As the state’s largest school employee union, MEA members — who live and work in every Michigan county — have a long history of political engagement and helping friends of public education win elections. That’s why we’re proud to announce the full list of candidates who have earned the recommendation of MEA members through the union’s Screening & Recommendation process.

The process, which looks at candidates’ positions on education and labor issues, is decided by everyday educators who serve on S&R committees, based on policies and procedures adopted by members elected to the governing bodies of MEA and the MEA-PAC.

Other than statewide races (which are decided by MEA’s Statewide S&R Committee composed of educators from across the state), decisions about MEA candidate recommendations are made at the local level. Recommendations for federal offices are subject to final approval from the NEA Fund for Children & Public Education.

If a local S&R committee has not made a recommendation at this time, it is noted below. However, screening interviews will continue for the next few weeks, especially in local races like school and community college boards. This list will be updated at MEA.org/media as new recommendations are received.

MEA recommended candidates for the Nov. 3 general election include (MEA members noted):

Statewide:

Governor / Lieutenant Governor — Jocelyn Benson / Winnie Brinks

U.S. Senator — Abdul El-Sayed

Secretary of State — Garlin Gilchrist II

Attorney General — Eli Savit

Michigan Supreme Court — Justice Megan Kathleen Cavanagh & Justice Noah P. Hood

State Board of Education — Judith Pritchett & Tiffany Tilley

Michigan State University Board of Trustees — Brianna Scott & Kelly Tebay Zemke

University of Michigan Board of Regents — Paul Brown & Amir Makled

Wayne State Board of Governors — Shereef Akeel & Richard Mack

Proposal 1 – Constitutional Convention (ConCon) — Opposed – VOTE NO

Proposal 2 – Michiganders for Money Out of Politics — Neutral

 

Congress:

District 1 – Callie Barr

District 2 – No Recommendation

District 3 – Hillary Scholten

District 4 – Sean McCann

District 5 – Christian Vukasovich

District 6 – Debbie Dingell

District 7 – William Lawrence

District 8 – Kristen McDonald Rivet

District 9 – No Recommendation

District 10 – Christina Bertrand Hines

District 11 –  Jeremy Moss

District 12 –  Rashida Tlaib

District 13 – Donavan McKinney

 

State Senate:

District 1 – Justin Onwenu

District 2 – Abbas Alawieh

District 3 – John Conyers III

District 4 – Darrin Camilleri

District 5 – Matt Koleszar (MEA Member)

District 6 – Mary Cavanagh

District 7 – Jason Hoskins

District 8 – Dayna Polehanki (MEA Member)

District 9 – Theresa Brooks

District 10 – Natalie Price

District 11 – Veronica Klinefelt

District 12 – Kevin Hertel

District 13 – Sean Carlson

District 14 – Sue Shink

District 15 – Felicia Brabec

District 16 – Screening forthcoming

District 17 – No Recommendation

District 18 – Anthony Pennock (MEA Member)

District 19 – Julie M. Rogers

District 20 – Dale Murney

District 21 – Sarah Anthony

District 22 – No Recommendation

District 23 – No Recommendation

District 24 – Edlira Sako

District 25 – No Recommendation

District 26 – No Recommendation

District 27 – John D. Cherry

District 28 – Rashida Harrison (MEA Member)

District 29 – Abbie Groff-Blaszak

District 30 – Carol Glanville

District 31 – Screening forthcoming

District 32 – Rebecca Amidon

District 33 – No Recommendation

District 34 – No Recommendation

District 35 – Chedrick Greene

District 36 – No Recommendation

District 37 – No Recommendation

District 38 – No Position

 

State House:

District 1 – Tyrone Carter

District 2 – Joanna Whaley

District 3 – Alabas Farhat

District 4 – Regina Ross

District 5 – Candance Calloway

District 6 – Melanie Macey

District 7 – Tonya Myers Phillips

District 8 – Christopher Gilmer-Hill

District 9 – No Recommendation

District 10 – Veronica Paiz

District 11 – No Recommendation

District 12 – Kimberly L. Edwards

District 13 – Mai Xiong

District 14 – Mike McFall

District 15 – Jalal Abdallah

District 16 – Stephanie A. Young

District 17 – Laurie Pohutsky

District 18 – Kelly Garrett

District 19 – Samantha Steckloff

District 20 – Noah Arbit

District 21 – Kelly Breen

District 22  – Lisa McIntyre

District 23 – Jason Morgan (MEA Member)

District 24 – Ranjeev Puri

District 25 – Peter Herzberg

District 26 – Dylan Wegela

District 27 – Jaime Churches (MEA Member)

District 28 – Sherry Berecz

District 29 – Darian Counts

District 30 – No Recommendation

District 31 – Shannon Dare Wayne

District 32 – Jimmie Wilson Jr.

District 33 – Morgan Foreman

District 34 – No Recommendation

District 35 – No Recommendation

District 36 – No Recommendation

District 37 – No Recommendation

District 38 – Joey Andrews

District 39 – Screening forthcoming

District 40 – Matt Longjohn

District 41 – Jen Strebs

District 42 – Nick Rowe

District 43 – Alan Swank

District 44 – Jim Haadsma

District 45 – Randy Davis

District 46 – Jan Maino

District 47 – Carrie A. Rheingans

District 48 – Jennifer A. Conlin

District 49 – No Recommendation

District 50 – No Recommendation

District 51 – Stacey McDuffie

District 52 – No Recommendation

District 53 – Brenda Carter

District 54 – Sarah Pounds

District 55 – Alex Hawkins

District 56 – Sharon MacDonell

District 57 – Tom Turner

District 58 – Katrina Manetta

District 59 – No Recommendation

District 60 – Amy Gray

District 61 – Denise Mentzer

District 62 – No Recommendation

District 63 – Jamie Sonneberger

District 64 – No Recommendation

District 65 – No Recommendation

District 66 – No Recommendation

District 67 – Leslie Getz (MEA Member)

District 68 – Matt Schlinker

District 69 – Jasper Ryan Martus

District 70 – Cynthia R. Neeley

District 71 – No Recommendation

District 72 – No Recommendation

District 73 – Julie Brixie

District 74 – Harold A. Pope

District 75 – Penelope Tsernoglou

District 76 – Angela Witwer

District 77 – Emily Dievendorf

District 78 – Rachel Gross

District 79 – No Recommendation

District 80 – Lily Cheng-Schulting

District 81 – Stephen Wooden

District 82 – Kristian C. Grant

District 83 – John Fitzgerald

District 84 – Khristian Silvis

District 85 – No Recommendation

District 86 – Joseph McClusky

District 87 – Will Snyder

District 88 – No Recommendation

District 89 – No Recommendation

District 90 – Rachel Crowther

District 91 – Frank Lafata

District 92 – No Recommendation

District 93 – No Recommendation

District 94 – Amos O’Neal

District 95 – AnnMarie Horseman (MEA Member)

District 96 – Christopher R. Girard

District 97 – No Recommendation

District 98 – No Recommendation

District 99 – No Recommendation

District 100 – No Recommendation

District 101 – No Recommendation

District 102 – No Recommendation

District 103 – Betsy Coffia

District 104 – No Recommendation

District 105 – No Recommendation

District 106 – No Recommendation

District 107 – No Recommendation

District 108 – No Recommendation

District 109 – Anna Aho Rink

District 110 – Brian Irizarry (MEA Member)

 

K-12 School Boards & Measures:

Allendale School Board – Matthew Engel, Paul Deleeuw, Scott McDonald & Troy Lampen

Anchor Bay School Board – Tom Braun, Dennis Richards, Cyndy Williams-Sandoval & Anthony Birkmeier

Ann Arbor School Board – Aaron Puno, Becca Hogan, Brandon Smith (MEA Member), John Benson & Rima Mohammad

Armada School Board – Andrew Blake & Susan Nieman

Byron Center Board of Education – Ashley Upchurch, Brad Wiechertjes & Jeff Black

Chippewa Valley Board of Education – Denise Aquino, Kenneth Pearl, Renee Kraft (MEA Member) & Vito Strolis

Clintondale School Board – Samantha Hillard

Comstock School Board – Charmica Knight,  Jason Knight & Jason Tolhurst

Clarkston School Board – Screening forthcoming

Dexter Board of Education – David Pisano, Elise Bruderly & Heidi Patel

Flint School Board – Terae King Jr. & Dominique D. McGlown

Fraser School Board Trustee – Abigail Wasil & Jamie Pietron (MEA Member)

Fowlerville School Board – Karen Pfau, Brandon Mohs & Diana Dombrowski

Grand Blanc School Board (full term) – Rocky Lopez & Ambreen Sattar

Grand Blanc School Board (partial term) – Tika Tyson

Grand Haven School Board (6 year full term) – Heather Herrygers & Marc Eickholt

Grand Haven School Board (2 year partial term) – Brook Bisonet

Grand Ledge School Board – Nicole Shannon & Toni Glasscoe

Grand Rapids Board of Education – Amaad Hardy, Carlos Kulas-Dominguez, Erika VanDyke, Ismalis Nunez, Jose Rodriguez &  Robert Hovenkamp

Grandville School Board – Amy Campbell, Gregory Warsen & Nick Brock

Grosse Pointe School Board – Jake Howlett & Walter Fitzpatrick

Hartland School Board – Scott Horst, Salem Modak & Joe Wallace

Huron Valley School Board – Denise Pistana & Thomas Wiseman

Jenison School Board – Chris Reed, Eric Hartman & Steven Kooy

L’Anse Creuse School Board – Adam Lipski, Jeff Cyprus & Jon Kopczyk

Lansing School Board – Ramiro Garcia, Aurora Lemieux-McKissic, Nino Rodriguez & Guillermo Z. Lopez

Lowell School Board – Jared Blough, Jennifer Dougherty & Patrick Nugent

Manchester Board of Education – James Tobias,  Logan Caszatt, Michelle Champagne & Sandra Wiitala

Midland School Board – Scott McFarland & Chad Inabinet

Northview School Board – Jake Conway & Matt Nibbelink

Novi School Board – Cassie Lopez-Jeng & Katheryn Maguire

Oak Park Schools Board of Education – Deshawn Jackson, Kevin Keys III & Melonie Barnes

Plymouth-Canton School Board – Aamina Ahmed,  Craig Olzak, Joseph (Joe) Tollefson & Lester Booker Jr.

Portage School Board – Emily Crawford,  Kimberly Larson & Sarah Trainer

Rochester School Board – Jamie Rawcliffe, Laurin Gracey-Parker & Sherry Wynn Perdue

Rockford Board of Education – Christie Ramsey, Jarrod Folsom, Lissa Geglio-Weidenfeller & Miguel Quintanilla

Royal Oak Schools School Board – Deb Anderson, Michelle Cook & Belem Morales

Saginaw Township School Board – David Booth, Denecia Grant,  Jenean Coughlin & Sharon Norman

Saline Area School Board – Afifa Corrigan, Carl Spina, Matt Shoemaker & Tim Austin

Southgate School Board – Laekyn Jaciuk

Swartz Creek School Board – Cheryl Stacey, Jessica Lanave, John Knickerbocker, Matthew Sortor, Michelle Clark & Ryan Matthews

Troy School Board – Vital Anne & Walt Cook

Utica School Board – Mary Smolenski & Steven Meyer

Vicksburg School Board – Jaime Bulkema,  Lucas Hillard, David Schriemer & Stephanie Willoughby

Walled Lake School Board – Amanda Levine,  Erin Johnson, Michael Smith & Ron Lippitt

Warren Consolidated Board of Education – Carl Weckerle, Carmela Rudd, Kyle Johnson, Sharon Nemeth & Sue Kattula

Waterford School Board – Michael Ristich & Kristen Wagner

Wayne-Westland School Board – Ashley Herzberg (MEA Member), Dayna Lewis & Melandie Hines

West Bloomfield School Board – Kenneth Ferguson (MEA Member) & Stacy Brickman

West Ottawa School Board – Jens Milobinski, Kory Plockmeyer, Darrin Duistermars & Randy Schipper

Woodhaven-Brownstown School Board – Robert Barrett III

Ypsilanti Community School Board – Jason Sprague & Yvonne Fields

 

Community College Boards & Measures:

Lansing Community College Board Member – Hope Lovell & Dominica Palacio

Mott Community College Operating Millage Renewal  – Vote YES

Mott Community College Board of Trustees Member – Santino Guerra & Quentin Groce

Oakland Community College Board of Trustees – Alexandra Morgan & Robin McGregor

 

County / Municipal / Judicial Races:

Court of Appeals – District 1 – Andrew J. Lievense

Judge – 51st District Court – Carmen DeFranco

Ann Arbor Mayor – Yousef Rabhi

Ann Arbor City Council Ward 1 – Cynthia Harrison

Ann Arbor City Council Ward 2 – Sandy Aldrich

Ann Arbor City Council Ward 3 – Ryan Bartholomew

Ann Arbor City Council Ward 4 – Aidan Sova

Ann Arbor City Council Ward 5 – Jenn Cornell

Ann Arbor Library Board – Rachel Goldberg (MEA Member), Guarav Kulkarni & Cassie Haynes

Battle Creek City Commission 3rd Ward – Diop Harris

 

NOTE: Updated as of Sept. 23 at 3 p.m. Further recommendations will be posted at MEA.org/media as they are decided.