Clockwise from top left, Washtenaw County District 5 Commissioner Ruth Ann Jamnick, District 6 Commissioner Ricky Jefferson, District 4 Commissioner Felicia Brabec, incoming District 1 Commissioner Jason Maciejewski, District 7 Commissioner Andy LaBarre, incoming District 2 Commissioner Sue Shink, District 8 Commissioner Jason Morgan, incoming District 9 Commissioner Katie Scott and incoming District 3 Commissioner Shannon Beeman pose before a Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov. 28, 2018. All nine are Democrats. (Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News)

A new all-Dem commission in Washtenaw County

ANN ARBOR, MI – The blue wave that swept Democrats into statewide offices in Michigan in this month's election also turned the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners entirely blue for the first time in history.

When the new commission is seated in January, all nine members will be Democrats, with the county's last Republican seat now flipped.

It’s a milestone the county’s elected officials are celebrating, and as County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum explains, it’s been a long time coming, as the county has gradually become more and more Democratic over the last 50 years.

“Washtenaw used to be one of the most Republican counties in Michigan,” he said. “Franklin Roosevelt was elected four times by large nationwide majorities, but never carried Washtenaw.”

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A chart shared by Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum showing the changing makeup of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners from the 1968 election through the 2018 election.

A historical view of partisanship in Washtenaw County

This chart put together by Kestenbaum shows how Washtenaw County, once a Republican stronghold, gradually started to shift politically in the 1970s.

The horizontal rows show the makeup of the county board every two years, from the 1968 election through the 2018 election, with the percentage of Democrats gradually increasing from 23 percent to 100 percent.

The chart also shows how the size of the commission has changed each decade through redistricting, with as many as 15 commissioners at times.

Kestenbaum, the county’s unofficial historian and a Democrat, said things started to change by 1972 when Democrat George McGovern won the county over Republican Richard Nixon in that year’s presidential election.

“Perhaps because McGovern’s campaign was associated with student antiwar groups, there is a widespread misperception ever since that the county turned Democratic due to student votes,” Kestenbaum said.

“But student votes are only a very small proportion of the countywide total. McGovern turned out to be the leading edge of a long-term shift in voting patterns among white-collar professionals, who of course are very prevalent locally. Doctors, lawyers, professors, school teachers, computer programmers, pharmacists, etc., etc., used to be overwhelmingly Republican in their voting habits. Now they are Democratic.”

Kestenbaum said the last GOP presidential nominee to carry Washtenaw was Ronald Reagan in 1984, and in 2016 Donald Trump got the smallest percentage (26.6%) for a Republican presidential nominee since William Howard Taft in 1912.

“All that said, the partisanship of the county board during the 1970s and 1980s is somewhat theoretical, because regardless how individual members were elected, the board itself was divided into Murray and anti-Murray factions rather than Democrats and Republicans,” he said, referring to Meri Lou Murray, a Democrat who served as a county commissioner from 1973 to 1996 and became the first woman to chair the commission in 1975.

Murray, considered one of the most influential political figures in county history and founder of the county's parks system, was remembered as a "force of nature" when she died in 2012.

During Murray’s time in office, Kestenbaum said, a Democratic majority of commissioners did not mean Democratic control, as Murray’s faction included both Democrats and Republicans.

“It was a very unusual situation for a nominally partisan legislative body,” he said.

“One year, the anti-Murray faction took control, which also included both Democrats and Republicans."

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Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum poses before a Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov. 28, 2018. (Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News)

Board of supervisors becomes board of commissioners

Washtenaw County was legally organized in 1826. From the beginning of the county until the end of 1968, Kestenbaum explains, the county board operated as a board of supervisors, consisting of the elected supervisor of each township, plus some additional members elected or appointed from city governments.

“The township supervisors were elected on a partisan ballot, but the city members were usually not. Also, the city members were frequently swapped out for substitutes,” he said.

Kestenbaum said that system did not fairly represent populations within the county, because each township, regardless of size, elected only one supervisor.

Ultimately, the state mandated a system of equal-population districts, with each district electing one county supervisor starting in 1968, and the title changed to "county commissioner" in 1970, Kestenbaum said.

Because the old board of supervisors included both partisan and nonpartisan members and subs, Kestenbaum said, it’s hard to pin down the partisan makeup of the board year by year going back to 1800s, but he’s fairly certain it was never all Democratic. In any case, he said, it’s definitely true that the board of commissioners, as it's existed for the last half century, has never been all Democratic until now.

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A map of Washtenaw County's nine commissioner districts. Districts 7, 8 and 9 cover Ann Arbor, District 6 covers the Ypsilanti area, District 4 covers the Pittsfield area, and other districts cover cities like Dexter, Saline and Chelsea, as well as more rural township areas. (Courtesy of Washtenaw County)

November 2018 election results

Jason Maciejewski won District 1 with 64%

Sue Shink won District 2 with 58%

Shannon Beeman won District 3 with 50.43%

Felicia Brabec won District 4 with 74%

Ruth Ann Jamnick won District 5 with 73%

Ricky Jefferson won District 6 with 83%

Andy LaBarre won District 7 with 84%

Jason Morgan won District 8 with 89%

Katie Scott won District 9 with 88%

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From left, incoming commissioners Shannon Beeman, Katie Scott, Sue Shink and Jason Maciejewski pose before a Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov. 28, 2018. (Jacob Hamilton | The Ann Arbor News)

4 new commissioners

Shannon Beeman

Beeman, associate director at the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan, is one of four new incoming commissioners. She’s the one who flipped the last Republican seat.

She will represent District 3, which includes Saline, Manchester, Milan and surrounding township areas.

Beeman said there’s been a Democratic voice in District 3 that just didn’t have a champion until now and she’s happy to be that.

“As Democrats, we all still have different viewpoints,” she said. “So, being from a rural part of the county, I’m going to have a different view than some of the others in the city. We still have kind of that same backbone, but we’re going to be passionate about different issues.”

Katie Scott

Scott, who will be the new commissioner from Ann Arbor’s west side, is a University of Michigan nurse and vice president of the Michigan Nurses Association. She’s replacing Democrat Conan Smith.

“It’s a measure of how progressive Washtenaw County is and how much residents in Washtenaw County value progressive politics, have the same values and ethics the Democratic Party holds,” she said of the new all-Democratic commission.

“It really sets us up to be a leader in the state, I think in the region, and hopefully the country, to show how a board that’s all working together with the same party can get a lot of good things done in the county,” she said.

“I really hope that we can continue to address affordable housing. I would like to see more transparency in government and making it more accessible for people, because the more transparent government is, the more people become engaged if they feel like they know what’s happening. I would also like to see the county continue its focus on community mental health and public health and creating health justice for people across the county.”

In conversations with both incoming and returning commissioners, Scott said, there’s a feeling that “we’re one county.”

“I feel that more than ever. I don’t feel like there’s a divide between city and township,” she said, adding she’s talked about holding county meetings in different areas of the county, rather than just Ann Arbor, to increase access.

Sue Shink

Shink will be the new commissioner for District 2, which includes Superior, Salem, Northfield, Webster and Ann Arbor townships, as well as a small part of Ann Arbor.

She’s an attorney, farmer and former Northfield Township trustee, and she’ll be replacing Democrat Michelle Deatrick.

“I come from a district that’s typically thought of as a 50-50 district, and I think that my message of representing the people really struck home,” Shink said, vowing to represent and work for every person in her district.

“I think people really want to have people who represent them and the things that are important to them,” she said. “And in my district, I heard a lot about preserving the rural quality of life. I heard a lot about helping people who are lacking resources find those resources. And a lot about honesty, integrity and accountability. And those are all things I plan to work on here at the county.”

She added, “I’ll be working to make sure that the township voices are heard and that county resources are reaching all parts of the county.”

Jason Maciejewski

Maciejewski, who lives in Dexter Township, will be replacing Democrat Kent Martinez-Kratz as the new District 1 commissioner. He’s the chief advocacy and planning officer for the Senior Alliance, an area agency on aging.

He said the issues in the western part of the county are different than in the eastern part of the county, and having township voices heard is a big deal.

“We’re kind of a diverse group with different backgrounds and experiences, but I think we all want to work to improve things across the entire county,” he said of the new commission. “We have our own perspectives in our own districts, but we want to do things that benefit the entire county.”

He points to recycling as an example.

“I have a history on the recycling authority in the western part of the county and there’s a lot going on in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti with recycling and what that future might be. In the western part of the county, we’ve been quite successful with it and we’d like to expand that, and hopefully across the entire county we can all work together to expand something like recycling opportunities,” he said.

“But that kind of collaboration amongst the nine of us will hopefully lend itself to other issues like roads and behavioral health.”

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Washtenaw County Board Chairman Andy LaBarre, D-Ann Arbor, at a meeting last year. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

'A lot of good stuff'

County Board Chairman Andy LaBarre, D-Ann Arbor, said the fact that the board will consist entirely of Democrats does not mean it lacks diversity.

“Dems won in urban, suburban and rural parts of the county,” he said. “While we will all have Ds after our names, I know that will not mean unanimity of thought or action. I think it’s a reflection of Washtenaw County voters’ strong preference for public servants who share their values about the important role government can play in improving residents’ lives and ensuring all members of our community have a chance to succeed. It is also an explicit rejection of the abhorrence and immorality of Trump’s behavior and his racist rhetoric.”

LaBarre said he’ll be stepping down as chairman, following practice not to serve consecutive terms, and supporting four commissioners who’ve stepped up to serve in leadership roles as the new commission begins its work.

“I’m supporting Jason Morgan for chair, Katie Scott for Ways and Means chair, Sue Shink for Working Session chair and Ricky Jefferson for vice chair,” LaBarre said. “I'm proud that these four people together form a remarkably diverse group in terms of experience, gender, race, geography, sexual orientation, and priorities. I'm excited about what more we can do together as a board to serve Washtenaw County residents."

LaBarre expects the new commission to tackle issues such as community mental health and environmental policies and practices, and he’s hopeful “we can keep plugging away on the question of regional transit.”

LaBarre said he thinks there will be “a lot of good stuff ahead” and some of it will depend on whether the state provides adequate funding to help counties deliver mandated services, but he’s hopeful with Democrats in control of statewide offices, including Gretchen Whitmer as governor.

“I’m excited about Gov. Whitmer being an ally of county government. I’m hopeful the Legislature will get smart to that,” he said, adding he’s confident Whitmer gets that government is not the enemy, but a tool to help society.

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The county administration building in downtown Ann Arbor. (Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

Washtenaw is most Democratic county in Michigan

Washtenaw now ranks as the most Democratic among all 83 Michigan counties. See ranking details.



See a breakdown of how Washtenaw voted in various races on the November 2018 ballot.