MICHIGAN—Every seat in the Michigan House of Representatives is on the ballot this November. The ‘Gander is profiling the races that could decide who controls Lansing.
Here’s what voters need to know ahead of Election Day in the 46th House District:
The race
Republican state Rep. Kathy Schmaltz and Democratic challenger Jan Maino are running unopposed in the Aug. 4 primary election. They’ll face off in the general election on Nov. 3.
The district
Michigan’s 46th House District includes the city of Jackson, Blackman and Leoni townships, and parts of Grass Lake and Summit townships in Jackson County, as well as the city of Chelsea and Sylvan Township in Washtenaw County. It’s home to roughly 91,000 people.
Schmaltz won this seat in the state Legislature in 2022 with 54% of the vote—though her Democratic opponent abandoned his campaign a month before Election Day amid a scandal. She defended her seat in 2024 by just 1,713 votes against Jackson Mayor Daniel Mahoney.
Kathy Schmaltz (R)
Before politics, Schmaltz spent 14 years as a news anchor at WILX-TV 10, the NBC affiliate in Lansing, where she also served as the station’s associate news director of community relations and hosted “In Focus,” a public affairs show featuring conversations with state lawmakers.
A Michigan State University graduate and Birmingham native, Schmaltz has lived in the Jackson area for more than 30 years and built a long resume of community work—including with Big Brothers Big Sisters, the United Way, Easterseals of Michigan, and the Purple Rose Theatre.
Now in her second term, Schmaltz chairs the state House Families and Veterans Committee and serves on the Energy, Health Policy, and Communications and Technology committees.
Her campaign website lists her top priorities as affordability, education, and infrastructure.
In recent months, Schmaltz has authored bills to speed up paychecks for Michigan National Guard members and a plan to protect seniors and other vulnerable adults from financial exploitation under guardianships. Both passed the House, though neither has become law.
Schmaltz has also made literacy a signature issue, introducing legislation to require schools to use reading curriculum grounded in phonics and other evidence-based instruction, and to ensure every district employs at least one teacher trained to instruct students with dyslexia.
But a deeper dive into Schmaltz’s voting record tells a more complicated story—particularly for voters who care about reproductive rights, clean energy, and the role of money in politics.
Notably, Schmaltz has been endorsed by Right to Life of Michigan, an organization that supports abortion bans with no exceptions for rape or incest. She also voted against every bill in the Reproductive Health Act and voted against a bill banning Michigan employers from discriminating against workers who are pregnant or have terminated a pregnancy.
This year, Schmaltz voted for House Bills 5710 and 5711, which would repeal Michigan’s clean energy laws—a move that helped earn her a 19% score from the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. The League also notes she has accepted $12,500 in campaign donations from corporate utility companies since taking office, including $3,500 this legislative session.
She recently co-sponsored a temporary suspension of Michigan’s state gas tax and framed it as relief for families facing the highest prices in four years. Notably absent from the proposal, however, was any acknowledgment of why those gas prices have spiked in the first place.
Schmaltz has said Michigan “needs” data centers, even as communities across the state push back on the industry’s potential impact on water and electricity rates.
“We do need them,” Schmaltz said. “But there’s a lot of things we need to figure out.”
Schmaltz’s campaign donors have included members of the billionaire DeVos family, who reportedly sent her $16,150 in coordinated contributions during her first run in 2022. So far this year, she appears to only have been publicly endorsed by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
Schmaltz lives in the Jackson area with her husband. They have one son, who is a teacher. She’s also a longtime Detroit Tigers fan and an original member of the Mayo Smith Society.
Jan Maino (D)
Maino is a licensed social worker who grew up in Jackson and studied at Eastern Michigan University. She practices as a mental health therapist at Patricia J. LaFave, Ph.D. & Associates—the oldest outpatient mental health practice in Jackson County—and previously served as the executive director of the Jackson Community Foundation, a role she left in 2010 to start her own consulting practice for nonprofit groups and other agencies. She has also served on the East Jackson School Board for more than a decade and is currently its president.
She launched her campaign for the 46th District in February.
Maino is married to a union electrician, and her campaign leans heavily on that union household identity with a focus on “making life work better for families in Jackson” by lowering everyday costs, supporting public schools, and creating “good-paying jobs people can raise a family on.”
And she wants to expand access to mental healthcare—an issue she says she understands firsthand after decades of watching patients hit long waitlists, high costs, and dead ends.
“For too long, the needs and priorities of the 46th District have not received the attention they deserve,” Maino said. “When leadership is absent or progress stalls, communities feel the impact firsthand. I’m running to offer steady, solutions-focused leadership and to deliver meaningful results for the 46th District—putting people and progress ahead of politics.”
Maino has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, EMILY’s List, the League of Conservation Voters, States Win, and former Jackson Mayor Derek Dobies.
What’s at stake?
Control of the Michigan House of Representatives hangs on a handful of seats like this one.
Republicans hold a narrow majority there and Democrats need to flip some battleground districts if they want to regain the gavel in 2027. The 46th District is exactly the kind of race that will determine which party runs Lansing—and what gets done there—for the next two years.
Click here to make sure you’re registered to vote and to find your precinct. The only date that matters here: Nov. 3, 2026. Both candidates are running unopposed in the Aug. 4 primary.
READ MORE: How many AI data centers are planned in Michigan? We counted.
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