“Money out of politics” wins up and down the ballot!
From the U.S. Senate at the top of the ticket to a money-out-of-politics ballot measure at the bottom, MVP partners helped secure a populist sweep in this critical 2028 presidential battleground state. (Full state overview here.)
Photo: Michiganders for Money Out of Politics canvassers urging voters to vote “Yes” on Prop 2 — a money-out-of-politics ballot measure.
Mopping up Michigan!
After a nearly two-year campaign, MVP partner Michiganders for Money Out of Politics (MMOP) won a ballot measure that restricts political contributions from regulated utilities and corporations. And they won big, securing more than 80% of the vote! (The only county that did not overwhelmingly support the ballot measure went for Trump by 43 points in 2024).
Through their citizen-led ballot initiative, MMOP collected more than 560,000 signatures, jumped through seemingly endless legal and legislative hoops, and mobilized hundreds of thousands of voters to pass the measure.
But wait, there’s more!
Photo: MI Poder canvassers knocking doors in western Michigan to mobilize voters for Democrats Abdul El-Sayed for Senate and Sean McCann for MI-04.
Abdul El-Sayed wins the Senate! House races! State legislature!
U.S. Senate: Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed won by 7 points, helping defend Michigan’s open Senate seat. El-Sayed will be the first Muslim American member of the U.S. Senate, and prevailed against what can only be called Islamophobic attacks from his GOP opponent, Mike Rogers. He ran on a pragmatic, populist agenda that clearly appealed to voters — Money out of politics. Money in your pockets. Medicare for all.
U.S. House: We are still waiting on results in MI-07, where Working Families Party-endorsed candidate Will Lawrence is up by 3.2 points. As co-founder of MVP partner Sunrise Movement and coordinator of the MI Rent Is Too Damn High coalition, Lawrence has deep roots in organizing and movement building, distinguishing himself from the “billionaires and political insiders [who] run Washington, DC.”
We are also still waiting for final results in MI-04, where Democrat Sean McCann is up by 2.1 points, and MI-10, where Democrat Christina Hines is up by 7 points.
Downballot: We won a Democratic state trifecta! Democrat Jocelyn Benson defended the governor’s seat; Democrats now control the state Senate, with two races still not called; and we flipped the state House, winning 57 seats (56 needed for a majority), with 10 races still to be called.
Securing a Democratic state trifecta will be critical to wielding governing power and blocking MAGA at the state level in 2027 and laying the groundwork for winning (again!) in 2028.
Photo: Asian American Voices engaging young AAPI Michiganders at their Donuts and Democracy GOTV event.
MVP partners went all gas, no brakes
Huge kudos to MVP’s Michigan partners, who went all in to win these key races.
- Asian American Voices Fund was in the streets and online, turning out Asian American Michiganders in support of Democrats up and down the ballot, providing need-to-know voter education in Tagalog, Vietnamese, Bangla, and Mandarin and Cantonese.
- MI Poder mobilized Latine voters across the state with a focus on MI-04, launching canvasses in Holland, Grand Rapids, Lenawee County, and elsewhere.
- Arab Americans for Progress engaged and organized Arab American voters in support of their endorsed candidates, including Abdul El-Sayed, Will Lawrence, and Jaime Churches, the Democratic winner in HD-27.
- Bend the Arc Jewish Action helped organize Jewish voters, focusing on the Michigan Senate race. Their endorsement of Abdul El-Sayed and messaging around his candidacy was particularly powerful in coalescing Jewish support and uniting Jewish voters behind him.
- Distill Social has been spreading the Michigan voting and progressive gospel across their many platforms, including their website, podcast, and social media.
- Clean Wave PAC, the political arm of Clean Water Action, organizes Michiganders around environmental protection and data center restrictions. They connected this organizing power to electoral mobilization, encouraging voters to support their endorsed candidates, including Will Lawrence (MI-07), Jaime Churches (HD-27), and Joanna Whaley (HD-2).
- Michigan Working Families Party (MI WFP) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed for Senate and Will Lawrence. They knocked doors across Michigan to mobilize voters for El-Sayed, Lawrence, and other Dems up and down the ballot. MI WFP also hosted a Pathways to Power tour through key cities Dems needed — Kalamazoo, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Detroit, and more — to win and secure governing power in the state.
MVP partners’ work supporting these Michigan wins (and those to come!) has helped strengthen the statewide organizing ecosystem to wield governing power in 2027 and pave the way for more victories in 2028.
