11/02/2026
For 50 years I backed the Democratic Party. I knocked on doors, made calls, and served two years as co-chair here at home. I did it because I believed this was the party that cared about people, about the folks who get left behind.
To me it's simple: all people should be treated equal, no matter who you are, who you love, or who you pray to, or whether you pray at all. It's not who you are, it's what you do for the people as a whole. This country was founded on power to the people, not power to the money.
The last couple of years I've had to step back, and it's been hard to admit why. More and more, the Michigan Democratic Party seems to answer to big money first and to the rest of us second. Too many of the politicians coming up now are in it because it's easy money. They're the flavor of the month, and they'll say or do whatever it takes to keep that money coming their way.
Haley Stevens endorsing Mike Rogers two days before the election is a good example. She lost the primary and says she wasn't welcome in the campaign. But I can't shake the feeling there's more to it than that. Like I always say, it's all about the money.
This cycle the new flavor is democratic socialism. To set the record straight, I think Abdul El-Sayed looks like the right person for the job. His record backs up what he says about being the voice of the people. But he hasn't been tested on the big stage yet, and he needs to walk the walk. So is this just this year's flavor, or is the party actually finding its way back to the left, where it started?
I'm not telling anyone how to vote. But after 50 years, I have to ask: is the Democratic Party still about the people, or is it about the money now?
