Three candidates are currently competing for the Michigan State Senate to represent the 15th District. On Aug. 4, voters will cast their partisan ballot to choose the candidate to represent their party for the November election. There are currently three hopefuls looking to take over the seat, following term-limited Democrat Jeff Irwin.
Michigan’s 15th State Senate district represents parts of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Township, Lodi Township, Milan Township, and all of Augusta Township, Bridgewater Township, Clinton Township, Macon Township, Manchester, Manchester Township, Milan, Pittsfield Township, Saline, Saline Township, Superior Township, Tecumseh, Tecumseh Township, York Township, Ypsilanti, and Ypsilanti Township.
Felicia Brabec (D)
Felicia Brabec is a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives running as a Democrat for Michigan State Senate District 15. Brabec is a practicing clinical psychologist with a doctorate in clinical psychology and a master’s degree in clinical social work. Brabec served two terms in the Michigan House of Representatives after serving on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners for nine years.
Brabec states on her website, "My life’s work has always been about service — to my family, to community, and to what’s right. I’d be honored to devote my passion to serve you as State Senator, collaborating with our wonderful residents to make our lives better."
Campaign Issues:
Brabec’s campaign focuses on eight key issues: mental health care, gun violence prevention, equity, criminal justice reform, LGBTQ+ rights, environment, education, and cost of living.
Brabec explains on her website that she wants to use her experience as a mental health professional to advocate for affordable and accessible mental health care for all. Her equity policies include eliminating disparities in maternal health and child mortality rate, uplifting Black and brown entrepreneurs to create local small business, and reforming the criminal justice system so that minorities are not disproportionately targeted.
Additionally, Brabec hopes to work toward ensuring that minors cannot be tried as adults and eliminating the school-to-prison pipeline. To prevent gun violence, Brabec wants to enforce mandatory background checks and enforce safe storage and red flag laws.
Her vision includes age-appropriate comprehensive sexual education, diminishing disparate eviction rates for LGBTQ+ community members, and increasing overall support for the queer community to combat suicide rates. Her environmental policies include replacing lead pipes across the state, and ensuring clean drinking water for everyone, banning tar sealants, and promoting clean energy and job training to prepare our workforce for a greener economy.
She hopes to support a variety of post-secondary pathways, make college education more affordable, and support teacher retention. Her economic policies include helping small business owners in achieving minimum wage increases and ensuring fair pay to direct care workers.
Jason Rogers (R)
Jason Rogers is a former software engineer running for Michigan’s 15th State Senate District as a Republican. Rogers served as a precinct delegate for four years and was an alternate delegate to the 2024 Republican National Convention. Rogers is the current Chairman of the Washtenaw County's GOP.
On his website, Rogers states, “Above all else, I am a man of faith. Everything I do flows from my devotion to Jesus Christ, and from that devotion I derive the honesty, integrity, and grace I bring to public life”.
Campaign Issues:
Rogers’ campaign promotes six key issues: preserving the United States’ constitutional republic, ensuring election integrity, upholding what he described as traditional family values, defending First and Second Amendment rights, economic policy, and education.
Rogers envisions stronger separations of power and checks and balances by creating a stronger legislative oversight, returning to part-time citizen legislature, and protecting states’ rights and opposing federal overreach.
In regards to elections, Rogers strives for stronger voter ID requirements, regular audits of voter rolls, paper ballots that are hand-counted, single day voting with said day being a holiday, and removing Michigan from its Electronic Registration Information Center membership.
His campaign refers to upholding traditional family values as promoting policies that encourage traditional families, supporting parental rights in education and health care, and advocating for faith-based community initiatives.
Rogers’ economic policies include eliminating property tax, reducing income tax, encouraging growth and innovations, and promoting American energy independence. His education policy includes focusing on core academic skills over civic education, opposing critical race theory, and teaching curriculum that promotes unity and equal opportunity.
Michael White (D)
Michael White is a US Army veteran running as a Democrat for Michigan State Senate district 15. White began his career in working for Summit Polymers, a global supplier for automotive interior systems, before moving to the United States Postal Service. White then served as Vice President of the Kalamazoo Public Schools Transportation Association for the Michigan Education Association for four years. White continued his career working for AFLAC and AT&T before starting his own nonprofit, Connecting Academics.
His website states, “Michael White’s journey from the streets of Ypsilanti to the global stage, from a U.S. Army uniform to corporate boardrooms, and from grassroots activism to the frontlines of Michigan politics, is a testament to grit, service, and an unwavering belief in people over politics”.
Campaign Issues:
White’s campaign highlights 11 key issues: economies and jobs, healthcare, education and workforce, safe communities, environment, workers and unions, criminal justice, gun safety, seniors, veterans, and equity and civil rights.
His vision focuses on investing in small business and raising wages, as well as making housing more affordable and strengthening unions. White aims for healthcare for all, including mental health and reproductive care.
His campaign prioritizes funding K-12 education to allow for smaller classroom sizes and higher pay for teachers. He promises to fight for a reformed criminal justice system, hoping to end the school-to-prison pipeline, and to ensure that minors cannot be tried as adults.
In efforts to prevent gun violence, White’s campaign promises stronger laws on background checks, safe storage laws, and red flag laws, to ban high capacity magazines and ghost guns and restore Local Gun Boards.
Alongside honoring veterans and protecting social security for seniors, White’s campaign targets stronger equity and civil rights, fighting against racial injustice and promoting gender inequality, voting rights and women’s reproductive rights.
