Whitsett Expulsion Unlikely

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/08/2025) With Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit) missing 86 percent of her votes last year to concentrate on her constituents' more immediate needs and asking to be removed from her committees in 2026, it's only natural to ask: If Whitsett isn't going to show up to the state Capitol this year, will her House colleagues remove her?

The answer is likely not, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

The subject of removing Whitsett has been brought up among some individual legislators, MIRS confirmed. It would be supported by some Democratic members who are tired of what they see as Whitsett's shenanigans and perceived shifting excuses for not anything close to a reliable vote in 2025.

Numerous progressives still harbor hard feelings for Whitsett arguably derailing the 2024 lame-duck session for Democrats when she refused to return to the House floor in the closing days of session.

However, the caucus is split on Whitsett. Some empathize with her on the frustrations of Lansing not getting meaningful policy done for urban constituents. Others don't support the optics of expelling a Black woman, who is arguably just doing her job in a different way. Besides, early indications are Whitsett isn't seeking re-election this fall anyway, so she's only aggravating other members for the rest of the year before she moves on.

On the Republican side, a potential Whitsett expulsion has not been considered, according to a source, and it won't unless something drastic changes. Some R's may find an elected House member not showing up to work as a justified reason for “firing," but going down this road likely would create more political problems for them than it's worth.

For starters, as critical as Whitsett was earlier this week of Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) for denying work project funding that hurt Detroit and other urban communities, Whitsett has a history of supporting Republican initiatives.

In short, keeping Whitsett in office prevents the Democrats from earning her vote because she's rarely on the House floor. When she is there, she's more likely to vote with Republicans than Democrats. In the last MIRS scorecard used to track liberal and conservative votes, all seven Whitsett votes in 2025 were for the “conservative position."

To get rid of Whitsett in exchange for what likely would be the speedy special election of a strident Democrat in Whitsett's deep-blue Detroit district isn't a fair trade as far as Republicans are concerned.

It's true that for the roughly four months the 4th House District would be vacant, Republicans would only need 55 votes (as opposed to 56) to pass a bill, giving the R's one more vote to play with.

But Hall didn't put up many votes in 2025 on issues on which he feels he needs to protect politically vulnerable members.

Outside of that, expelling members has, as far as we know, been used only three times in the Michigan House -- in 2015 against then-Rep. Cindy Gamrat, Monte Geralds in 1978 for an embezzlement conviction and Miles Dakin in 1887 for attempted bribery.

Going to war with Whitsett's inevitable defenders would be a widely covered event. Assuming all 58 Republicans voted yes, they'd need 16 yes votes from Democrats to get the two-thirds margin needed to kick her out. What if Democrats gave the R's 15 or fewer? Republicans would have destroyed their relationship with Whitsett, likely making her a martyr who would run back into the arms of Democrats.

Such a scenario would be disastrous to the GOP leadership on several levels, making her removal from office in 2026 highly unlikely.