GTC District 4 commissioner faces primary challenger

Patti Brandt Burgess, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·2 min read

Jan. 22—TRAVERSE CITY — A two-term Republican commissioner will face a primary challenge from a well-known name in the August election.

Brad Jewett, 52, who is serving his second term on the Grand Traverse County board, will face Scott C. Hardy, 67, who spent five years on the Traverse City Commission and eight years on the Traverse City Area Public Schools board.

Jewett, who is co-owner of Culver Meadows Senior Living, said he feels he is an effective commissioner.

"I'm running because we've done a lot of good work on the board," Jewett said, naming bonding of the county's pension debt, a new computer system for the county and giving raises of up to 9.5 percent for all employees as just a few things the board has accomplished.

"There's a lot of big projects I'd like to see through," he said.

Hardy is a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker. He says the county board is mired in national politics and needs to get back to running the county.

"I'm trying to see if we can bring that county board back to something that's apolitical," Hardy said.

Hardy served on the TCAPS board for eight years, having been elected in 2010. He served on the city commission after being elected in 2002 to fill the partial term left by his father, Larry C. Hardy, who died.

Both boards are nonpartisan, unlike the Grand Traverse County board.

Under district maps that were redrawn in 2021, Jewett will be in District 4, which includes parts of Garfield and Blair townships. His current District 3 covers a larger portion of Garfield Township.

Districts are redrawn every 10 years based on population growth, and officials decided during the recent process to add two districts, increasing the board from seven to nine commissioners.

The filing deadline for county seats is April 19.

The new maps also put commission Chair Rob Hentschel and Commissioner Darryl V. Nelson in the same district. Hentschel announced earlier this month that he would not run again.

Commissioner Betsy Coffia also announced that she is running for the newly-drawn 103rd Michigan House district. That district now splits Grand Traverse County in half, pairing the west side with Leelanau County, Almira and Platte Townships in Benzie County.

Coffia, a Democrat, will run for the seat Jack O'Malley, R-Lake Ann, has said he will seek re-election to.

State Sen. Wayne Schmidt, who is term limited, filed to run in the new county District 7, which includes Peninsula Township and part of Traverse City. The district now belongs to Coffia, though if she chose to run again redistricting would have placed her in District 2, which includes the city and most of Garfield Township.

Schmidt will not face an incumbent.