What Gets Done When Your Governor’s a Democrat and the State Legislature is Republican?

During one of the most divisive times in Michigan history, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed more than 900 pieces of bipartisan legislation. But what does that mean for Michiganders?

MICHIGAN—In 2018, state Rep. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) introduced a bill in the House to ban child marriage in Michigan. It was referred to the Committee on Families, Children and Seniors. And then—nothing.

About four years later, the bill still hasn’t seen the light of day in the Legislature, Anthony said.

“Something as simple as child marriage can’t be addressed in this environment,” she told The ‘Gander.

Whichever political party controls the Legislature in Michigan also controls which bills go up for a vote. For the last decade, that’s been Republicans. Anthony said a hyper-partisan climate has made passing even “common-sense” legislation difficult to do, with the GOP refusing to consider bills because Democrats introduced them.

The two-party system (where a majority is needed to move legislation forward) is almost designed to create legislative gridlock. Breaking through those logjams in Lansing isn’t always the easiest work. And since the early 70s, the rift has widened. According to the Pew Research Center, Democrats and Republicans are farther apart ideologically today than any other time in the last five decades.

One way to sum it up: “There is more acrimony than there ever was,” said John Truscott, a longtime Republican political consultant in Lansing who served as communications director for Gov. John Engler for more than a decade, and now heads up the bipartisan public relations firm Truscott-Rossman.

Amid this acrimony, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s signature has now appeared on more than 900 bipartisan bills during her first term behind the governor’s desk. 

900 Bills — So What? 

With every hundredth bill she signed, Whitmer’s team sent a press release to news agencies, reminding them that these are examples of bipartisan legislation happening during possibly the most politically divisive time in state history. When we reached the governor to ask what bipartisanship looks like from her vantage point, she said that it’s “alive and well in our great state.”

But on paper, bipartisanship looks like an increasingly important roadblock.

When he took office in 2011, Whitmer’s predecessor, Gov. Rick Snyder, had a Republican trifecta. That is, he was a Republican and so were both chambers of the Legislature. In his first term, Snyder passed 1,807 bills.

In 2003, Gov. Jennifer Granholm took office with the same partisan make-up as Whitmer: Democratic governor, Republican Legislature. In her first term, Granholm signed 1,940 bills into law.

But the numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story of what’s happening behind the walls of the Capitol.

To pass a law, a legislator in either chamber (the House of Representatives or the Senate) must introduce a bill. The bill goes through the committee process, where a smaller group of lawmakers hears testimony about the idea, and decides whether to move it to the floor for a vote—exactly where Anthony’s child marriage ban got stuck.

Bills that pass a floor vote in their original chamber progress to the other chamber, where the process is repeated. If it’s passed there, it goes to the governor’s office, where she can either sign it into law or veto the bill, effectively sending it back to the drawing board.

Whitmer’s first term, said John Truscott, has included a unique set of circumstances that played a role in this system—namely a pandemic that shut down the country and inflamed partisan tensions.

“The first two years were very, very rough,” he said. “I think all of the basics got done really well, but in terms of big programs or difficult issues? It was a little more difficult.” 

In 2020, Whitmer signed more bills into law than any other year of her term—a total of 402, including many that were viewed as “technical fixes and cleanups,” according to Rep. Anthony, rather than sweeping legislative changes. Some of those cleanups proved to be meaningful ones—like clearing the way for unemployment benefits. In the same year, the governor vetoed 54 bills.

Truscott said this could be because Whitmer isn’t always signaling what she wants to see included with a bill in order for her to sign it. Another reason might be that Republican lawmakers know what she won’t sign, and are putting those bills on her desk on purpose. In reporting done by MLive, Steve Liedel—who worked as general counsel to Gov. Granholm—said those Republicans see it as an opportunity to inflate Whitmer’s veto number while skirting their responsibility to build legitimate legislation.

“You have a lot more folks that have decided it benefits them not to change public policy or the law and actually do things that affect people, but to make political points,” he said.

Breakdown of Bipartisanship

Anthony said she sees it as the governor drawing a line. In 2019, Whitmer passed 178 laws and made only two vetoes. But in 2020, Whitmer’s 402 laws and 54 vetoes came with a pandemic. About 25% of her vetoes were made to protect COVID-19 precautionary measures. At the same time, the Republican-majority Legislature was trying to strip away her gubernatorial authority over those protective measures.

Among them: A package of election laws that would have, among other things, withheld absentee ballot applications from being sent to all registered voters. For context: Of the 2.16 million people who voted in the August 2, 2022 primary election, about 1.1 million voted by absentee ballot—that’s a little more than 50% of all votes. In 2020’s presidential election, 57% of the total votes cast in Michigan were absentee.

Former state Rep. Sam Singh (D-Lansing) thinks extreme viewpoints among Republican lawmakers have surged since he left office in 2019. He said former President Donald Trump only exacerbated the political toxicity locally—including in the form of legislation fueled by conspiracy theories and bigotry.

“It is disappointing that the Republicans that I used to work with, that I grew up with—they were family friends. It just feels like that the Republican Party has moved in such a different direction,” Singh said. “It’s something that I don’t really recognize from what I used to be able to work with in the past.”

One example: In June, Republicans unveiled plans for a bill to ban drag queen performances from Michigan’s public schools—although lawmakers couldn’t offer any examples of this actually happening.

Anthony said the intensity of misinformation has only made it harder for Republicans and Democrats to compromise on legislation. Another example: Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson pleaded with lawmakers three months ago to allocate more resources to local election workers, but the two parties still haven’t been able to come together to create comprehensive election law that all can agree on. 

“It’s becoming less and less popular to govern in the center,” Anthony said. 

The result: Lawmakers know issues exist, but are so divided that nothing can get done. Anthony pointed out rising healthcare costs, the housing crisis, and addressing lingering inequities in public schools as just a few areas that need real solutions from Lansing.

“Oftentimes, because we are so divided, it’s really hard to address system changes,” she said.

Here’s an example: In 2021, political gridlock blocked 50 gun reform bills in Michigan. One bill, which aims to make it harder for people convicted of domestic violence to get guns, did achieve bipartisan support—but it’s been stuck in committee for nearly 10 months.

While perhaps less popular among voters, Truscott said that there are still state legislators who govern from the middle, including a number of Republicans who work closely with Democrats behind closed doors. And he said those are the people who are actually getting things done in Lansing—albeit quietly.

“When you look at (Republican) Mike Shirkey and (Democrat) Jim Ananich, the two Senate leaders, I think they’re both pretty rational and know how to get things done,” Truscott said. “I know a lot of Republicans that work behind the scenes with Jim Ananich to bring votes and to work on other issues.” 

He further said that while political extremists might get more airtime, their actual job performance is ignored.

“They can criticize, but they’re just not productive in getting things done,” he said.

What has been accomplished since Whitmer took office? 

Truscott pointed to the latest state budget as a negotiation process that “was pretty darn smooth.” And Whitmer was also quick to label it a bipartisan success. 

“I worked with legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle to negotiate and pass a balanced, bipartisan state budget that delivers on the kitchen-table issues that matter most to working families,” she told The ‘Gander.

That budget included the highest per-student investment the state has ever made—$9,150 per student, as well as incentives to keep more educators teaching in Michigan after graduating from college. The budget totaled $76 billion—and had Republican lawmakers applauding, even after Whitmer vetoed over $20 billion in line items that would have limited abortion access in the state.

“We have achieved a transformational state budget focused on long-term results and economic growth. And it does it all while living within our means, setting aside resources to provide future tax relief to struggling Michigan families and saving for a rainy day,” said Sen. Jim Stamas (R-Midland).

Here are a few more bills that have been passed in Whitmer’s first term:

• Michigan Reconnect (2020)

Michigan Reconnect, co-sponsored by Anthony and Rep. Ben Frederic (R-Owosso) gave Michiganders over the age of 25 access to tuition-free community college. More than 92,000 people have applied for the program, and Anthony gets teary-eyed when she thinks about its impact in Michigan.

“Reconnect has really been like a shining light,” she said. “We’ve heard from a lot of folks, but the ones that are near and dear to my heart are working parents who would not have seen college as an option.”

This includes Erica Mata—a mother of three who used Reconnect to start a nursing program. When she moved from Texas to Bay City, she wanted to continue her medical assistant training but had no way to pay for child care and tuition at the same time. Michigan Reconnect helped bridge that gap for Mata. 

“We’ve had a lot of challenges, especially because of remote learning,” Mata told the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. “For me, free tuition means free education, a free walk to your career. Free tuition is a big weight off my shoulders. After student loans, you have other debts.”

• Social District Permits (2020) 

In the height of the pandemic, Whitmer signed a law to create Social District Permits—licenses that allow cities to create districts where alcohol can be consumed outdoors. In Sparta, 

Chelsea Vesley, General Manager of Brick Haus Brews, told WZZM13 that the ability to serve cocktails in a more socially distant fashion helped benefit both the business and the local community.

“From a business standpoint, the social district allows us not only to be more engaged in the community, but it helps us to increase our sales that have been a deficit because of  COVID,” she said.

According to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, 93 local governments chose to establish social districts in their communities. The bill itself also received almost unanimous support in the Legislature—with only one legislator opposed, Republican Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Township).

• Wyatt’s Law (2022) 

This summer, Whitmer signed a package of nine bipartisan bills that created a statewide child abuse registry. The package received unanimous support in the Legislature. The database will allow parents and guardians to access information about potential caregivers who have been convicted of child abuse in Michigan.

Dubbed “Wyatt’s Law,” it pays tribute to a mother who pushed for the bills after her son was abused by his father’s girlfriend. The package was co-sponsored by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Looking to November

Outgoing Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. (D-East Lansing) said that redistricting in Michigan has created a good chance that at least one chamber—likely the Senate—could flip into Democratic control next year. 

If that happens, and if Whitmer wins reelection, he expects big-ticket legislation to resurface in Michigan, including the possibility of codifying abortion access into law, new regulations for guns, and more funding for public schools.

“I think having a Democratically controlled Senate will afford more negotiating power, because I think the governor will be able to hopefully partner more closely with at least one chamber,” Anthony said. “So there’ll be a little less gridlock and more productive legislation getting to her desk.”