Whitmer Sets New Mark In Still Not Calling Special In SD-35

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/19/2025) Back in 2005, Sen. Virg Bernero won an election to become Lansing's mayor, causing him to resign his state senate seat effective Jan. 1, 2006. Then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm immediately called a special election on Jan. 3, two days later, to fill this seat in bright blue Ingham County.

She set an aggressive timeline – a primary election in February and the General Election on March 14. The later date worked out to be 74 days after the vacancy was official.

Guess who won that special election to succeed Bernero with this ultra-fast timeline?

Yup, it was now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

To make the irony a bit more striking, consider this. Once Whitmer changed chambers, those left behind in the House urged Granholm to fill Whitmer's old seat quickly, which she did. On March 24, Granholm called another special election to fil the old Whitmer seat, with that date being the regular general election in November.

Fast forward to today. Here we are with the 35th state Senate district, left vacant by now-U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City). Rivet resigned from the state Senate on Jan. 3, and now, 75 days later, Whitmer has still not called a special election.

In waiting this long, Whitmer has now broken records spanning at least 30 years and at least four different administrations by waiting more than 75 days to call a special election, according to research conducted by MIRS.

The delay is likely the longest since the 1963 constitution, but additional research will need to be done to confirm that.

Why is Whitmer waiting? Because the 35th Senate District has a better than even chance of going Republican and if Sen. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland), for example, is sworn in, the Senate goes from a one-seat Democratic majority to a split chamber.

By never calling the special, Whitmer guarantees the Democrats will continue to have that slight 19-18 majority.

Republicans are relentless in talking about this. The National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) issued a press release on Wednesday saying, "More than 270,000 Michiganders are left without representation because of self-serving McDonald Rivet."

But since the majority of the state Senate could be on the line, the lame duck chief executive is still not calling a special election in SD-35.