Meet the candidates seeking a Warren-based state House seat in upcoming special primary
Anne SnabesRepairing roads, supporting small businesses and assisting residents living in poverty are among the priorities for the candidates vying for an open Michigan House seat in Warren and northeast Detroit.
Three Republicans and three Democrats are competing in the primary for the 13th House District on Tuesday. The respective winners will then face off in a special general election on April 16.
Special elections are taking place in the Democratic-leaning 13th and 25th districts because former state Rep. Lori Stone was elected mayor of Warren and former state Rep. Kevin Coleman was elected mayor of Westland on Nov. 7.
The election dropped a 56-54 Democratic majority in the House to a 54-54 tie. So the special elections in the two mostly suburban districts will determine whether Democrats maintain control of the House.
On the Democratic side of the 13th District race, former state rep. LaMar Lemmons III of Detroit, Warren church administrator Suzanne Ostosh and Macomb County Commissioner Mai Xiong are competing for the chance to make it to the general election.
Meanwhile, Warren resident Brandon Cumbee, engineering professional Ronald Singer and pastor Curtiss Ostosh — Suzanne Ostosh’s husband — are competing in the Republican primary.
Because Stone defeated Singer for the seat in 2022 by nearly 34 percentage points, the winner of Tuesday's Democratic primary is heavily favored to win the special election in April.
Who are the candidates and why are they running?
Xiong has served as the commissioner for District 11 on the Macomb County Commission since January 2021. She ran for Warren city clerk last year, but lost to incumbent Sonja Buffa.
A mother of four and small business owner, Xiong said she’s running for the 13th House seat because she wants to “continue to be a voice for all families,” and she was asked to fill the seat after Stone was elected mayor of Warren.
“Others have seen my leadership on the board of commissioners,” she said, “and a lot of people have encouraged me to run for this position.”
Xiong, 39, has been endorsed by Stone, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Detroit City Councilman Scott Benson, the Detroit Regional Chamber Political Action Committee, among other organizations and elected officials.
Lemmons, another Democrat in the race, served as a state representative from 1999 to 2003 and from 2005 to 2007 and is the son of LaMar Lemmons Jr., who also served in the state House. The younger Lemmons was a key witness in a lawsuit brought by Black Detroit Democrats that successfully challenged the current Detroit House and Senate districts. In December, federal judges declared 13 districts unconstitutional and ordered them redrawn by the state's redistricting commission.
Lemmons, 69, is running for the 13th District seat because he says there isn’t enough “institutional memory” in the House.
“I feel that they’re missing the mark on critical issues,” he said of the Legislature, “because of the relative, collective inexperience of the legislature, largely filled with freshmen.”
Lemmons is able to run this year because Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2022 allowing state representatives to serve up to 12 years — the previous limit was six.
The third Democratic candidate, Suzanne Ostosh, 62, is a retired restaurant owner. She now serves as executive director of Harvest Time Christian Fellowship on 9 Mile Road in Warren, which she said is a volunteer position. In addition to holding a Sunday service, the church operates a food pantry and provides clothes and other assistance to people in need.
Suzanne Ostosh said she has been known for years as a “conduit” – she connects people in south Warren and north Detroit to resources.
“I felt by going to Lansing, I could help connect people better with all the resources that we have,” she said.
Her husband, Curtiss Ostosh, 61, is running in the Republican primary for the seat. He is the pastor of Harvest Time Christian Fellowship. He said he sees the struggles of many people day-to-day and is familiar with issues such food insecurity, affordable housing and the government’s approach to mental illness. He noted that there are “so many things that we could do to help people that we don’t.”
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Another candidate in the Republican primary, Singer, is an engineering professional at Dominion Technologies Group, a company that does technological work for the auto industry. Singer, 72, couldn’t be reached for further questions.
The final Republican candidate, Cumbee, couldn’t be reached for an interview.
Candidate agendas
Xiong said she’s committed to “the success of our children’s future.”
“And I will work tirelessly to ensure that everyone has access to a high-quality education and a supportive environment to grow a family, to start a business or find a good-paying job,” she said.
If elected, Xiong said she would advocate for state funding to reconstruct the portion of Mound Road south of 11 Mile Road.
More:$220M project to transform Mound Road in Macomb Co. nears completion
Lemmons said he would push for an expansion of dollars allocated for home improvement grants and revitalizing neighborhoods. He said his district is “extremely blighted.” Some of his other priorities include home and auto insurance reform and holding DTE Energy “accountable” for their electricity rates and outages.
He also wants the state to encourage the creation of mom-and-pop businesses in Detroit that are owned by people who live in the community.
Suzanne Ostosh said she would be focused on improving public education — a high school near her church has a low graduation rate. The church plans to start a tutoring program for youth, she said.
As a state representative, Ostosh said she would seek state funding for recreation centers and after-school programs. In addition, she would support tax relief for new businesses that “really want to be a part of the community.”
Curtiss Ostosh said he would like to bring about “more awareness of the common person” as a state representative.
He said Macomb County has a large homeless population, including many children. He said the government has “tried but failed on so many levels” to serve the unhoused community.
Debating taxpayer incentives
In the past two years, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration has approved several large incentive packages recently to companies building new factories, including $175 million for an electric vehicle battery maker's plant near Big Rapids and $210 million for a Ford Motor Co. project in the Marshall area.
The News asked the candidates about whether they support these types of taxpayer-funded incentives for economic development.
Xiong said it’s important to “invest in our businesses, and particularly our small businesses, making sure that we bring back a lot of those public taxpayer dollars to our local businesses.”
When pressed for her thoughts on incentives for larger companies, Xiong said she’s “really focused” on winning this election.
“And then when I’m there, I want to listen and learn and … be a team player,” Xiong said.
Lemmons said he opposes the taxpayer incentives for Ford and Gotion because of the way they were awarded. He wants additional strings attached to the money and "buy in" from local governments on projects orchestrated by state economic development officials.
He said something else could have been done that included additional caveats. He said that if a company gets to pay lower taxes, the local government – or a local entity attached to the government – should have a “buy in” to the corresponding equity.
Suzanne Ostosh said she thinks taxpayer-funded incentives are “a great idea.”
“Because when you help the big companies with the tax incentives, they’re able to spend more money to hire more people,” she said. “And the more people that they hire, the more it makes everybody raise up. If you make it too difficult for them to expand and grow, you’re not going to have the growth in the employment – and we need employment growth.”
Curtiss Ostosh said the incentives should be looked at with caution. He noted that if the state is going to offer large tax incentives to corporations, he’d like to see the companies hire local residents.
“Because if the state dollars don’t equate to helping our own citizens,” Curtiss Ostosh said, “I don’t think the state should put mega dollars into projects that don’t benefit the citizens directly.”
How the candidates characterize themselves politically
The candidates were asked to what extent they would be independent from their party in the Legislature.
Xiong said she feels she has been a “strong, independent Warren voice” on the Macomb County Commission, and she would advocate for resources to come back to the House district if she's elected.
She also said it’s important to have strong relationships with those you’re working with, and she has had “a lot of success working in a bipartisan fashion” on the county commission.
When asked if she considers herself a progressive or moderate Democrat, Xiong said she doesn’t like to put labels on herself.
“I tell people, I’m not a politician. I’m a mom of four children that I care a lot about their future, and I bring a very unique perspective,” she said.
Lemmons noted that Whitmer is supporting Xiong.
“The entire Democratic apparatus is on the other side, and I’m on my side,” he said.
Lemmons said that if he wins, he will be “the most independent candidate in history.”
Suzanne Ostosh said she considers herself a moderate Democrat and noted that her father has “been union his whole life.” She said the main way she differs from the party line is that she is pro-life.
“I do believe in life,” she said. “I do believe in conception to natural death.”
On the Republican side of the race, Curtiss Ostosh said he is “fairly independent” and has his own viewpoints.
“I would say in the bigger scope of things, I probably align myself as a Christian more with the Republican party, but I’m not beholden to anybody,” he said. “I’m not sponsored by the Republican party.”
He said he would work with all lawmakers to “build a coalition to actually make positive change across the aisle, if you will.”
asnabes@detroitnews.com