Logan Byrne set out to flip a state House seat, wound up in competitive Democratic primary for the new 77th district
This wasn’t the race Logan Byrne signed up for when he decided to run for the state House — a competitive Democratic primary in the new 77th district.
He thought was going to be trying to flip a traditionally Republican 93rd district seat — encompassing Clinton County and rural areas beyond — to the Dems. The local party pushed for Byrne to run, excited by his energy and background.
Then redistricting happened. Byrne’s home in DeWitt fell into the 77th district, which included much less of Clinton County and much of Lansing, as well as parts of Eaton County.
Byrne, who jumped into the race in July of 2021, thinking he’d be worried about the general election in November of 2022, has wound up focused on the Democratic primary, Aug 2 — against opponents Emily Dievendorf and Jon Horford, both of Lansing — vying for a seat that’s expected to go to a Democrat.
“My district changed like eight times throughout redistricting,” Byrne quipped. “The first place I actually started knocking on doors was the East Lansing portion of Clinton County. Of course, that was the first (area) cut out in redistricting. I spent a significant amount of time last year knocking on doors in the immediate area around where I live, DeWitt Township, city of DeWitt, because I knew, obviously, I lived there. So that place would be in whatever district I ended up in.”
By that point, he was all in.
Byrne wasn’t always yearning to be a politician. As a young lawyer, a graduate of Michigan State Law School, he thought of politics as something for maybe later on in life. He was dialed in on advocacy work largely in the area of immigration, while also working for circuit court judges Rosemarie Aquilina and Elizabeth Kelly.
“I've always kind of had my toe in (politics), because of the advocacy work and a lot of lobbying for changes and rules or treatment of immigrants or other underrepresented groups,” Byrne, 28, said. “Inevitably you have to deal with politics and how you phrase things, but you try to not to bring politics into it as much as possible. But as a young attorney, 2020 was such a mess that I really decided that more young people need to step up become the next generation of leaders in this country. (There’s) a lot of outdated leadership. And I think we need some new ideas and new voices out there.”
Among the Democrats running for the 77th district seat, Byrne is the only candidate from Clinton County.
“One of the things I've been pushing in Clinton County is I'm trying to talk to even leaning Republicans, because my message is also, ‘Listen, I'm the rural candidate that actually I grew up on a farm. I care about these rural values and I understand the issues of the community.’ And a lot of what I've heard, the fear with people in Clinton County is that if somebody from Lansing gets elected, they're not going to care about the rural portions of the district. And so I've been trying to be a voice to even people that might not align ideologically with me.”
Byrne certainly knows rural life. He grew in Attica, Michigan. If you don’t know where that is, you’re not alone (It’s between Lapeer and Imlay City, if that helps).
“I don’t even know if you’d call it a town. It’s like a village,” Byrne said. “I don’t think there is even a stoplight.”
His mother was a farmer, running an organic farm with greenhouses and hydroponics that grew organic produce, selling to health food and grocery stores. Byrne grew up immersed in 4-H, too.
“I had chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, the whole shebang,” he said. “I actually (raised) sheep one year. I learned that livestock wasn’t my thing.”
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While Byrne hopes his rural upbringing will help him connect with more than just Lansing Dems, it’s his daily work that he believes makes him fit to be a good legislator.
“I think it's really important for the people that are debating and deciding what the laws are, to have a comprehensive understanding of the legal system," he said. "Or at least some professional background that you’re bringing to the table."
He also sees advantages to experience arguing in adversarial but respective settings.
“One of the reasons I decided to run, I was sick of the visceral politics and how people have been talking to each other,” Byrne said. “Ultimately, we're all neighbors first. And so we should be able to sit down and have a debate and disagree with each other, and still be able to live with each other. And as an attorney, we do that on a daily basis."
“I think that's something that's been missing from politics recently and I'm hoping to bring kind of a reasonable, level-headed approach to politics. … I grew up in a very conservative area and so I would have considered myself a Republican, growing up. And, honestly, if you would have asked me, I probably would have been like, 'Well, I don't think there are Democrats out here, so I must be a Republican.' ”
While attending Eastern Michigan University as an undergrad — where he studied criminology, thinking he’d go into law enforcement — his views became more liberal, before realizing, while in law school, that he was actually a Democrat.
“I would have considered myself an independent for a long time,” Byrne said. “Because I don't always agree with everything. Nobody fits in a neat little box with everything each party does.”
The ideal candidate, perhaps, to try to flip a Republican-leaning House seat. Now he finds himself in a contest with other Dems.
“I think Logan is very temperamentally suited to be a servant of the people,” said Susan Anderson, of the Blue Brigade, a progressive-candidate advocacy group that began with the goal of helping Gov. Gretchen Whitmer be elected.
Anderson is careful to say that her admiration for Byrne is not an endorsement over other candidates. But that admiration is clear.
“He's a young man of great character," she said. "And I think that he would make an excellent legislator, because he is thoughtful, balanced, community-oriented. He's not razzle-dazzle. He’s the real deal.”
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Logan Byrne set out to flip a Michigan House seat, wound up in a competitive Democratic primary
