Candidates crowd 37th Senate District ballot

Jul. 29—TRAVERSE CITY — One Democrat and two right wing conservatives who are running as Democrats are on the ballot for Michigan Senate District 37.

The Republican ballot includes a couple of political outsiders, alongside two candidates with prior experience in the state legislature.

Former state Rep. Triston Cole, of Mancelona; current state Rep. John Damoose, of Harbor Springs; William Hindle, of Charlevoix; and George Ranville, of Mackinaw City; are all vying for the Republican party's nomination to the newly redrawn district. Barbara Conley, of Northport; Randy Bishop, better known as "Trucker Randy;" and James Schmidt will face off in the Democratic primary. Bishop and Schmidt are known for being conservative activists and have been involved with the Antrim County Republican Party — Bishop as the group's chair for six years.

Conley feels that if people do their research before voting on Aug. 2 she will win the primary. She also hopes people find it important enough to vote.

"If they're apathetic they could have someone who's not a Democrat running in the November election," Conley said.

Bishop said the 37th Senate District has been a Republican seat "forever" and that needs to change. He also feels he is the only person on the Democratic ticket who can beat the Republican primary candidates, especially Damoose and Cole.

"Barb Conley cannot win in November," Bishop said. "I can kick the Republicans' butts on Nov. 8."

Schmidt, of Central Lake, in an email states that he is a Democrat leaning toward Republican ideals. Though he is running on the Democratic ticket, he wrote, he is aware that if elected, he is "morally obligated to represent any and all citizens of his 37th District equally, respond promptly to their inquiries and concerns and advocate for them to achieve a successful, speedy conclusion."

As a result of a new state apportionment map based on the 2020 census, on Jan. 1 the 37th District will include Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet, Cheboygan, Mackinaw and Chippewa counties.

The seat is now held by Sen. Wayne Schmidt, who is term-limited and leaves the district without an incumbent. Schmidt is running as a candidate for District 7 on the Grand Traverse County Commission, which encompasses Peninsula Township and part of Traverse City.

If elected, Conley said she will work to help families get the things they need, such as a place to live and good health insurance.

"I am very concerned that we are in danger of losing our young families in northern Michigan," Conley said. "It's not health care if you have a $7,000 deductible. You might as well not have it."

Conley is also in favor of measures that support clean water, saying that this generation needs to be good stewards of the environment.

"We need to keep it as clean as possible for the next generation," she said.

Conley believes all children should start school at age 3 and cited statistics that show that children who start school earlier tend to finish school, get better-paying jobs, stay out jails and prison and more. On the other end, the cost for college needs to be reduced.

"When you come out of college and you have 20 years of debt it puts you behind right from the start," she said.

But one of the most important things people should know about her is that she supports a woman's right to have autonomy over her own body.

"I am the only candidate in the line-up that will protect women's reproductive rights," she said.

Chris Cracchiolo, chair of the Grand Traverse Democrats, says Conley won't have any problem beating either Bishop or Schmidt in the primary.

"Right after the filing deadline the Grand Traverse Democrats voted to endorse Barb Conley as, in our opinion, the only candidate on the ballot that holds to true Democratic values," Cracchiolo said.

In 2010 primary Bishop ran as a 'tea party' Republican, a movement whose members called for lower taxes, reducing the national debt and less government spending. He was chair of the Antrim County Republican Party from 2012 to 2018.

Bishop says he quit the Republican party in 2018 and has been without a party for four years. He says he is running now as a "common sense JFK businessman."

Republicans were in control of the government for eight years under former Gov. Rick Snyder and former Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, he said.

"All they did was run this state improperly," he said. "They did not fix what was wrong with this state."

The state has too many regulations and is not the right climate to attract business and good paying jobs, he said. He believes parents should be given $14,000 in per pupil funding to shop for a school, whether that's homeschooling or a public, private or parochial school. He also believes the insurance industry needs to be reformed, that the reforms approved in 2019 were "back room deals" written by insurance lobbyists.

Bishop says there was fraud in the 2020 election and in May he sued all nine Antrim County commissioners, the sheriff, prosecutor, administrator and Clerk Sheryl Guy, claiming that Guy violated his civil rights by intentionally deleting ballot information from polling machines. He is asking for $1 million in damages.

Claims of wrongdoing in Antrim vote-counting have been disproved.

Ranville, who owns Bier de Mac Brew Works and is a village trustee in Mackinaw City, said he is the only candidate with the "Trump Republican" endorsement, and said his experience in the business world is what's needed to represent Northern Michigan interests in Lansing.

"We need real conservative, real-world business people with real-world experience," he said. "And we need to take that down there (to Lansing) to lead these guys ... because they go down there and they get rolled over by the parties, and they're not providing what we need."

Ranville, a former Navy officer, said he wants to cut taxes across the board, while also making sure there are more funds from the state budget going towards veterans. He was critical of the size of Michigan's budget overall, but said he wanted Northern Michigan to get its fair share.

He said he was particularly interested in dealing with the housing crisis, and also said he wanted to keep energy affordable for Michiganders — in part, by allowing for the continued operation of Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinaw: "put it in the tunnel, make it secure, do it fast, let them (Enbridge) pay for it," he said.

Ranville also said he chose to run for the seat because he had "questions about the integrity of the vote" in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

The 2020 election brought Damoose a victory in his first race for the 107th state house district. Though he is only in his first term in that seat, he said the circumstances were right this year to make his bid for the State Senate.

"With redistricting, this has become a much more complicated district to run in," said Damoose. "We're going to have to be able to win some independent votes ... and I just think I'm the only one in the Republican primary who can do that, and who will keep the seat in Republican hands."

Damoose said he wants to make sure Michigan's budget dollars are well spent, in part by reducing government programs "that need to be funded 10-15 years out," in favor of more immediate, shovel-ready projects. He touted a bill he sponsored which added the Mackinac Bridge to the state's critical infrastructure list — introduced in response to a bomb threat last year.

He said he believes many of the laws that led to mandates and shutdowns following the COVID-19 pandemic have been abused, and favored keeping parents' in control of their children's education. He added that issues such as the mental health crisis, the affordable housing crisis and workforce shortage were important to him.

Cole has had the longest political career of all of the candidates, and last year worked as a district liaison for Sen. Schmidt's office. Prior to that, he served in the state legislature from 2014 to 2020, during which time he was vice chair of the Agriculture Committee, chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and majority floor leader, among other positions.

"I had six years to learn. I had phenomenal mentors, while I was a state rep, and obviously, serving as Majority Leader," he said. "I know how to move legislation, and almost as importantly is the fact that I know how to stop legislation that is detrimental to our families and to northern Michigan, and it takes years to build this knowledge base."

He also said the state could better attract families by lessening the tax burden. Like other candidates, he cited youth mental health issues, the lack of affordable housing, childcare availability, and a shrinking workforce as important issues in his candidacy.

He also highlighted energy infrastructure, stating he is "best prepared" to help make the changes necessary to stabilize the energy grid in the state. Michigan's outdoor recreation economy and environment also need to be conserved, he said.

Meanwhile, he said he doesn't want northern Michigan to be painted with a broad brush alongside the rest of the state — the region faces its own independent issues and circumstances. He said officials ignored that fact during the course of COVID-19 mandates and shutdowns last year.

Several attempts to contact Hindle were unsuccessful as of Thursday afternoon.

Hindle owns North Coast Home Inspection, and cites pro-2nd Amendment and anti-abortion stances on his website. He has raised opposition to the mandates which followed the COVID-19 pandemic, and as raised doubts concerning the integrity of the 2020 election.

Hindle has remained in the race despite apparent attempts by area Republicans to push him out.

In April, Bridge Michigan published an email allegedly from Joe Welsh, a Traverse City conservative activist to Hindle, seemingly urging him to back out of the race to clear a path for Ranville's victory. In exchange, Hindle would be offered a $50,000 position as "Northern Michigan coordinator," where he would "learn the ins and outs" of the Senate seat to run in the 2024 race, according to reports.

Hindle refused to take the offer or back out of the race, according to Bridge reporting.

In his email, Welsh indicated that he had just come back from a two-hour visit with Ranville, and said "he's not going anywhere." A later text message indicated Welsh and "Randy" — potentially referring to "Trucker Randy" Bishop, who is running in the Democratic race — came up with the idea together, according to Bridge. Bishop denied involvement.

Ranville said he was never involved in offering Hindle a position, and said he was out of state when Bridge broke the story.

"I've had lots of businesses, hired lots of people, and to think, for him to say I was going to hire him, is not how I hire people," Ranville said. "I interview lots of people and that whole idea is just crazy. In order to get a good organization, you've got to interview people, and you've got to hire people who are qualified for the job."

Bishop was previously convicted of two counts of felony fraud, but said his record has been expunged under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's Clean Slate legislation from 2020.

"My debt to society has been paid," Bishop said.

He is currently facing a charge of disturbing the peace from October, according to court records.

In 2020 Facebook shut down several pages that Bishop moderated, including Michigan 2A for Sanctuary Counties and the Antrim County Conservative Union, according to news reports. In August of that year he organized a political event in which the Proud Boys, a far-right, white nationalist group, volunteered as security. When asked, Bishop denied supporting the Proud Boys.

Schmidt ran as a Republican in 2020 for the 105th state house seat, garnering 9 percent of the vote in a three-way primary. In an email sent to the Record-Eagle earlier this month he said he supports the Lansing to Traverse City passenger rail.

Schmidt served seven years in prison after a 2010 conviction of false pretenses $20,000 or more, records show. In 2012 he appealed the conviction, which was upheld by the state Court of Appeals. He more recently spent time in the Antrim County jail for stalking.

His platform includes supporting daily light rapid passenger train service from Petoskey and Traverse City to Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids called the Michigan Meteor. He is proposing that all 77 electric generators be running, instead of just the five that are running now, to save money for utility customers, according to his email. And instead of the Michigan sales tax, "all state citizens should receive a yearly endowment check generated by timber sales, etc."

Schmidt said he is the founder and CEO if the nonprofit Schmidt Foundation and director of the Northwest Michigan School of the Blind and Deaf. He lists his home address as the school's address. No information is found online about the school.