2020

ELECTION
REPORT
BUILDING BACK BETTER FOR CLIMATE
ACTION

Sierra Club Michigan Chapter

109 E César E. Chávez Ave, Lansing, MI 48906
 NOVEMBER 2020

2020 ELECTION REPORT

A NOTE FROM THE SIERRA CLUB POLITICAL TEAM

THIS YEAR’S ELECTION shattered the previous voter turnout in Michigan. In 2020,
more than 5.5 million people cast a ballot. The last time Michigan came that close was in 2008
when a little more than five million people voted. We don’t need to remind anyone of the
disappointing results from 2016. However, in 2020, Michigan came out and America showed up. It
was uplifting to see the passion and drive of people leading up to this year. Even during an unusual
election cycle due to COVID-19 where everything went virtual, Sierra Club interns, leaders,
members, and supporters rolled up their sleeves and continued to fight for a better tomorrow.
Climate change and the foundation of our democracy were on the ballot and YOU all showed up
and it is paying off.

As we write this, votes are still being counted and the fate of the U.S. Senate is not clear--
We do know this though: In Michigan, we reelected and protected Elissa Slotkin (CD 8) and Haley
Stevens (CD 11) congressional seats. These two have been leaders in protecting Michigan’s
natural resources, our air and water, and fighting for climate action. We also sent Gary Peters back
to the Senate. At the State level, we flipped two seats formally held but polluter promoters by
electing Kelly Breen (HD 38) and Christine Morse (HD 61). We were also able to protect marginal
seats in Laurie Pohutsky (HD 19), Matt Koleszar (HD 20), and Padma Kuppa (HD 41). At the local
level, we helped keep an environmental majority on the Oakland County Commission and keep
Dave Coulter as County Executive. We also worked to flip the Canton Twp. Supervisor position
and elect a pro-environment leader.

Overall, we held our own this cycle. However, the fight is far from over. We still have a state
legislature that largely sides with corporate polluters and industry over the health and safety of
our communities and environment. Social change has always been powered by people and we
must remain vigilant and hold ALL in power accountable and continue to fight for a better future.
The fight for a more just, equitable, and habitable planet remains, so let’s not let up. It’s time to dig
deeper and get to work!

- Christy McGillivray, Tim Minotas, & Sarah Tresedder

ELECTION AT A GLANCE: FEDERAL

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have officially won the Presidency of the United States amid record
turnout during an unprecedented pandemic. In Michigan, Joe Biden won by 2.6%, beating Donald
Trump after his razor-thin victory in Michigan in 2016.

This victory belongs to all of us because this country belongs to all of us. Together, we’ve
remained committed to resisting fascism in all of its forms and restoring the promise of our
democracy. Together, we’ve remained committed to fighting for a livable planet, safe
communities, and a democracy ‘of the people, by the people and for the people,’ in which every
person and every vote counts.

The Sierra Club congratulates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on this victory, and celebrates their
decisive mandate to begin immediate executive action on the strongest climate, clean energy,
and environmental justice platform ever advanced by a presidential ticket.

- Executive Director Michael Brune

Senator Gary Peters won a competitive race for reelection, defeating John James and
garnering 49.8% of the vote. Senator Peters race was a crucial win for
environmentalists in Michigan and the country -- Peters has been a fierce advocate
for the Great Lakes and a strong leader in protecting Michigan families' health, air,
water, and building a clean energy economy that work for Michiganders.

7/10 endorsed congressional candidates were victorious. This

includes Elissa Slotkin (CD 8), who won reelection with 50.9% of
the vote, and Haley Stevens (CD 11), who won reelection with
50.2% of the vote. Both Representatives flipped their districts in
2018 and have been strong environmental leaders for Michigan on
Capitol hill.
 ELECTION AT A GLANCE: STATE & LOCAL
44/64 of our endorsed State House candidates were victorious, including two
candidates who flipped their seats:

Kelly Breen, an attorney and Novi City Councilperson, defeated her Republican opponent with
51.6% of the vote to flip House District 38
Christine Morse, a former attorney, cancer survivor, and Kalamazoo County Commissioner,
defeated her Republican opponent with 54.1% of the vote to flip House District 61.

Our Chapter also helped reelect Laurie Pohutsky (HD 19), Matt Koleszar (HD 20), and Padma
Kuppa (HD 41), all lawmakers who flipped their districts in 2018 by small margins. A full summary of
the wins and losses at the state level can be found at the end of this report.

While we managed to protect our targeted seats and flipped two

“Sierra Club’s endorsement
competitive districts, we were unable to win an environmental
majority. Among the obstacles, political gerrymandering made it
difficult for several of our endorsed candidates to succeed.
Thankfully, the independent redistricting commission, put in place
thanks to 2018's successful ballot proposal, will be redrawing
Michigan's political districts for the next election season. We are
confident that Michigan will be able to elect environmental
majorities in the future and we will continue to fight for
environmental protection for all Michiganders in 2020 and beyond.

comes with some of the most

31/47 of our endorsed local races, including city council and county
valuable assets a candidate in a
commissioner candidates, were victorious. We were able to maintain
competitive seat needs: an environmental majority on the Oakland County Commission and
grassroots people power and elected Dave Coulter as Oakland County Executive.
real credibility. Thanks to the
tireless hours that Sierra Club Proposal 1 passed overwhelmingly with 84% of the vote. However,
volunteers and interns put into the Detroit News, and the Detroit Free Press editorial boards sided
with the Sierra Club and urged a no vote. Given the amount of
meaningful conversations with
money and coalition supporting this, the outcome is not particularly
voters we’ve had another surprising.
people-powered victory. This
grassroots support helps when I
State House Wins Local Wins
am standing up to polluters in
Lansing.”
44/65 31/47
- Rep Matt Koleszar, House
District 20
 SIERRA CLUB ELECTION WORK

Sierra Club PAC: Total Dispersed:

Fundraising in 2020 $135,000
COVID-19 brought additional
challenges to fundraising for $52,000 $22,400
the Chapter. Communities to State to Federal
were, and still are, facing House and Candidates
additional financial burdens Local
and stress because of the Candidates
economic recession brought on HIGHLIGHT: SIERRA CLUB
by the pandemic. Luckily, our Total Raised: NATIONAL
Chapter did extremely well $145,000
fundraising in 2019 and Our national program helped
secured commitments from us reach more than
$65,000

279,709
large donors which means we $83,000
raised in
raised in
didn't have to fundraise as hard 2020
2019 to through
during the pandemic because benefit 2020 online appeals Michigan voters during GOTV
we were in a good spot. During election work and a virtual

2,730,331
fundraiser
2020, we had additional
fundraising through our annual PAC appeal and our a virtual
texts sent to Michigan voters
fundraiser. The funds raised in 2019 and 2020 allow us to
support our targeted races and political programs. Volunteers adopted and
mailed more than
Through the PAC, we also distributed our 2020 election
guide, which was sent to 25,599 voters across the state. 250,000
personalized GOTV letters
Independent Expenditure Work
Our independent expenditure work in the state legislature
targeted protecting HD 19, 20, and 41 and picking up HD 104, 800,000
HD 38, and 39. We sent two rounds of mail to each targeted calls made to voters
house district, and included support for Oakland County
Executive Dave Coulter and Oakland County Commissioner 183,463 242,522
Kristin Nelson in the nested house districts. pieces of persuasion pieces of GOTV mail
mail sent sent
With a combination of paid and volunteer phonebanking, we
made close to 16,500 calls and identified 5,644 voters. Of
VICTORY CORP:
those voters, 2,576 supported our candidates, 2,790 were
Sierra Club National sent two national
undecided, and 278 supported our candidate's opponent.
staffers to Michigan as part of the
Victory Corp program, embedding
them on the campaigns for Elissa
Slotkin (HD8) and Haley Stevens
(HD11), who were both reelected.
Internship Program
COVID-19 forced us to rethink our political internship program, restricting our work to virtual and
online organizing. This did not stop our 2020 intern cohort from reaching voters and helping our
endorsed candidates succeed up and down the ballot.

This year, we had 28 interns working on 20 different campaigns at the state and federal level.
Throughout the election, our interns completed over 2,800 voter outreach hours through phone
and text banking.
Our interns successfully organized 10 Sierra Club phonebank events, two candidate forums, and
one youth voter engagement event.

Social Media and Digital Work

Digital organizing became a crucial component of the Sierra Club's electoral work this cycle, and our
political team made use of both social media and our website to advocate for our
endorsed candidates and disseminate voter rights information. Our Chapter
was also part of the Michigan Progressive Voters Guide, which was
viewed over 120,100 times between September 28 - November 3rd.

Facebook: The Chapter social Twitter: The Chapter tweeted

media published ~85 posts about the election and voting
related to the elections, voting rights ~70 times. Taken together, “I was so empowered and
rights, and our endorsed these tweets received over:
candidates. Taken together, these
excited to help with Sierra
posts received over: Club’s efforts to ensure that
62,700 640 environmental conservation
64,000 2,000 2,000 impressions engagements
views post clicks engagements
was a core part of
conversations with voters
during this election. We did a
tremendous job and I am
proud of all the field work we
Instagram: The Chapter posted Website: The Chapter posted a did. It was clear how
60+ graphics related to our full report on the endorsements impactful this work was
endorsed candidates and the made for 2020 at the federal,
elections. Taken together, these state, and local level. In total, this watching the results following
posts received over: webpage was viewed more than the election.”
900 15,200 21,501 - Elizabeth Boman, Political
post likes views unique visits
Intern (Summer/Fall 2020)
BEYOND NOVEMBER: WHAT'S NEXT FOR MI
While our hard work paid off in many ways this election, there is
still much to be done. We are already gearing up for our next
battles and determining where we need to put our time and
resources. Looking ahead, we will be focusing on:

We will be emailing/calling all of our endorsed candidates to

either congratulate them or to encourage them to run again in
the future and to seek our endorsement when doing so.

Lame Duck Session 2020: Starting at the beginning of

December the State Legislature will be back in full swing and
beginning lame duck. The Sierra Club will be weighing in on
multiple topics including aggregate mining, water shutoffs, solar
policy, electric vehicles, contaminated site cleanup funding, and
much more during this chaotic legislative time.

Our Chapter will begin scheduling meetings with newly elected

lawmakers to meet with them about our priority issues. Please
email us if you’d like to help with this.

We will be working to absorb hundreds of new volunteers who

participated and took action with the Sierra Club during the
election cycle here in Michigan.

Raising Funds for 2020: We are already building our program

for 2022. It will be the first election under the districts drawn
by our Independent Citizen Redistricting Commission and will
have a lot more races to engage in. In order for us to continue
electing strong environmentalists and training the next
generation of political leaders we need your help to fund our
political program.

If you believe in the work that we do, please

consider contributing here:
https://tinyurl.com/q42nfobt
 NOVEMBER 2020

FULL ELECTION RESULTS

State House State House Oakland County
Green = won election Brenda Carter (D-29) Dan O’Neil (D-104) Commission
Red = lost election
Michael Chehab (D-30) Sue Allor (R-106) Michelle A Bryant (D-1)
William Sowerby (D-31) Jim Page (D-107) Bob Hoffman (R-2)
US President
Justin Boucher (D-32) Renee Richer (D-108) Michelle McClellan (D-3)
Joe Biden
Cynthia Neeley (D-34) Janet Metsa (D-110) Kristin Nelson (D-5)
US Senate
Kyra Harris-Bolden (D-35) Canton Twp. Trustees Jeff Long (D-6)
Gary Peters
Samantha Steckloff (D-37) Anne Marie Graham-Hudak Karen Adams (D-7)
US House
Kelly Breen (D-38) (Supervisor) Gwen Markham (D-9)
Dana Ferguson (D-1)
Julia Pulver (D-39) Kate Borninski Angela Powell (D-10)
Hillary Scholten (D-3)
Mari Manoogian (D-40) Sommer N. Foster Tim Burns (D-11)
Dan Kildee (D-5)
Padma Kuppa (D-41) Tania Ganguly Kelly Dillaha (D-12)
Jon Hoadley (D-6)
Nicole Breadon (D-43) Steven M. Sneideman Marci Gershenson (D-13)
Elissa Slotkin (D-8)
Denise Forrest (D-44) Chester Twp. Trustees William Miller (D-14)
Andy Levin (D-9)
Barb Anness (D-45) Callie Melton Melanie Hartman (D-15)
Haley Stevens (D-11)
Jody LaMacchia (D-46) Clinton Twp. Penny Luebs (D-16)
Debbie Dingell (D-12)
Sheryl Kennedy (D-48) Jason Davidson (Supervisor) Yolanda Charles (D-17)
Rashida Tlaib (D-13)
John Cherry (D-49) Kent County Commission Charlie Cavell (D-18)
Brenda Lawrence (D-14)
Tim Sneller (D-50) Deb Havens (D-1) Dave Woodward (D-19)
State House
Donna Lasinski (D-52) Jane Newton (D-7) Gary McGillivray (D-20)
Joseph Tate (D-2)
Yousef Rabhi (D-53) Sarah Chatterley (D-8) Rives Twp. Supervisor
Abraham Aiyash (D-4)
Felicia Brabec (D-55) Justin Sheldon (D-11) Joseph Yang
Cynthia Johnson (D-5)
Will Garcia (D-57) Monica Sparks (D-12) Wayne County
Tyrone Carter (D-6)
Julie Rogers (D-60) Michelle McCloud (D-13) Commissioners
Stephanie Young (D-8)
Christine Morse (D-61) Carol Hennessy (D-14) Tim Killeen (D-1)
Alex Garza (D-12)
Jim Haadsma (D-62) Melissa LaGrand (D-15) Martha Scott (D-3)
Cara Clemente (D-14)
Sandra Hofman-Kingston (D-64) Stephen Wooden (D-18) Nancy Darga (D-9)
Abdullah Hammoud (D-15)
Nancy Smith (D-65) Phil Skaggs (D-19) Melissa Daub (D-10)
Kevin Coleman (D-16)
Abigail Wheeler (D-66) Elaine Isely (Drain Glenn Anderson (D-12)
Christopher Slat (D-17)
Kara Hope (D-67) Commissioner)
Kevin Hertel (D-18)
Sarah Anthony (D-68) Orion Twp. Trustees
Laurie Pohutsky (D-19)
Julie Brixie (D-69) Eileen Nolton
Matt Koleszar (D-20)
Angela Witwer (D-71) Macomb County
Ranjeev Puri (D-21)
Lily Cheng-Schulting (D-72) Mai Xiong (D-2)
Richard Steenland (D-22)
David LaGrand (D-75) Carole Chi (D-4)
Darrin Camilleri (D-23)
Rachel Hood (D-76) Julie Matuzak (D-12)
Nate Shannon (D-25)
Dan Vandenheede (D-78) Oakland County Executive
Jim Ellison (D-26)
Chokwe Pitchford (D-79) Dave Coulter
Regina Weiss (D-27)
John Zang (D-99) Oakland County Treasurer
Lori Stone (D-28)
Scott Vansingel (R-100) Robert Wittenberg