Sam Singh: The Rest of the Story

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/06/2026) After the Detroit News reported that Senate Majority Floor Leader Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) might not run for reelection, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) gave the story additional legs by postulating that the Democratic senator could be fixing to join the lucrative ranks of multi-client lobbyists in this town.

Hall didn't need any proof of that. The mere hint of such a move allowed him to use the lawmaker as Exhibit A for putting a legislative stick in the "revolving door." He wants a law that lawmakers shouldn't be writing the law one day and then working to either kill or pass bills the next as a registered lobbyist. All this gave birth to the “Sam Singh Retention” bill, as Hall labeled it.

The history books are filled with examples: Former House Speaker Bobby Crim, former Senate Majority Leader Bob VanderLaan, former Speaker Gary Owen and former Speaker Rick Johnson just to name a few.

The good Senator was not very forthcoming about what he would do. Not taking the bait from the speaker allowed the story to sort of sit there until he finally revealed last Sunday that he would not run.

His statement did mention some options, including returning to the non-profit sector from whence he came or working for a new Democratic governor or president, but there was nary a word about all the lobbyist speculation. Crickets all the way.

It wasn't until he sat down for a TV Zoom interview that he coughed up an answer. But first he filled in some other holes in the story for TV-6 Lansing.

First off, was this an overnight decision?

"I've been thinking about this transition the last year and a half, my wife and I. I'm turning 55 this year and usually at that point you have one or two professional opportunities before you retire," he warmed to the subject.

Was he burned out?

"That's not it," he revealed without a pause to think.

And, finally, the elephant in the room was addressed head on.

Are you looking at joining some well-to-do multi-client lobbying firm?

Again, no pause.

"I've not had any interest in being a multi-client lobbyist ever in my career."

So much for the Speaker's theory. Well, if he didn't want to serve a whole host of clients, how about finding one client and lace up to lobby for them?

"I don't even know if I want to lobby specifically for a single issue," he wondered out loud, while finally putting the speculation game to bed.

On the issue of political endorsements for a successor, the Senator disavows the tact taken by the Governor, who has so many friends running for so many offices, she has decided to cool her endorsement jets and stay out of it.

"I will eventually endorse," Singh reported. “I want to give people a little bit of time to let that filter out. I've had two, three, four people contact me.”

So, with all the intrigue taken out of the story by his decision not to set foot into the revolving door, did he in any way feel disappointed that he let the Speaker down?

"I'm used to disappointing Matt Hall. We've usually got the best of him in our negotiations," he chuckles.

Wonder if there is any chuckling in the Speaker's office?