Latest news with #GarlinGilchristII
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Advocates push for more funding and laws to prevent gun violence
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS)– It's Gun Violence Advocacy Day, and community members and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are lobbying at the Capitol to end gun violence. Republicans hold control of the State House, and gun control advocates hope for more opportunities to pass bipartisan legislation and secure more funding for crime intervention programs. 'Every Michigander deserves to feel safe when they are at work, school or just walking down the street,' said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a news release sent to 6 News. 'As a former prosecutor, I'm committed to public safety and proud of the $1.6 billion we've invested to keep people safe across six balanced, bipartisan state budgets. These recommendations by the task force will build on our record investments and efforts to enact commonsense gun violence prevention laws like background checks, safe storage, extreme risk protection orders and stronger penalties for convicted domestic abusers. Together, we will ensure Michiganders can feel safe from gun violence no matter where they live.' GVPTF-Report-1-DRAFT-1Download 'Too many Michigan families have lost loved ones to the tragedy of gun violence,' said Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II. 'That's why Governor Whitmer and I have worked hard to keep Michiganders safe and save lives, investing more than $1.6 billion in public safety across bipartisan budgets and signing commonsense reforms that prevent gun violence. Last year, we established the Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Task Force to carry this work forward, and these initial recommendations will make a difference for Michiganders. We will keep working with the Task Force to refine and implement the recommendations and Stand Tall so every Michigander can thrive.' This year, lawmakers want to focus on a new state violence prevention toolkit that would include policies that will hold the gun industry accountable for their part in the gun violence surge and give more power to gun violence victims. Lawmakers also want to crack down on untraceable firearms known as 'ghost guns' and continue to fund community groups. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Detroit celebrates St. Patrick's Day with annual parade, Irish festivites in Corktown
Irish or not, thousands of people turned out to Corktown in green garb and shamrocks to celebrate the Irish tradition for Sunday's St. Patrick's Day Parade. For the 67th year, the parade proceeded through Detroit's historically-Irish Corktown neighborhood for two hours. Dance troops, dogs with green fur, Irish clans, bagpipers, dancing inflatable shamrocks and politicians — including gubernatorial hopefuls Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson — waved to the crowd. More than 35 different Irish organizations carried their green, white and orange flags to celebrate the holiday. Even the weather felt a little Irish, with slightly cold temperatures, windy gusts and gray skies threatening — though never delivering — rain showers. The procession began on Sixth Street, coasting down Michigan Avenue in front of several Irish pubs and The Corner Ballpark, before passing a reviewing stand at Michigan and 14th Street, where it ended near the Mercury Bar. Take the quiz: Did you follow metro Detroit news this week? Test your knowledge with Free Press news quiz Meet Wally the gator: 'He was a real friendly gator': Detroit man leaves behind alligator in Cheboygan motel Shelli Guay of Ferndale and her family stood on the brick pavers of Michigan Avenue, jigging all afternoon as Detroit's St. Patrick's Day Parade marched through Corktown. Guay, who enjoyed the parade by dancing with her son, Sage, said this wasn't her first St. Patrick's Day Parade, and it certainly wouldn't be her last. "I think just the spirit of it and the whole heritage of the Irish people — the music, the dancing and all the people together — is really beautiful," Guay said. And Guay, who said she is "just about 2% Irish," embraced St. Patrick's Day as a festival for everyone — Irish or not. The parade was hosted by metro Detroit's United Irish Societies, who have been organizing the procession since 1958. Joan O'Halloran, a Detroiter and former owner of the Tipperary Pub, served as this year's grand marshal, leading the show with her family behind a vintage, mint-green Cadillac. St. Patrick's Day is officially Monday, but the holiday celebration kicked off at the parade and continued long after it was over. Around 2 p.m., Detroit police officers cruised down Michigan Avenue at the caboose of the procession, announcing through loudspeakers that the parade was over. The street went vacant, but a green, glittering crowd packed into bars like the Corktown Tavern and McShane's Irish Pub to keep the party going through the evening. Contact Liam Rappleye: LRappleye@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit St. Patrick's Day Parade attracts thousands for Irish party
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In race to succeed Gretchen Whitmer, Gilchrist says he can unite Democrats
Last week, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II entered the weirdest Michigan gubernatorial race I can remember ― admittedly, I've only lived here since 2000, so I missed the year celebrity attorney Geoffrey Fieger ran against Gov. John Engler, which must've been a real trip. Why is 2026 so weird? Mostly because Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, an uber-Democrat until *checks watch* last Thanksgiving, is running as an independent, a strategy that I struggle to see working out for Duggan or the Dems. But also because former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox ― a Republican who has been out of public life since the last time he ran for governor back in 2010, when he got pasted by then-candidate Rick Snyder and then-U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, is "exploring" a run, using $1 million of his own money. And finally, because an EPIC-MRA poll last month testing the popularity of various Michigan figures who might run for various things next year included former Amway executive/Betsy DeVos husband Dick DeVos ― a Republican who ran for governor in 2006 and got pasted by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm. I hoped we were done with also-rans, oligarchs and oligarch also-rans. (And yes, we're talking about the 2026 governor's race in March of 2025, because that's just how it goes.) Democrats, by and large, did not fare well in Michigan in the 2024 election. President Donald Trump won the state by about 80,000 votes. Democrats also lost the state House and the competitive 7th District U.S. House race, but it's a little premature to declare Michigan a red state. Democrats hold the top three statewide offices and the state Senate ― and in a year that favored Republicans, Democrat Elissa Slotkin beat Republican Mike Rogers by about 20,000 votes to win the state's open U.S. Senate seat. Gilchrist is the third Democrat to join the race, preceded by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. Benson has won statewide, twice, and has drawn national attention for her advocacy for voting access and fair elections. Two Republicans have officially announced: state Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, and Grand Blanc resident and trucking company owner Anthony Hudson, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2024 and whose campaign materials suggested he favored disbanding the U.S. military. American politics are cyclical, and there's no reason to think that Democrats running in 2026 won't fare just as well as Democrats who ran in 2022, or 2018, particularly if they're buoyed by growing opposition to Trump's breakneck efforts to dismantle the American government. But that's another reason next year's election is going to be weird: Democratic candidates must court a conflicted electorate, including centrists who value bipartisan cooperation and hope elected leaders will work across the aisle to mitigate the harm Trump is causing, and a loud left wing demanding full-scale opposition to Trump. In 2024, as candidates either lost or failed to engage key parts of key constituencies, the Democratic coalition wobbled, Gilchrist told me this week. And that's part of his argument: "I can hold the coalition together," Gilchrist said. More from Freep Opinion: I'm a historic preservationist, but these RenCen towers have to go For a candidate to declare that he or she is the only one who can win is standard campaign rhetoric. But in Gilchrist's case, it's worth considering. A former software engineer who left Michigan for a job at Microsoft, Gilchrist came back to work for Barack Obama's presidential campaign and the progressive group But as lieutenant governor, he's worked alongside the more-centrist Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. At 42, he's the youngest candidate in the race, but he's championed serious policy initiatives, chairing the Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration with former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bridget McCormack, advocating for the addition of $50 million to the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund and championing clean slate legislation that offers Michiganders convicted of certain crimes automatic expungement. He's a native Detroiter with three school-aged children; his wife, Ellen, is accomplished in her own right, as a former public schools administrator and a nonprofit executive. Still, said Andrea Bitely, founder and principal of Lansing-based Bitely Communications and a Free Press contributing columnist, "It is incredibly hard for a lieutenant governor to separate themselves from the governor they have served with. There's no mechanism for them to set their own path unless they go against the governor, which they are not inclined to do." A little, perhaps, like a vice president running to succeed her boss. Or, here in Michigan, former Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, whose 2018 bid to follow Gov. Rick Snyder foundered in the GOP primary. But unlike Kamala Harris, whose campaign was inextricably linked to a deeply unpopular president ― or Calley, whose governor presided over the Flint water crisis ― Michigan voters like Gilchrist's boss. By November 2024, just 37% of respondents to a Gallup poll approved of Joe Biden. In last month's EPIC-MRA poll, Whitmer's favorability rating was 52% ― ahead of Donald Trump at 46% ― a position she's maintained for six years, winning re-election in 2022 by a comfortable margin. That presents a second challenge, Bitely said: "If he wants to be his own man, he has to separate himself from Whitmer, and that could potentially mean picking a less popular position." More from Freep Opinion: Who's the target of Trump's disdain? Often, it's women. Gilchrist doesn't see it that way. Instead, he said, he has an opportunity to build on what Whitmer has accomplished. "I'm really proud of what we've done," Gilchrist told me. "But the world has changed since 2018. We're in a different place, and we need a different set of skills to meet the moment." Gilchrist said he wants Michigan to be a state our kids won't want to leave. In the state he envisions, "You can be the professional you want to be, the person you want to be, in Michigan. And if that's true, then that means we've gotten a lot of other things right, too" ― like infrastructure, schools and a diversified economy. Whitmer has drawn fire from some progressive voters after last month's State of the State speech, in which Whitmer, who went head-to-head with Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic, said she was willing to work with the president. "If Gov. Whitmer, as the sitting governor, is doing what she believes she needs to do to protect the interests of the people of Michigan, I understand," Gilchrist said. "For me, this moment requires making sure that we understand, and, frankly, name the very specific harms that are either already here or on the horizon for the people of Michigan, with what I think have been reckless and irresponsible actions taken by this administration." Like cuts to the federal workforce ― about 60,000 Michiganders work for the federal government, including, until 2016, his father, who worked for the Department of Defense ― the Department of Education or threats to Medicaid or Social Security. "You do not achieve efficiency through destruction," he said. Gilchrist likes to say that his height ― he's 6-foot-8 ― is the second thing people notice about him. The first, of course, is that he's Black. He's Michigan's first Black lieutenant governor, and if he's elected, would become only the fourth Black man elected governor of a U.S. state. Think about that for a minute. But in his travels across Michigan's 83 counties, Gilchrist said, his race is not what has mattered most to Michiganders. "I've been Black my whole life. I'm going to be Black my whole life. That's true. What is also true is that people have respected that I've put in the work to actually come and meet them where they are, and say, 'This person is different from me, but this person is willing to understand, willing to engage.' And that's been my experience in real time," Gilchrist said. "People say, 'OK, you might be from downstate, but it does seem like you actually care. You can tell me who the largest employer is in Baraga County. And you were at the Keewanaw Bay Ojibwa Community College three weeks ago, meeting with us,' which is, down the street from Pettibone, which is their largest employer. ... I think if you meet people where they are ... you can build the trust that enables the person to open up and say, 'This is what's important to me, and this is what I need help with to be my best,' and then trust me to be the person to go home and do it." Of course, as Bitely reminded me, a lot can happen, when there are still 18 months before the 2026 election ― "In 2010," she said, "Rick Snyder essentially came out of nowhere." Let's hope, at least, it doesn't get that weird. Nancy Kaffer is the editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press. Contact: nkaffer@ Submit a letter to the editor at and we may publish it online and in print. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: In race to succeed Whitmer, Gilchrist says he can unite Dems | Opinion
Washington Post
11-03-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Garlin Gilchrist announces Democratic bid to become Michigan's first Black governor
LANSING, Mich. — Garlin Gilchrist II, a Democrat from Detroit who is Michigan's first Black lieutenant governor, announced he's jumping into the crowded 2026 race for governor on Tuesday. A software engineer by trade, Gilchrist vaulted from relative political obscurity in 2018 to run alongside Gov. Gretchen Whitmer , and his profile has been bolstered over the past six years by working closely with one of the nation's most high-profile Democrats.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lt. Gov. Gilchrist forms committee to run for governor
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II has formed a campaign committee to run for governor—and has promised an announcement in Detroit next Tuesday. This committee has not yet been , and Gilchrist has yet to officially announce his candidacy, though if he were to join the race, he would join several other candidates on the ballot next year, including , , , and . POLL: Split results in hypothetical race for Michigan's Governor Former Attorney General Mike Cox has allowing him to run but has yet to officially announce a bid for the office. Current Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election. Gilchrist studied computer engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan and graduated with honors in 2005. He worked as a software engineer at Microsoft before pivoting into community organizing and, later, politics. Gilchrist became the first Black lieutenant governor in Michigan history in 2018, when he and Whitmer defeated Bill Schuette and Lisa Posthumus Lyons. In 2022, the pair were re-elected by a wide margin, defeating Tudor Disxon and Shane Hernandez. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
