OVERLOOKED RACE

What was once one of Michigan’s most visible – and vital – congressional districts has seemingly disappeared from political conversation as politicians, politicos and pollsters wrangle to debate and predetermine the outcome of the U.S. Senate, gubernatorial, and congressional races in the 10th and 7th districts. Yet there is nary a whisper about the candidates running in MI-11 to replace Congresswoman Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) in the covetable Oakland County district. Stevens is in a do-or-die primary race with Abdul El-Sayed to be Democratic standard bearer for the U.S. Senate, leaving her U.S. House seat open. She first flipped the formerly Republican seat blue in 2018, and after four terms, redistricting and demographic changes, it is considered solidly Democratic. Running to replace her are state Senate Leader Pro Tem Jeremy Moss (D-Bloomfield Township), who previously was a state Representative and before that served as a Southfield City Council member with a long slate of accomplishments, including women’s health care rights, LGBTQ+ rights, gun control, and expanded voting. Some view him as the favorite, having garnered Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s endorsement. Then there is Democrat Don Ufford, who briefly was a Republican but now is campaigning as a social democrat, beating up Israel and AIPAC in the campaign, almost overshadowing his years of work as an engineer at Ford and in the Biden White House. Also running are Aisha Farooqi, playing the antisemitic and social democrat cards, and John Paul Torres, who appears to be a ghost. Ironically, there has been no public polling, and if the campaigns have done any internal polling, they’re not saying. It’s likely that whoever wins the primary will have the upper hand in the general election against Republican Ethan Baker.

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  Jeremy Moss

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  Don Ufford