Why Whitsett Missed 86.4% Of Her Votes In '25

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/02/2026) Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit), whose well-documented absences prematurely ended lame duck in 2024, missed 86.4 percent of the House's roll call votes in 2025 as her disenchantment over the Legislature's work continued under split power.

The House took 378 roll call votes in 2025. Whitsett cast “yes” votes 52 times. She cast zero “no” votes. The next closest missed vote number was 137. Meanwhile, 55 of the 147 legislators serving in 2025 (37.4%) cast perfect voting records. View the MIRS spreadsheet here.

From an historic perspective, Whitsett's percentage of missed votes is the highest of any legislator since 2002, when then-Sen. Jackie Vaughn (D-Detroit) missed all 1,044 roll call votes due to what turned out to be a terminal illness. View the number of missed votes from 2022-02 here.

Whitsett has battled health problems for years, but she attributed most of her absences to her strong belief that the Legislature doesn't vote on many bills that are worth her time or that of her community. Republican or Democrat, she said she sees more shameless self-promotion and people making money off legislative action than moves that benefit the regular people in her community.

“It's not about solving problems. It's about using problems to exploit voters,” Whitsett said. "All I've seen in these last three years is empty promises. People with no backbones. They sit in their seats and make excuses. It's always somebody's fault."

From what the four-term House member sees, the Democrats aren't truly interested in solving the real problems people face in her Detroit community, because the politicians wouldn't be able to campaign off them in the future. And since black Detroiters who vote for Democrats are taken for granted, their needs are relegated to the bottom of the list, she said.

Whitsett said she voted for the auto insurance reform package in 2019 because it was supposed to end redlining, only to find out that the bill was changed to allow rate setting by territories, which turned out not to be that much different.

Meanwhile, she sees her neighbors struggling to make ends meet. There's the city of Detroit retiree who struggled to replace his roof. Another city of Detroit retiree who couldn't step onto her porch out of concern that it would collapse.

Whitsett said she's been there. She had an EBT card. She's gotten calls from collections. She's visited a food bank and applied for WIC.

She said she's “busting her butt” to help her neighbors and her community with their real-life problems as opposed to casting a vote on esoteric, obtuse or meaningless legislation like naming a state butterfly.

“I know what I do. God knows what I do. The people in my community know what I do. And that's what all matters to me,” Whitsett said.

As for other legislators with a high number of missed votes:

- Rep. Cynthia Neeley (D-Flint) missed 137 votes (36.34%), most of which she said were related to her knee replacement surgery – the mobility issues she suffered through prior to the surgery and the complications after the fact.

- Rep. Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City) missed 126 votes (33.33%), much of which is likely connected to her separate diagnoses of a benign brain tumor she had removed and stage one cancer.

- Rep. Kristian Grant (D-Grand Rapids) missed 107 votes (28.31%).

- Sen. Ruth Johnson (R-Holly) missed 94 votes (25.75%) in 2025 after having nearly perfect voting records in several years prior to this one. She said a complex back surgery in January and COVID kept her away from the Senate chambers in 2025.

Those with a perfect voting record in the Senate included: Sens. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell), Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), Rosemary Bayer (D-Keego Harbor), Joseph Bellino Jr. (R-Monroe), Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids), John Cherry (D-Flint), Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor), Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton), Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) and Michael Webber (R-Rochester Hills).

Those with a perfect voting record in the House included: Reps. Gregory Alexander (R-Carsonville), Joseph Aragona (R-Clinton Township), Brian BeGole (R-Perry), Karl Bohnak (R-Negaunee), Ann Bollin (R-Brighton), Ken Borton (R-Gaylord), Erin Byrnes (D-Dearborn), Cam Cavitt (R-Cheboygan), Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay), Parker Fairbairn (R-Harbor Springs), John Fitzgerald (D-Wyoming), Joseph Fox (R-Fremont), Steve Frisbie (R-Battle Creek), Matt Hall (R-Richland Township), Mike Harris (R-Clarkston), Nancy Jenkins-Arno (R-Clayton), Gina Johnsen (R-Portland), Tim Kelly (R-Saginaw), Matt Koleszar (D-Plymouth), Tom Kunse (R-Clare), Sarah Lightner (R-Springport), Rylee Linting (R-Wyandotte), Matt Maddock (R-Milford), Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock), Jasper Martus (D-Flushing), Pat Outman (R-Six Lakes), Joseph Pavlov (R-Kimball Township), Dave Prestin (R-Cedar River), Angela Rigas (R-Caledonia), Ron Robinson (R-Utica), Julie Rogers (D-Kalamazoo), John Roth (R-Interlochen), Kathy Schmaltz (R-Jackson), Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland), Bradley Slagh (R-Zeeland), Rachelle Smit (R-Shelbyville), Donni Steele (R-Lake Orion), Mark Tisdel (R-Rochester), Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing), Curt VanderWall (R-Ludington), Dylan Wegela (D-Garden City), Jason Woolford (R-Howell), Douglas Wozniak (R-Shelby Township) and Mai Xiong (D-Warren).

Other interesting factoids from the 2025 missed vote report:

- Rep. Dylan Wegela (D-Garden City) accomplished a rare feat by casting more “no” votes in the calendar year than “yes” votes. Wegela had the most Liberal voting record of 2025, as tracked by MIRS. Wegela cast 204 no votes and 174 yes votes. He attempted to raise money off his being a “Democratic Socialist.”

Despite being in the majority, Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) cast 147 no votes. He was tied with Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) with the second-most number of no votes in the House for 2025.

- Sen. Joseph Bellino Jr. (R-Monroe), who cast the most conservative voting record in 2025, cast the most no votes in the senate – 164 compared to 201 yes votes.

- The most “yes” votes were cast by 13 House Republicans led by House Speaker Matt Hall with 376 affirmative votes a piece. Others who voted yes that many times were Reps. BeGole, Bohnak, Borton, Cavitt, Fairbairn, Jenkins-Arno, Markkanen, Schmaltz, Schuette, Tisdel and Wozniak.