Endorsements: Our choices for Aug. 2 state Senate primaries

If you've been confused by this year's state legislative races, join the club. This is the first election year with new maps created by the citizen-led, bipartisan redistricting commission that promise to give Michiganders fair legislative representation: more evenly split between blue and red, just like the state itself. The new districts in some cases represent dramatic shifts, grouping new communities together.

For the first time in more than a decade, Democrats have the chance to flip the state Legislature, and the Aug. 2 primary is their first hurdle.

Our endorsements for the Aug. 2 primary focus on competitive races -- those in solidly Democratic or Republican districts that will effectively be decided in the primary contest, and those in districts where the November general election is likely to be closely contested.

We are not making endorsements in districts where there is only one Democrat or Republican in the race, or in districts so dominated by one party's voters that the opposing party's candidate is unlikely to be competitive in November. Our judgments of each district's competitiveness are based on the way its residents have voted in the past several election cycles.

Finally, we have generally endorsed incumbents who have served their districts capably for one or more terms.

Michigan Senate incumbents

These sitting state senators have served earned re-election in their respective districts:

District 1

Erika Geiss, Democratic incumbent

District 2

Sylvia Santana, Democratic incumbent

District 3

Stephanie Chang, Democratic incumbent

District 5

Dayna Polehanki, Democratic incumbent

District 7

Jeremy Moss, Democratic incumbent

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Other endorsements

District 6

The new District 6 includes Redford, most of Livonia, Farmington, most of Farmington Hills, and Detroit's west side.

Because this district is so solidly Democratic, the party's primary winner is overwhelmingly favored in the general election. But because it is newly drawn, it's uncertain what combination of city and suburban support will constitute a winning coalition.

Incumbent state Sen. Betty Alexander was disqualified from the ballot because of campaign finance issues, making this an open seat, and three well-known Democrats are vying for the seat: state Rep. Mary Cavanagh, former Detroit Police Commissioner Darryl Brown, and Farmington Hills Mayor Vicki Barnett, also a veteran of the state House.

VICKI BARNETT is the best choice. Now in her second stint as mayor of Farmington Hills, Barnett a former state representative who has long been one of Michigan's most capable and respected public servants.

Barnett pairs hands-on experience at multiple levels of government with intelligence, wit and compassion. We endorsed her when she ran for Oakland County executive in 2016, when she won the largest percentage of votes any Democrat had ever garnered against L. Brooks Patterson, the long-time Republican incumbent.

"The institutional memory part is the biggest part for me, with term limits ... there’s no real history left," she says. When Barnett was re-elected mayor in 2019, after having left that post in 2007, she was surprised to see how much institutional knowledge the city had lost. "That can’t be filled without somebody who’s been there."

Cavanagh has served just a partial term in the state House, and Brown has never held legislative office. District 6 residents deserve an experienced lawmaker who understands how Lansing works. In Barnett, they'll get it.

District 8

Redistricting has pitted two high-caliber Democratic incumbent state senators, Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, and Marshall Bullock, D-Detroit, against each other. But redistricting comes with hard choices, nowhere more so than the new District 8.

McMorrow and Bullock, who describe each other as friends and respected colleagues, have run positive campaigns, each focusing on his or her own merits, not attempting to denigrate the other.

First elected in 2018, Bullock, a lifelong Detroiter, has built a reputation as an effective lawmaker willing to tackle the hard work of legislating, A former neighborhood manager for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Bullock has deep ties to the community, and is dedicated to constituent services.

But MALLORY McMORROW is the best choice for District 8 voters. Elected to her first term in 2018, McMorrow flipped a historically Republican district. She quickly distinguished herself among the incoming crop of lawmakers as a diligent, hardworking lawmaker willing to tackle complex concerns like EV infrastructure, but never losing focus on workaday tasks like helping constituents access unemployment benefits.

She's been dismayed by partisan gridlock in Lansing, seeing bills that have strong bipartisan support founder because Republican legislative leaders refused to bring them to a hearing. And she has acquired a national reputation as an outspoken advocate for justice and equity.

"I am convinced that especially in this climate — with reproductive rights, LGBT rights, access to clean water, voting rights, at stake — we need people in this Legislature who understand the urgency of the moment and are willing to fight for it," she says. "We want to come back and keep fighting for people."

District 11

The winner of the Aug. 2 Democratic primary here faces a general election showdown with incumbent Republican Sen. Michael McDonald in the a district that has been redrawn to be much more competitive than its predecessor, and the outcome may well . determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the state Senate in January 2023. The reconfigured district straddles Wayne and Macomb counties, including Eastpointe and Clinton Twp.

Democrats Veronica Klinefelt, a member of the Macomb County Board of Commissioners, and Eastpointe Mayor Monique Owens, are vying for their party's nomination.

Few state legislative candidates have struck this editorial board as well-prepared as District 11 candidate VERONICA KLINEFELT. We believe that she is formidably equipped to face McDonald this fall, and to represent this district in Lansing.

An Eastpointe resident, Klinefelt has held elected office for a quarter-century, serving on the East Detroit Public School Board and the Eastpointe City Council. She has been a member of the Macomb County Board of Commissioners for 10 years.

"State legislatures are becoming increasingly powerful, specifically with regard to our personal lives," Klinefelt says. "Long before the leaked draft opinion on Roe v. Wade, I was listening to the questions justices were asking, and it seems like they're leaning toward putting a lot of authority in hands of state legislatures. When I was told this seat could affect which party controls the [state] Senate, I thought, 'This seat could make a real difference with regard to protecting some of our personal rights.' "

Having witnessed firsthand the struggles of public schools in Eastpointe, Klinefelt says improving education is one of her top priorities, citing infrastructure as a chief concern. Klinefelt says the state must devote more money to repairing school buildings in districts where falling enrollment has devastated budgets. Such districts struggle to pass a building improvement millage, she said, because so many students attend schools outside the district.

Owens has an impressive resume, and a compelling life story. We admire her passion for serving, and connecting with, her constituency.

But Owens' party allegiance and core values appear oddly malleable. She first filed to run in the Republican primary, then withdrew and re-filed as a Democrat. Owens says that she identifies with both parties, but feels the Democratic Party is more closely aligned with her current priorities. She describes herself as a conservative Democrat with Christian values. In a race likely to determine control of the state Senate, we'd prefer not to risk electing a senator who might switch parties.

Klinefelt is simply more prepared, and voters should nominate her to face McDonald in the general election.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Endorsements: Our choices for Michigan Senate in Aug. 2 primaries