Dems Dievendorf, Matthews, GOP's DeRose, Ness-Smith run for 77th House seat

First-term Lansing Democrat Emily Dievendorf is facing a challenger in the primary in a bid for second term representing the 77th District, from Lansing Democrat Angela Mathews. On the other side of the ticket, Julie DeRose, a DeWitt Republican, is running against Eagle Republican Cady Ness-Smith to represent the district that includes much of western Clinton County, including DeWitt, DeWitt Township, Eagle and Westphalia, as well as Grand Ledge and north Lansing.

Emily Dievendorf, Democrat, Lansing

Dievendort is finishing a first term in the state House, and has previously worked as the executive director for Equality Michigan, president of the Lansing Association of Human Rights and has been a board member for the Firecracker Foundation, which advocates for survivors of childhood sexual assault, and the Lansing Area AIDS Network. They previously worked in the House for Democratic state legislators, and was federally appointed in 2015 to the Michigan Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Dievendorf, who has lived in Lansing for 25 years and is bisexual and nonbinary, has advocated for progressive policies, including LGBTQIA equality, racial justice and equality, sexual and domestic violence, women’s rights and HIV/AIDS.

They serve on the agriculture, criminal justice and judiciary committees.

“I always say I'm an easy Google,” they told the State Journal in 2022. “And when you Google me, you're going to find a lot of people who love me and a lot of people who hate me, and the people who hate me, I am happy with it. Because they are the same folks who are working very hard to keep the most vulnerable from having equality under the law.”

Angela Mathews, Democrat, Lansing

Mathews is the current chair of the Lansing Community College Board of Trustees, having been elected to the board twice, and is seeking her first term in the state House.

Mathews ran opposing further tuition increases at LCC.

"With tuition increases, it definitely has an impact on students,” Mathews told the State Journal before the election. “We have to make sure in the near future that (tuition) increases aren’t something to be looked at.”

Mathews did not return messages from the State Journal.

According to a post on The Chronicle News from last month, she has a degree in human services from LCC and a bachelor degree in community human services from Sienna Heights University. She has worked for the Ingham County Register of Deeds office, and several nonprofits. She current works as an education teacher 5^th through 8^th grades through Community Development to Success at the Lansing School District’s Sheridan Road STEM school.

She also is licensed minister and services on the leadership council of Bishop Edward Rockett, Jr, senior pastor of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, and co-leader of the Women of Excellence Ministry. She holds members in the Lansing Branch of the NAACP and the Lansing Juneteenth Committee, where she is communications and media director.

In the Chronicle post, she listed education, economic and workforce development, environmental sustainability and building an inclusive community as her top priorities.

Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum referred Mathews to Mason police in 2016 for alleged campaign finance violations in LCC campaign, but Ingham County prosecutors declined to pursue charges.

Julie DeRose, Republican, DeWitt

DeRose is a licensed insurance and real estate agent, landlord, family business owner and touts extensive experience working in education and for the state of Michigan, including for many years in the Department of Corrections.

A 25-year resident of DeWitt, she and her husband own Smith and DeRose Insurance Agency in Williamston. She has worked in various roles at MDOC, including as a trades instructor and assistant deputy warden, and said she had a role in writing the department's first $1 million prison reentry grant and in implementing the first security threat assessment. She has also worked with programs serving at-risk people and in workforce development. She has a a bachelor's degree in education (vocational/business) and a master's degree in public administration.

In her only prior elected experience, she lost a race for DeWitt mayor to Jim Rundborg in 2014.

DeRose said she brings a unique perspective, having worked in the state's second largest department, and being a local business owner with education experience.

She said her experience "resonates with this diverse district, which including farms, small businesses, suburbs and everything in between."

She said Michigan could do a better job of managing costs for residents, while at the same time building safer communities.

"I'm not soft on crime or criminals, but there are efficient ways to do improvements," DeRose said. "There are things - always - that need to be done better. For education, for corrections, for other social programs, and I know the right questions to ask, and the efficiencies that can be found."

She said she will listen to residents in the district and vote accordingly.

"I am not arrogant enough or self-centered enough that I know what is most important. I hope to be able to represent the district. I have things I know could be better (in Michigan), but I also know I'm a good listener and I know how to bring diverse groups of people together."

Cady Ness-Smith, Republican, Eagle Twp.

Ness-Smith is a registered nurse, farmer and animal rescue advocate. A native of Frankfort, she graduated from Lansing Community College and the University of Michigan, and has a background in critical care nursing, hospice, healthcare management and medical sales and marketing.

She is an elected Republican precinct delegate for Clinton County. She is a 37-year district resident and she and her husband, Scott, live in Eagle Township.

She is pro-life, pro-family values and supports legal immigration and equality, veterans, agricultural preservation, health advocacy and animal welfare and rescue, as well as the 2^nd Amendment and law enforcement.

She opposes Michigan’s decision to take local control of major solar and wind developments away from communities, and wants to restore local control.

“I’m not opposed to personal solar,” Ness-Smith said. “What I'm opposed to is solar on viable farmland. There are so many brown sites in Michigan that could be solar. If the governor wants solar, why aren’t solar panel covering state buildings and state land? Every acre that becomes solar is an acre that can't grow food."

She also supports repealing the income tax hike passed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature.

“Gov. (Rick) Snyder has stated it was permanent, and I agree. We are in a terrible economy, things cost more, and were does it end? What is the breaking point for Michigan families?”

Ness-Smith is endorsed by the Michigan Farm Bureau, Citizens for Traditional Values and Clinton County Sheriff Sean Dush.

“I do believe I am the change we need in Lansing,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Dems Dievendorf, Matthews, GOP's DeRose, Ness-Smith run for 77th House seat