With Schuette Out, Who Gets In?

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/15/2025) With Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland) deciding against a 35th Senate District run on Friday, Republicans are left without a presumed frontrunner in the open Tri-Cities seat, but not without options.

Rep. Timothy Beson (R-Bay City) repeated Monday that he's "very interested" in the seat, but wants to talk with his campaign team before pulling the trigger on potentially running four races in 2026, which is what would be needed given the schedule the Governor set.

One GOP candidate who is a lock to get into the race is Christian Velasquez, who finished third in a four-person race for the seat in 2022 with eventual nominee Annette Glenn and now-Rep. Tim Kelly (R-Saginaw). Velasquez confirmed Monday that the plan is to file for the seat with the Bureau of Elections as soon as Tuesday.

"It looks like I'm up," he said Monday. "We need a committed and reasonable Republican to run, and I do think I'm that guy."

Velasquez, 58, of Midland, is the founder and chief strategist of Points North consulting, which does work in the chemical and auto industry. Before founding his own company, Velasquez served as the global marketing director for Dow Corning for 26 years. He's also been a Republican precinct delegate since 2006.

The Santa Fe Trail High School graduate earned his bachelor's in mechanical engineering from Kansas State University and his master's in integrative management from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University.

In 2022, he received 19.23 percent of the vote, but he concedes he got into a four-person race with one sitting House member and a former member, so he didn't have the name recognition he does now.

"I made a lot of rookie mistakes," he conceded. "But we have a good team that's going to be helping me out. The time is ripe for Republicans, and we're going to give it a shot."

One of those people helping him out is consultant David Forsmark of Winning Strategies.

"Nobody knows the district like him," Forsmark said. "He's founded and grown two businesses, and he worked for Dow Chemical, so he knows businesses big and small. His wife is with the Dow Foundation, so he knows the charity side of the community, as well. He may be new in politics, but he's a veteran in the things that matter."

Glenn's state senate campaign committee from 2022 is still open with $20,000 in it, but there's been no indication that she's interested in giving the Senate another go.

Republicans have one candidate that has filed for a campaign committee in the 35th Senate District, Mountains Movers Chief Operations Officer and Brexy Management co-founder and operational advisor Chadwick Twillman. He'll need to file for the special Republican primary, however, to be a candidate.

Glenn told MIRS she is not running for anything.

In the Democratic race, at the moment, three Saginaw-based candidates have emerged – state Board of Education President Pamela Pugh, Saginaw Fire Capt. Chedwick Greene and Saginaw County Democratic Party Chair Brandell Adams.

Another potential candidate is consultant Jimmy Greene, the former executive director of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), who is tossing around the idea of running as an independent.

Greene is supporting independent Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan for governor. Unlike partisan candidates, who need to file by Sept. 30, Greene said he's looking at making up his mind in early January.