We knew defending Michigan’s State House majority in 2024 would be difficult — every seat needed to be defended to hold the one-seat majority in the House. With incumbent losses, the balance of power is now 52-58 — the same chamber composition following Biden’s win in 2020, even as Trump won the state in 2024. 

In four of the closest races we fueled, two won and two lost, the candidates all overperformed Vice President Harris. Historically, just meeting the presidential baseline means defying the odds for state legislative candidates — exceeding is sometimes thought to be unthinkable. Without TSP’s investment, there would almost certainly have been greater losses.

While we were not able to defend the House majority, the pro-democracy majority in the State Senate that this community helped power in 2022 is still in place. Those Senators, along with Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, still have the governing power they need to improve lives in Michigan. Governing will be tough but not impossible for these lawmakers, who used their majorities over the past two years to enact a wide range of policies that will protect against the worst of Project 2025.

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. Every flipped seat was decided by fewer than 10 points.

New maps created clearer paths to ending unchecked rightwing control of the Michigan legislature — and after working in the state for two cycles — The States Project seized the opportunity to shift power in both chambers. Before the election, the rightwing majorities held majorities by just two seats in the Michigan House and three seats in the Senate.

Thanks to our Giving Circles, we hit the ground early in 2021 for the best possible chance of success. As the race tightened in 2022, we helped our in-state partners stay in the fight for chamber control in both chambers, even when it felt impossible.

The States Project helped our partners gain three seats in the House and four in the Senate for two outright majorities, powering a Democratic trifecta in Michigan for the first time since 1983!

Special Election

In May 2022, The States Project helped secure HD-74 in a Michigan House Special Election — we believed that protecting the district in a special election would be easier than trying to take it from the rightwing in a general election. That reduced the number of seats needed to shift power in the State House from three to two.

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.

Six candidates we supported flipped their seats to join the Michigan House of Representatives.