Up North Progressive

The Up North Progressive, currently gearing up for another election season of meet the candidate posts noticed something when cruising through the Secretary of State’s unofficial candidate list.

Understandably, this is the unofficial list, but the list won’t be made official until after the results of the August 3rd primary and Michigan moves on to the state general election. The deadline for candidates to file passed, and it appears John Moolenaar already won this cycle.

Did the MDP really concede the 4th district to the Republicans before the election even gets started?

In 2014, Dr. Jeffrey Holmes of Alma ran against John Moolenaar after Paul Mitchell lost in the primary. Moolenar outspent Dr. Holmes 15 to 1 in a congressional district containing the most conservative community in the state. How conservative? In 2015 McBain Rural Agricultural School district had to revise their requirements for a new superintendent when the ACLU challenged one item on the list: The successful candidate must have a strong Christian background to work for a public school district.

Whether a Democratic candidate has a chance to win against a Republican in district four is not the issue. To allow any Republican candidate to run unopposed in any Michigan race is unacceptable. Will the MDP run a write-in candidate here? Do they have a plan to deal with this? Allowing Moolenaar to coast into another two years in the US Congress unchallenged can’t happen.

Come on Dems, are we even trying?