August 21st , 2026 Len’s Political Note #833 Sean McCann Michigan 04
2026 General Election
Sean McCann
At the end of July, 2025 Republican Congressman Bill Huizinga, Michigan 04, announced he would not run for the US Senate. He was leaving that particular field to former Congressman Mike Rogers.
Katie Smith of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said: “Bill Huizenga has spent this entire year proving to Southwest Michiganders he has zero desire to represent them. From his vote to kick Michiganders off their health care and raise their costs while giving tax cuts to billionaires, to his rubber stamping of reckless tariffs that mean higher prices for families, it’s clear Huizenga works for the special interests and is out-of-step with Southwest Michiganders”
Bill Huizinga needed still more time. He waited until December, 2025 to tell the people of Kalamazoo and others in Michigan 04 that he would stand for reelection. He never generated any other serious candidate for the job. So, whether he had “zero desire” or a greater interest than that, he began 2026 as a candidate for reelection.
Huizinga may have been affected by his concern that a scandal could turn into criminal charges. In July, 2025, shortly before Bill Huizinga announced he would not run for the US Senate, the Detroit Metro Times reported, after, they explained, they had reviewed campaign finance filings, corporate records, property records and other public documents: “Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga’s campaign has paid more than $400,000 to a company owned by his brother, who has simultaneously worked as a full-time real estate agent and helped sell luxury condos owned by Huizenga and his wife…”
Perhaps coincidentally, around the same time as the Metro Times report, Sean McCann announced he would run for Michigan 04. He was not the first Democrat to announce his candidacy. Fifty-three years old, a member of the Potowami tribe, he did not focus on Huizinga’s corruption or his apparent uncertainty about who he wanted to represent, if anyone. Sean McCann focused on his own qualifications and on what the Republicans, Bill Huizinga among them, had done to the people of southwestern Michigan.
Sean McCann is a graduate of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Out of college, he worked with non-profits, the Red Cross among them. He was elected a Kalamazoo city commissioner, serving in that role for ten years. Elected a state rep in 2010, he ran for the State Senate in 2014 and lost by 59 votes. He asked for a recount. The recount made it a loss by 61 votes. Sean McCann ran again in 2018 against the same opponent, now the incumbent State Senator. Sean McCann won the rematch by more than 12,000 votes and has been in the state senate since that victory.
Announcing his run for Congress, Sean McCann said: “I’ve spent my life working for our community and putting politics aside to deliver tax relief for Michigan families, protect women’s right to choose, and bring good-paying jobs back home. Families in Southwest Michigan know what hard work looks like. But right now, that work isn’t paying off like it should, thanks to politicians in Washington who have left us behind to give tax breaks to special interests and billionaires. Our families deserve a representative who works as hard as they do and who focuses on what matters to them, and that’s why I’m running for Congress.”
We know a lot about the results in the Michigan primaries. We know that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is the Democratic nominee for Governor, that Medical Director and Doctor Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee for the US Senate, winning by a surprisingly narrow margin. We know that in the contestable House seats, climate activist William Lawrence is the Michigan 07 nominee, incumbent Kirsten McD Rivet was renominated for Michigan 08, that Prosecutor Christina Hines won the nomination for Michigan 10 by nearly 20 points, and, like Rivet, incumbent Hillary Scholten had no opposition for Michigan 03. We will be hearing about these races later. Michigan and other midwestern states are among the crucial places for Democrats to achieve victories locally and to win the national House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
Sean McCann is an ally of all of these nominees and is as American as you can get. Help him flip this seat to the Democrats. DONATE to his campaign. In the latest poll, funded by Democrats and completed in early June, he led Huizinga by 3 points. On July 15, Sean McCann had $1.9 million cash on hand to Huizinga’s $2.3 million. Your $10 or $25 or $100 will help him consolidate that lead.
Other Michigan races
Governor: Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is running against Republican Congressman John James, son of a wealthy African-American businessman. July polls had Jocelyn Benson leading by 2,3, and 9 points. An August poll had her ahead by 5 points. According to Google AI, Jocelyn Benson has $6.4 million to spend while John James and super pacs supporting him had $3.2 million. DONATE to Jocelyn Benson. Governorships have a powerful effect on people’s lives.
US Senate: Abdul El-Sayed, Medical Director for Detroit’s Wayne County, grew up in Bloomfield Hills, an upscale Detroit suburb. He captained his high school football, wrestling, and lacrosse teams. He went to Michigan, graduated from Columbia Medical School, and earned a Rhodes Scholarship. He returned to Michigan, not to practice medicine, but to work on medical policy. An effective campaigner, he initially appeared not to be a factor in the Senate race, later appeared dominant, and ultimately won the primary narrowly. A Muslim on the left wing of the Democratic Party, Abdul El-Sayed insists he is not a socialist. Commentators have said he handled the issue of Israel less divisively than New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. His Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, a former Congressman, former lobbyist, former talk show host, with ties to law enforcement, recanted his views of the 2020 election and now leans toward those who believe Trump actually won that election. Rogers has Trump’s endorsement after he lost the 2024 Senate race to Elissa Slotkin by a half percentage point. August polls are divided. A Fox News poll had Rogers ahead by 4 points. A Democratic funded poll had Abdul El-Sayed ahead by 6. In the financial race, Abdul El-Sayed has raised $14.5 million and had $2.6 million remaining on July 15. Rogers, who had no primary, raised $10.9 million and had $4.5 million on July 15. DONATE to Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign. His victory would be good for Michigan, good for the Democratic Party, and good for the country.
Michigan 03: Democrat Hillary Scholten used to be considered vulnerable. Not so much anymore. Cook ranks the seat solidly Democratic. She was probably the most critical public official of El-Sayed’s candidacy, particularly of his campaigning with Hasan Piker, a streamer who according to the Anti-Defamation League, has a “history of rhetoric that sanitizes violence and denigrates Jewish people.” Congresswoman Haley Stevens set an example for how to deal with a loss after her narrow loss to El-Sayed in the Democratic primary: She argued for accepting the will of Democratic voters. Endorsing El-Sayed, she said “That’s called democracy. You don’t sign up for a Democratic Party to….continue to hold a grudge.” The Democratic Party is intended to be a big tent. Hillary Scholten has worked hard to protect the Great Lakes, to protect small businesses, and, perhaps most important, to protect children from illegal exploitation as workers. She deserves our support. DONATE, maybe just a little bit since she leads her Republican opponent $1.4 million to $400,000 in cash on hand and her seat is considered solidly Democratic.
Michigan 07. Democrat William Lawrence is a 36 year-old activist, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, which is confrontational on climate change issues. He is the Democratic nominee, in part because the Republicans supported him surreptitiously thinking he was less likely to win, in part because two more moderate Democrats divided the more moderate vote in the primary, and in part because Democrats in Michigan 07 understand something about the climate crisis. William Lawrence needs support from all Democrats. On July 15, he had $400,000 while the incumbent Thomas More Barrett had $2.9 million. Barrett is an abortion opponent, an opponent to efforts to reduce the cost of health care, and frequently accused of campaign misbehavior. He has posted an advertisement in a Black owned newspaper listing an erroneous date for the election, paid his wife’s law firm with campaign funds, and, as a Congressman, avoided town meetings with constituents. This is a toss-up district. No longer surreptitiously touting him, Republicans claim William Lawrence is an extremist. The extremist, and a corrupt one at that, is the current Congressman, Thomas More Barrett. DONATE to William Lawrence’s campaign. Because this is a toss up district, with resources and with the support of those he defeated in the primary, this Democrat can be elected.
Michigan 10 Democrat Christina Hines was the local candidate. A latecomer to the race, she won the primary by 17 points. She grew up and lives in Macomb, the blue-collar suburb of Detroit, the heart of Detroit’s racial discomfort, the home of Reagan Democrats, Christina Hines grew up went to Michigan, got a law degree from Wayne State, and married a Black man from home. Until she decided she would run for Congress, her career was devoted to prosecuting perpetrators of sexual assault, child abuse, and human trafficking. She knows what it means to fight for victims. This is an open seat, the seat formerly held by Republican John James, the son of a Black logistics (trucking and a lot more) magnate. The Congressman is now running for governor of the state. Christina Hines opponent is Mike Bouchard, a former paratrooper and the son of a popular local sheriff. On July 15, Bouchard had $1 million cash on hand; Christina Hines had $150,000. She needs your help in this district considered to be a Republican lean. DONATE to Christina Hines’ campaign.
