A high stake debate and tension at the GOP convention: Your guide to Michigan politics – MLive.com

Hey there!

Alyssa Burr here, MLives resident statewide legislature reporter covering the Michigan Senate, to bring you your weekly recap of Michigan political news.

In this epic pic below with my fellow politics crew, you can find me to the far right repping my soon to be graduate school alma mater the one and only Syracuse University (go orange!).

MLive's politics reporters on the Michigan Capitol steps. Left to right: Ben Orner, Jordyn Hermani, Simon Schuster and Alyssa Burr.Daniel Shular | MLive.com

The MIGOP nominating convention kicked off Saturday, Aug. 27 in Lansing, but infighting within the Michigan GOP party shows no sign of letting up.

The convention includes delegates from every county who will solidify the GOPs November ticket, including lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Its a critical opportunity for party unity, considering Democrats control the governorship, AG and SOS. But on Saturday, the Michigan Republican convention started in chaos Saturday as Mark Forton, the formerly recognized chair of the Macomb County GOP, brought a local fight to a statewide stage.

As MLive political reporter, Ben Orner reported: Minutes after the convention commenced, Forton supporters led a challenge of Macomb Countys 199 delegates. Dueling Republicans factions held county conventions in Macomb this month after Forton was voted out as county chair in April but refused to hand over the reins.

Related: Convention chaos: Snubbed Michigan county GOP chair leads swap of Macomb delegates

The Michigan GOP and co-chair Ron Weiser recognized the opposing slate of Macomb delegates for Saturdays convention, who were led by Eric Castiglia. But a vote by delegates from the other 82 counties rejected that list Saturday and swapped in Fortons, which he said is a rebuke of Weiser and win for the GOP grassroots. In a process that lasted more than two hours, county delegates on the Lansing Center floor stood and raised their credentials high in support of Fortons slate of delegates. Needing more than two-thirds of the vote, Fortons challenge was successful, as overwhelmingly more people stood to support Fortons slate than the MIGOPs preferred slate.

Shane Hernandez gets GOP Lt. Gov pick

As MLive political reporter Jordyn Hermani reported from Saturdays convention: Shane Hernandez will remain Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixons choice for lieutenant governor despite threats to his ticket.

Despite a push by former gubernatorial candidate Ralph Rebandt to whip up support for his name to replace Hernandez, those attempts fizzled out and Hernandez handily won the nomination on Saturday.

Republican Attorney General candidate Matt DePerno, in a speech nominating Hernandez to for the lieutenant governor position, said the former lawmaker understands the grassroots fights that we are in and would work to court blue collar union workers and minorities to vote Republican.

Debate debacle

With Republicans seeking to take control of the states top government offices and Democrats fighting to keep it, more conflict this week as incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican challenger Tudor Dixon have yet to work out scheduling for two statewide televised debates.

As someone who has watched the governors race from almost the beginning, my colleague Simon Schuster reports that there actually may be more at stake for the incumbent governor and the political newcomer than the debate itself.

Early Wednesday, Whitmers campaign announced they accepted invitations for debates on Oct. 13 and Oct. 25.

On the other hand, Dixons campaign said they accepted the same two invitations while proposing a number of different dates. Sept. 20, 22, 27 or 28 for a debate hosted by WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids; Oct. 17 or 24 for a second debate hosted by WXYZ-TV in metro Detroit.

Simon spoke with Oakland University political science professor Dave Dulio about why this may be about more than dates on a calendar. Dulio said campaigns going into elections with the upper hand may be less open to the vulnerabilities a debate can introduce.

You see this in campaigns across the country, where those campaigns who perceive themselves as having an advantage, lets say, are less likely to want to debate, Dulio said. Im not saying thats the case with the Whitmer campaign. My hunch is that theyre pretty confident, but you know, oftentimes its the incumbent who wants to shy away from putting themselves out there.

Dixons campaign argues that no-reason absentee voting (a voting method which saw record numbers in the August primary) is enough cause to move the first debate up. For the general election, local clerks are supposed to have absentee ballots in hand to send to voters Sept. 29.

Related: Michigan voters can now request absentee ballots for November general election

The debate hosts and Dixons campaign remain mum to publicly announce next steps, but political science research shows that incumbent candidates have an innate advantage against newcomer opponents.

Men found guilty of leading plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer

In other news, a chapter in the plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer came to a close earlier this week after a jury found two men guilty for their role in the scheme.

Barry Croft Jr., 46, of Bear, Delaware, and Adam Fox, 38, of Wyoming, Michigan, face up to life in prison.

They were retried on charges of conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction after a jury in April failed to reach verdicts in their cases.

Tuesdays verdict followed nearly two weeks of testimony in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids Press reporter John Agar has followed the case from almost the beginning. Following the guilty verdict, he reported these five takeaways which played a role in the trial: the Fifth Amendment, FBI involvement, Hapless defendants, the protection of public officials and real-time investigative action.

Michigan abortion, voting proposals should make ballot, signature checkers say

Abortion rights activists continue to make headway as a constitutional amendment to secure abortion rights in Michigan has more than enough signatures to make the ballot, the state Bureau of Elections said Thursday.

Staff have completed signature checks of Reproductive Freedom for All, which needed 425,059 valid signatures each to make the ballot, and found RFFA submitted a record 752,288 signatures.

Bureau staff conducted a facial review of petition sheets to find errors that may dismiss entire papers. Then they took a random sample of possibly valid signatures. Each line is examined to make sure, for example, the signee is registered to vote in that papers jurisdiction and their signature matches state records.

Reproductive Freedom for All had 596,379 valid signatures, bureau staff estimated.

Another constitutional amendment to increase voting access, Promote the Vote 2022, passed the Bureau of Elections signature checks this week. PTV submitted 664,029 signatures and had 507,780 validated a figure well above what was necessary, reported fellow political team member Ben Orner.

RFFA would give Michiganders a constitutional right to an abortion, superseding a 1931 ban on the procedure currently paused in court after the fall of Roe v. Wade. PTV would mandate nine days of early, in-person voting, prohibit harassment while voting and allow people to permanently vote absentee, among other measures.

The elections bureau recommends the Board of State Canvassers approve the amendments for the Nov. 8 ballot. This means these two hot button issues could wind up being left up to the voters if the proposals go through at the boards next meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 31.

What Michigan borrowers need to know about a student loan forgiveness plan

While a student debt plan announced by President Joe Biden Wednesday has some rejoicing, others are wary of potential economic fallout they believe could happen as a result.

The Biden administration plans to forgive $10,000 per borrower and $20,000 per Pell Grant recipient who are making less than $125,000 individually or $250,000 for households. A pause on student loan repayments will also be extended one final time through Dec. 31. And the income-driven repayment plan is being overhauled to reduce costs for borrowers.

In Michigan, there are 1.4 million student loan borrowers holding $51.3 billion in debt, federal data shows. About 700,000 of those with federal student loans will see their debt cut in half or erased completely, according to the governors office.

Keep an eye out, though, as the plan will likely be challenged in court.

About 59% of Americans are worried student loan forgiveness will worsen inflation, a recent CNBC Momentive Poll found. Deputy director of the National Economic Council Bharat Ramamurti disputed these concerns saying the restart of payments will bring billions of dollars a month to the federal government.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania estimated this week a $10,000 forgiveness plan with a $125,000 income limit will cost the federal government about $300 billion.

Read more in Michigan politics:

Michigan using $63M in federal dollars to aid homeless and at-risk renters

Auto crash survivors cant have lifetime benefits cut retroactively, Michigan Court of Appeals rules

$350 tax credit possible for safe gun storage, training under bipartisan bill package

House bill to ban card-only parking in Michigan may address bigger issue of socio-economic inequalities

Mental health, teacher retention focus of Whitmer roundtable with Novi school community

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A high stake debate and tension at the GOP convention: Your guide to Michigan politics - MLive.com