At a Feb. 26, 2025 press conference, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) holds up a button reading “Free the 35th” as he calls on Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to call a special election in the state’s 35th Senate district. | Kyle Davidson

LANSING — It’s been more than 100 days since U.S. Rep. Kristin McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City) was sworn into the 119th U.S. Congress, resigning from her role as the Senator for Michigan’s 35th District. While McDonald Rivet’s seat has sat vacant for more than three months, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has been sparse on the details of when the seat may be filled, as Republicans put forth a clarion call demanding a special election.

“The other side likes to talk about threats to Democracy. The threat to Democracy is no representation here in Midland, Bay and Saginaw County,” Rep. Bill G. Schuette told audience members during Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit to Bay City on March 14. Alongside Republicans’ calls to fill the vacant seat, residents of the district have made their concerns known, traveling to Lansing on the date of the governor’s State of the State speech to demand a special election on the steps of the state Capitol.

On Thursday the nonpartisan voting rights group Common Cause joined the call, emphasizing that it is the governor’s duty to set a special election and general election dates, and noting that she’d previously called similar elections without dallying. The group’s Executive Director Quentin Turner suggested in a statement that the Legislature may need to take action to prevent further delays.

While spokespeople for Whitmer did not respond to an emailed request for comment, the governor told WCMU on April 3 that her team was still reviewing dates, saying “At some point there will be one, but I don’t have an announcement to make yet.” In an op-ed for the Detroit News, Senate Minority Leader and candidate for governor Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township), said Whitmer has called 10 special elections across her six years in office, averaging about 17 days in fulfilling her constitutional obligation to call an election. He further noted that Whitmer had called the special election to replace outgoing state Reps. Kevin Coleman (D-Westland) and Lori Stone (D-Warren) without delay.

When Stone and Coleman won their mayoral elections in 2023, Democrats held a slim two-seat majority over Republicans. However, Coleman and Stone’s resignation left the House in a 54-54 deadlock until Reps. Mai Xiong (D-Warren) and Peter Herzberg were elected in April of last year. Speaking to the Michigan Advance on Friday, Turner noted that Democrats in the Michigan Senate currently hold a one-seat majority. While he could not speak to the governor’s motivations, the optics come across fairly partisan, Turner said.

Calling a special election in the swing seat could see Democrats yielding further ground to Republicans, who took control of the Michigan House in the 2024 election, ending Democrats’ trifecta control of the House, Senate and governor’s office. If a Republican candidate claims victory in a special election, the chamber would be split 19-19.

While Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, a Democrat and president of the Senate, can break the tie in any party-line vote; all members must be present and voting. If any member is absent, a 19-18 vote on the bills would leave Gilchrist unable to vote, killing any legislation that fails to achieve a 20 vote majority.

In his op-ed, Nesbitt played on the themes of bipartisanship collaboration Whitmer expressed in her state of the state address, calling on her to work with whoever the next senator may be.

“It should not be up to her or me or any other single elected official to determine if the state Senate operates with a new 19-19 tie or returns to a 20-18 split for the remainder of the current legislative term. That is a question for the voters of the 35th District,” Nesbitt said.

In the meantime, nearly 270,000 residents have been left without representation as the Legislature continues to hold hearings and vote on bills.

“There are a number of extremely important pieces of legislation that are moving through the House and the Senate in Lansing this year,” Turner said.

While lawmakers take up legislation that includes a proposal from State Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford) that would place a Constitutional amendment requiring voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote and casting their ballot, Turner said Michigan voters deserve to have someone in Lansing advocating for them and their right to vote, alongside their other rights.

Looking to legislative solutions, creating a hard timeline for calling a special election would be a good place to start, Turner said.