Big Year for Michigan Politics, Facts from 2025, UP Institution Changes Leadership, and Some Political History

– INFORMED BREVITY –

Big Year for Michigan Politics in 2026

In 2026 Michigan voters will have a lot to debate and then make some important decisions in the August primary and the November general election. Voters in Michigan will decide races for:

• Governor/Lt. Governor

• Secretary of State

• Attorney General

• The 110 members of the State House of Representatives

• The 38 members of the State Senate

• The Michigan Congressional delegation

• Two seats on the State Supreme Court

• A ballot question to say whether michigan should hold a constitutional convention and then later to select delegates to the convention if approved by the voters.

• Any ballot questions that finally have enough petition signatures to be put on the ballot.

Also this year the voters in the 35th Senate District will vote in a special election and the outcome of that election could shift control of the Senate from Democratic to Republican control.

It will be a big, big year for politics and the social media will be aflame with opinion, facts and falsehoods.  This is your year to get involved and give your voice to the candidates and their issues priorities–which ones are most important to you.  So in the end, 2026 is all about vote, vote and vote. That is called citizenship.

Facts from 2025:

“All government buildings in Finland have a sauna on-site. Nationwide, there is more than one sauna for every two Finns.” (NYT).

“About a third of US adults have tattoos, but nearly a quarter of them regret their decision, according to Pew Research.” Bridge. 1.3.26.

A VERY IMPORTANT INSTITUTION IN THE UPPER PENINSULA CHANGES LEADERSHIP AND IT IS IN BIG BAY:

A Very Important Institution in the Upper Peninsula Changes Leadership and It is in Big Bay

It’s called Bay Cliff Health Camp on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior. It is a year round camp for children with disabilities.

It is an amazing place with a very important mission. Bay Cliff hosts a seven-week summer camp called the Children’s Summer Therapy Camp. Children from all across the nation come to the camp.

Counselors of all different ages, locations and experience work at the Bay Cliff Camp. Bay Cliff says that “it also provides a number of programs year round, each serving a common mission of providing campers with therapeutic opportunities in a beautiful camp.”

This wonderful organization’s Board of Directors announced that after a national search it has selected a new executive Director, Monet Borione. Our thanks to Clare Lutgen for her eight years of service as the Executive Director and an Upper Peninsula welcome to Monet Borione.

Here is Some Political History to Keep Us Optimistic About Our Nation

  “On May 8, 1965, more than a year after Kennedy’s death, Dwight D. Eisenhower did something that revealed just how deeply the loss still affected him—he traveled to the Kennedy Library groundbreaking ceremony in Boston, despite his own failing health and doctors’ warnings against the trip. Eisenhower, now 74 and recovering from his third heart attack, stood beside Jacqueline Kennedy and told the assembled crowd something that made even hardened reporters weep: ‘President Kennedy possessed the greatest campaign weapon any man could have—he had Jacqueline Kennedy by his side, but more than that, he possessed a quality I grew to admire deeply in our many conversations—the courage to admit when he didn’t know something and the wisdom to seek counsel.’ What made this moment so powerful was that Eisenhower then revealed he’d been keeping every letter Kennedy had ever written to him, bound in a private collection he called ‘Letters from a Young Lion.’ He donated them that day to the future Kennedy Library, saying he wanted history to know that their friendship had been real, that politics hadn’t divided them where it mattered most. Jackie Kennedy squeezed Eisenhower’s hand and whispered something that those nearby heard: ‘He called you his North Star, General. He never stopped seeking your guidance.’ Eisenhower’s voice broke as he replied, ‘And I never stopped believing in him.’ Here were two people from different worlds—the widowed First Lady and the retired Republican general—united in grief and mutual respect, showing us that the bonds forged in service to country transcend everything else. That’s the America worth fighting for—the one where we see each other’s humanity first.” (From the Eisenhower Presidential Library).

Quotes That Make Us Go Hmmm

“Gallantry takes responsibility. Gallantry is being the victor and refusing to humiliate.” Peggy Noonan.

“An ideal democratic order seeks unity within the conditions of freedom; and maintains freedom within the framework of order.” Reinhold Niebuhr.

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“WE BELIEVE YOU ARE SMART ENOUGH TO FORM YOUR OWN OPINIONS, AND WE TRY TO GIVE YOU SOME SOURCES TO DEVELOP YOUR OPINIONS.”