The Headlines
There’s no news on the redraw this week, as we await responses from both parties to the Reviewing Special Master’s report. The court’s final decision is due by next Friday, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it comes sooner than that, and will update you as soon as it does.
While Voters Not Politicians has previously stayed out of national politics, as a pro-democracy organization it’s necessary for us to call out threats facing our democracy at both the national and state levels. Project 2025, a policy guide authored by the Heritage Foundation¹, is just such a threat. The plan is a dangerous attack on the democratic norms and institutions of this country.
Inside the state, Voters Not Politicians is continuing to support pro-democracy candidates down the ballot. We’ve recently released our list of Pro-Voter Approved candidates for the Michigan House of Representatives in the August 6 Primary Election.
The Details
Project 2025
- To be clear, Project 2025 is a very real and imminent threat to our nation’s democracy. Multiple elements of this extreme right-wing policy plan would roll back or eliminate constitutionally protected rights and freedoms and would remove many of the checks and balances across the federal government.
- Project 2025 is based on the unitary executive theory, an extreme legal theory that gives the president complete, unilateral control over the executive branch. This would fundamentally reshape the federal government by granting presidential powers like no president has ever had before.
- The plan, if realized, would reduce civil enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, dismantle federal government efforts to combat disinformation, make the Federal Elections Commission even less effective, and add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census. These are just a few ways Project 2025 would set democracy back.
- If even half of the proposals in Project 2025 come to fruition, they will fundamentally alter American government and democracy for generations to come.
- In Michigan, our best defenses against Project 2025 and its anti-democratic outcomes are electing pro-democracy candidates up and down the ballot, and passing the Michigan Voting Rights Act before the end of this legislative session.
2024 Pro-Voter Approved Candidates Announced for August Primary
- Voters Not Politicians has released the official list of Pro-Voter Approved candidates for the August 6 primary election. The full list of approved candidates can be found here.
- Voters Not Politicians volunteers and staff set up a process to identify pro-democracy, pro-voter candidates who share our commitment to a government that reflects the will of the people, and who will make strengthening and protecting our democracy a priority.
- Candidates applied for Pro-Voter, Pro-Democracy Approval by completing a questionnaire that asked about voting access and common-sense ethics and transparency reform policies. You can view all candidate responses to the questionnaire here.
- Other considerations for approval include: public statements and actions, campaign viability, and, in the case of incumbent candidates, voting records on issues such as voting access and structural democracy reform.
- In the 2022 general election, 72% of VNP Pro-Voter Approved candidates won their races.
What’s Next
VNP staff and volunteers have already begun preparing for the next stage of Pro-Voter approvals for candidates running for the Michigan House of Representatives in the 2024 general election. These approvals will help voters understand which candidates are on the side of democracy in this election, and help us protect the pro-voter majority in the state legislature.
1What is Project 2025? And what would it mean for Michigan?
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