Will Leelanau lean blue or red in November 8 election?
Election integrity, abortion rights, environment, economy, childcare, housing command spotlight
By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
Control of the 110-seat Michigan State House of Representatives could be up for grabs this election, and the new 103rd District, which includes Leelanau County, might prove pivotal in that race. Republicans currently have the majority with 56 representatives, Democrats have 53, with one independent.
Facing off are Republican incumbent Jack O’Malley, a Lake Ann resident who served two terms representing the 101st House District—which prior to redistricting covered Leelanau, Benzie, Manistee and Mason counties—and Democrat Betsy Coffia, a Kalkaska native and Traverse City resident who served two terms on the Grand Traverse County Commission.
According to AdImpact Politics, more money has been spent to win the 103rd than any other State House seat. As of Oct. 10, Democrats had spent $424,400 and Republicans had spent $390,300 to win the coveted seat, which includes Leelanau, two townships in northern Benzie County, and greater Traverse City including Old Mission Peninsula. The new district is considered lean-blue, but this midterm election has bedeviled pundits.
American midterm elections often become a referendum against the party in power, and with Democrats controlling the White House, and narrowly the U.S. House and Senate, and with inflation at its highest level in decades, Republicans hoped for a red wave in November. But with the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June, and Democrats backing women’s reproductive rights, it’s anybody’s guess which party’s base will flock to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Recent trends show Leelanau and other wealthy tourism destinations along the lakeshore skewing Democratic. President Biden won the county in 2020, and control of the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners flipped blue for the first time when Lois Bahle won a special recall election against Will Bunek in May to give Democrats a 4-3 majority, which they used to pass a Leelanau septic ordinance in August after years of Republicans blocking the initiative. The Nov. 8 election will also determine who will control the County Commission next year.
Click here to read our interviews with Leelanau County Commission Candidates in District 1, District 2, District 3, District 4, District 5, District 6, and District 7.
Prior to running for office in 2018, O’Malley, who is 63, built a following in northern Michigan as a radio host with WTCM, where his folksy storytelling voice was a mainstay on the air for 34 years. During his two terms in Lansing, O’Malley has championed some popular, bipartisan issues including childcare and school bus safety rules. Notably, he sponsored a bill to allow home-based childcare providers with a proven record of success to serve more children. Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the bipartisan childcare package on June 23.
Coffia, age 45, is well-known in Traverse City progressive activist circles and was the first Democratic woman elected to the Grand Traverse County Commission in 30 years. She helped pass a vote that awarded hazard pay for first responders during the pandemic. She has run twice before, unsuccessfully, for State House. Coffia said she was raised in a conservative religious community in Kalkaska which sent parishioners to the polls to vote against anyone who favored abortion rights, but she underwent a metamorphosis when she learned that a woman from her church terminated a pregnancy for medical reasons.
Coffia has mounted a sustained attack on O’Malley for his voting history opposing abortion rights, as well as his participation in a controversial amicus brief which signed onto a Texas lawsuit that asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election—despite no credible evidence that Trump won the election. At the Cherry Pie Debate in Glen Arbor on Oct. 3, Coffia called O’Malley an “election denier” and accused him of perpetuating the “Big Lie” that the election was fraudulent or stolen. The event was sponsored by Interlochen Public Radio, the League of Women Voters of Leelanau County, and the Leelanau Enterprise. O’Malley danced around the issue and acknowledged that the high court dismissed the suit and ruled the election was conducted fairly. He said he does not believe the 2020 election was stolen.
At the Cherry Pie Debate, Coffia sought to weaponize O’Malley’s previous anti-abortion votes and use them against him. Coffia, who calls herself firmly pro-choice, and said she has never had to change her position on the issue, helped gather signatures in Traverse City for the Proposition 3 ballot initiative which will let Michigan voters decide on Nov. 8 whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The overturning of Roe in June sent the issue back to individual states, some of which have decades-old statutes on the books that ban abortion, even in the case of rape or incest. Michigan has a 1931 “trigger law” banning abortion, but a judge’s stay has so far kept reproductive rights legal in the Mitten State.
O’Malley, who said he was raised Catholic and identified as pro-life, claimed he has modified his position and said that abortions should be allowed in some cases. According to Michigan Advance, the anti-abortion group Right to Life of Michigan took the unusual step in September of revoking its endorsement (typically coveted by Republicans) of O’Malley.
Democrats nationwide have rallied around abortion rights in an attempt to hold onto control of U.S. Congress and the Senate, and in this case, win State House seats. Coffia and other Democratic candidates, including Gov. Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, will seek ride the coattails of Proposition 3.
Though he welcomed her at his press conference to unveil the popular childcare legislation, O’Malley has been a strident critic of Whitmer in public statements, at debates, and on his personal Facebook Live broadcasts. During the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown in Spring 2020, O’Malley and other Republicans railed against the governor for her executive order shutting down much of the state. He supported a controversial public statement by four county sheriffs in the 101st State House district (including Leelanau Sheriff Mike Borkovich) that they would only selectively enforce Whitmer’s shutdown orders. (A Glen Arbor Sun investigative story using the Freedom of Information Act reported that one of O’Malley’s staffers wrote the first draft of the sheriff’s press statement opposing Whitmer.)
The election race of O’Malley vs. Coffia is a standoff not just over politics, but over both gender and generations. This vote could very well determine who controls the Michigan State House next year.
Leelanau County Board of Commissioners candidate interviews on GlenArbor.com.
Democrats currently control the Board, 4-3, after Lois Bahle won a special recall election earlier this year. Will Democrats hold control, or will Republicans regain power? We asked the candidates about: their accomplishments on the Board (for incumbents); their party affiliation; their thoughts on the County’s new septic inspection ordinance; their thoughts on growth in Leelanau County; the role the Commission should play in supporting early childhood education and childcare; support for workforce housing, and the recent reorganization of the County Clerk’s duties and the addition of two new county government departments. All seven Democrats responded to the questions; four of seven Republicans responded.
Click here to read our interviews with Leelanau County Commission Candidates in District 1, District 2, District 3, District 4, District 5, District 6, and District 7.
