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Larry DeShazor Joins Michigan Senate 20th District Race

So, Larry DeShazor has thrown his hat in for the Michigan Senate 20th district race. It’s not surprising; with term limits he could only be in the state house until 2014 when he could run against the incumbent for the state senate, which would be an uphill battle no matter what. (That, of course, presumes the districts stay about the same after redistricting.)

Mr. DeShazor is from the GOP heart of the district (Portage) whereas Wenke and especially Schuitmaker live outside of the Kalamazoo-Portage metro area.  Additionally, Mr. DeShazor is fresh off of his upsetting victories against both Margaret O’Brien in the GOP primary and Democrat Julie Rogers in the general just last year. All things considered, Mr. DeShazor has no reason not to take a stab at the senate race: he has to think his chances are pretty good and I’d have to agree.

Mr. DeShazor’s candidacy is a disaster for Tonya Schuitmaker, who, to John Proos’ delight, happens to live within the boundaries of the 20th district. Mrs. Schuitmaker has represented Van Buren County for the past five years and realistically should be battling John Proos for the 21st senate seat. I’m surprised she hasn’t just moved a municipality over. In any case, her campaign is going to fall to the wayside as DeShazor dukes it out with the Wenke’s warchest of personal wealth.

So what does this mean for Mr. Wenke’s campaign? It’s key to recognize two things about Wenke. The first is that he wants this job. Really bad. Read this quote from MLive:

On former state Rep. Lorence Wenke’s last day in office last month, “the carpeting in my office was wet with tears when I moved out,” he said, only half-joking.

“I’m going to miss that job.”

The second is that he’s really wealthy.  Throughout his House career he gave his campaign over $411,000. If you don’t believe it, check out the campaign finance records here (search committe ID 510813). In the same MLive article he jests, “I’m going to do this until either I run out of money or someone shoots me.”

Wenke has what it takes to win the general; there is no doubt about that. He has more money than Representative Jones and he has a better track record than Jones as far as gay rights go; an important issue to progressives and moderates. Wenke was the only Republican to be endorsed by Michigan’s biggest LGBT lobby, Michigan Equality, and Democrat Jones hasn’t.

DeShazor, however, complicates things for Wenke in the primary.  DeShazor has carried a moderate image and has strong ties to Portage – he was, after all, on the Portage City Council less than a year ago as I’m writing this. He was the only elected Republican (or one of few) at the Joe Biden event this past June in Kalamazoo. Despite his success against Democrats, it’s unclear how Mr. Deshazor will perform against Jones, who has received enormous backing of the Kalamazoo corporate elite through his PAC, Jones Advocating for Michigan.

It’s important to note that none of the candidates for this race have pledged to introduce – and encourage others to support – State House resolutions memorializing the U.S. Congress to remove the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court in all cases of abortion in accordance with Section 2 of Article III of the United States Constitution.

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