Jon King, Michigan Advance

Let’s be blunt: Michigan Republicans, like their counterparts nationally, are no longer merely questioning elections. They are actively seeking to undermine them.

Their latest maneuvers, calling for federal intervention by baselessly smearing Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s ability to fairly oversee elections to cheering President Donald Trump’s pardons of the state’s alleged false electors, reveal a party more invested in manufacturing distrust than in protecting democracy.

Put together, these moves are not isolated issues. They form a strategy: cast doubt, sow suspicion, and demand federal oversight, all the while shifting focus from governance to grievance....

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a lawsuit filed by nearly a dozen Michigan Republican lawmakers seeking to roll back voting rights measures passed by voters in 2018 and 2022.

The suit, filed in 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, argued that because the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution, found in Article I, Section 4, provides for state legislatures to regulate the times, places, and manner of holding federal elections, measures passed by citizen-led petition initiatives are unconstitutional as they infringed on the state Legislature’s role within state election law.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to take the case was the third, and now final, rejection after the lawsuit was initially dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Jane Beckering, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, in April 2024 for a lack of standing, a decision which was then affirmed by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December 2024. ...

Michigan officials are responding to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump over the weekend that a recent report said will disproportionately impact Michigan’s economy, whose automotive industry makes it “particularly vulnerable.”

On Saturday, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on Chinese imports, set to become effective Tuesday, initiating a full-blown trade war.

An analysis by Fitch Ratings, which looked at U.S. Census Bureau trade data, highlights which states have the highest level of economic exposure to a “broad-based trade war” which it determined would “likely be disruptive” to U.S. states’ economies. ...

Six Michigan cities will be monitored by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) for compliance with federal voting rights laws during Tuesday’s general election.

On Friday, the DOJ announced that personnel from the Civil Rights Division will be among those present at a total of 86 jurisdictions in 27 states across the country including the cities of Ann Arbor, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Hamtramck and Warren.

According to a press release, the department regularly deploys staff to polling sites to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws and maintain contact with state and local election officials throughout the day. ...

Former U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) — who represented his Southwest Michigan district for 36 years in Congress — on Thursday publicly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in her race against former President Donald Trump for the White House.

“I don’t believe l’ve missed a vote in Michigan in the 52 years I’ve been eligible to vote. And I’ve not been afraid to split my ballot from time to time but have never voted for a Democrat for president, until now,” said Upton. “It is often said that, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ And, let’s face it-the whole world seems on fire today.”

Upton, a former GOP vice chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, noted that he now joins more than 30 former GOP members of Congress who have publicly stated that they will vote for Harris. ...