MUSICAL CHAIRS
The Michigan Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission has released its sets of maps for the next decade for Congress, state Senate and House, and sitting members of each chamber, as well as candidates, are jousting to see where they could land in the new configurations. One possible hiccup for Congress is that with the 2020 Census, as expected, Michigan has lost one congressional seat. Barring someone deciding to retire, that means that when the music ends, one congressional chair will be pulled away and two folks will be fighting over the same district. Some prognosticators reading the map see Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Detroit, Southfield, Farmington Hills, West Bloomfield) duking it out with Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Troy, western Oakland and Wayne counties), as the new maps seems to have their districts overlapping, or Lawrence and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit, Dearborn), or Tlaib and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn Heights) going for broke. Dingell has said she’ll likely head over to Ann Arbor to avoid any tussle with Tlaib. A top Democrat believes it will be Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) v. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Midland), as Flint and the thumb region have been put in the same district in most maps. “And Kildee will beat Moolenaar,” the Dem party pooh-bah said. As for Rep. Andy Levin (D-Bloomfield Township, Royal Oak, Ferndale, Sterling Heights, Warren, Roseville), rather than tackling Stevens for Oakland County’s turf, “Andy will be fine and has been working Macomb very hard in anticipation of this – and he’ll win it.” Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Rochester, Rochester Hills, northern Oakland county, parts of Livingston and Ingham counties) has stated she intends to run in a Lansing-based district.