In 2026, we see an opportunity to build a pro-democracy trifecta in Michigan by defending the one-seat Senate majority and flipping four seats in the House. Achieving these goals will be challenging, but crucial to ensure pro-democracy lawmakers have the governing power they need to protect Michiganders from the worst impacts of Trump’s rightwing federal policies.
We know what it will take to achieve these goals because we’ve done it before. In 2022, we helped secure seven seats across both chambers to build a pro-democracy trifecta in Michigan for the first time in nearly 40 years. While lawmakers went on to pass a record number of life-improving policies, that momentum was not enough to withstand a more than 4 percent statewide swing for Trump at the top of the ticket.
While pro-democracy lawmakers narrowly lost the House majority in 2024, our work helped keep the margins close. The three tightest races proved just how tough the national environment was — they were decided by less than 1.5%. Trump won the state by the same margin.
Since the rightwing took control of the House, policymaking has ground to a halt: 2025 has been Michigan’s least productive legislative session in 20 years, with just six bills passed in the first six months.
Because of Trump’s actions since the start of his second term, it is estimated that 200,000 Michiganders may lose their healthcare, three rural hospitals may be forced to close, and some of the 1.4 million Michiganders who rely on food assistance could be dropped from the program — including 41,000 military veterans. While the Senate majority that we helped build in 2022 has introduced policies to combat these harmful impacts, the rightwing House majority has stalled these efforts and refused to pass a budget for months, preventing schools from having necessary funding and interrupting critical services like after school programs.
Regaining the pro-democracy trifecta in Michigan will allow lawmakers to get back to work improving lives for their constituents. That’s why we’re already on the ground, working to ensure a majority in both chambers in 2026.
We invested double the next largest funder on the coordinated side of the campaign, and focused on potential tipping point seats. These included the closest wins and losses in the House. The rightwing successfully flipped four House seats — each was decided by fewer than 10 points.
New maps created clearer paths to ending unchecked rightwing control of the Michigan legislature. The States Project seized the opportunity to shift power in both chambers, helping our partners gain three seats in the House and four in the Senate for two outright majorities. This included early investments to secure HD-74 in a May special election. In the end, we powered a pro-democracy trifecta in Michigan for the first time since 1983!
Candidates The States Project supported won eight seats in the Michigan House, including six incumbents and two new seats. Two incumbent losses in seats that Trump carried meant that there was no change in the balance of power in the House.
In our first election in Michigan, we helped flip six seats in the House of Representatives.
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State lawmakers have the power to enact policies that can protect millions of Americans, and the overall direction of the country, from the worst impacts of a second Trump presidency.
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