LANSING, Mich. — Michigan's primary election is Tuesday, Aug. 2. On the ballot will be two Democratic candidates running against each other and two Republican candidates running against each other to represent the newly-drawn 28th District in the Michigan Senate—which now spans from Clinton County over to Shiawassee County and down to the northern part of Ingham County.
Muhammad Salman Rais and Sam Singh will go head-to-head for the Democratic nomination.
Rais is a physician who has worked within the medical system for many years.
"My goals are easy access to healthcare—affordable care," Rais said. "In rural areas, housing, infrastructure development for our farmers, so they can have access to market. I think our new graduates leave Michigan, so my goal is to keep graduates in Michigan...and in legislature, my goal is to work everything consensus and in a bipartisan way."
Singh is a former member of the Michigan Legislature, former East Lansing mayor and currently a business owner.
"When I take a look at the state surplus, there's over $7 billion that's currently sitting at the state Capitol, and I want to make sure that money's actually going to help our small businesses thrive, and right now when I talk to small businesses, they're having a hard time finding employees," Singh said. "What I would like to do with some of those dollars is make sure that we have training programs that are helping people get those in-demand jobs, so they can get good-paying jobs, so they can take care of their families."
Now, let's take a look at the Republican side of the ticket. Two candidates, Madhu Anderson and Daylen Howard, are also running in hopes of representing District 28 in the Michigan Senate.
Anderson has spent about 20 years working in public policy.
"We have record inflation. We have higher interest rates as of even yesterday, and it's really important that we put money back in our families' pockets to help them address some of the real challenges that they're going to have. People are anxious," Anderson said. "The most important thing, in addition to the economy, is making sure our kids learn and they get very good math instruction, reading instruction and writing instruction, because if they have those skills, they can do almost anything."
Daylen Howard is a former manager of a jewelry store, which closed down due to the pandemic, causing him to lose his job.
"One thing that I think is going to be vital in Michigan is keeping our talented young people here. The last decade we saw great bleeding in Michigan of young people and old people alike," Howard said. "Places like Texas and Florida have none—or lower income tax rates, so I'd like to see that happen in Michigan. It is a time when we do need to make great investments in our state. That being said, we need to grow our tax base, as opposed to raising our taxes or keeping a high tax."
Whoever wins the nomination from each party will move on to the general election in November and go up against each other for that 28th District seat in the Michigan Senate.
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