
On social issues, Brater supports abortion rights and opposes vouchers for private school tuition. On fiscal issues, she is perhaps slightly more liberal than her opponent, who favors continuing cuts in the state Single Business Tax, while Brater supports pausing the 0.1 percent cuts. Among her supporters, Brater mentions the Michigan State AFL-CIO. Darr supports vouchers and opposes abortions and has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association.
Although unavailable for comment for this story, Darr, a self-employed technology consultant and former Dexter village councilman, has told The Michigan Daily in the past that he favors separating state appropriations to the state’s colleges and universities between dollars earmarked fir research and those for teaching. That may help keep tuition down, he said.
Green Party candidate Elliott Smith is also vying for the seat.