12th District Michigan House of Representatives Race12th District Michigan House of Representatives Race Three Democrats are competing in the primary for the 12th District Michigan House of Representatives seat, which has been redrawn to include parts of Macomb and Wayne counties. Kimberly Edwards (D) is the incumbent and has been representing the district since 2022. During her first term, she authored laws addressing foster children’s education and prohibiting insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Patrick Biange (D) is an agricultural inspector and veteran who has previously run for seats in the Michigan Legislature. He advocates for supporting small businesses, especially in clean energy and technology. Angela McIntosh (D) is an insurance expert running for office for the first time. If elected, her priorities include increasing funding for education, small business, mental health services, and infrastructure projects, particularly to address flooding in the district. Randell Shafer (R), a retiree and veteran, is the lone Republican in the race. He opposes the Democratic Party’s policies, favors reducing government spending, and emphasizes his expertise in veterans’ affairs. The winner of the August 6th primary will face Shafer in the November 5th general election. The Michigan House of Representatives currently has a narrow Democratic majority.
State Rep. Kimberly Edwards, a Democrat serving her first term in the Michigan House of Representatives, faces two challengers in the Aug. 6 primary for a redrawn seat in the 12th District, which covers Macomb and Wayne counties.
The district has changed dramatically recently: it is still centered on Edwards’ hometown of Eastpointe, but now extends east toward Lake St. Clair, encompassing parts of St. Clair Shores and Grosse Pointe Woods, as well as part of northeast Detroit.
“We haven’t had a lot of time to adjust to this,” Edwards, 46, said of the revised district boundaries. “It’s done, and now it’s time to go, time to run.”
In 2022, when Edwards ran in the old 12th District, he narrowly defeated incumbent Rep. Richard Steenland in the Democratic primary before winning the general election. Steenland is running again, this time in the 13th District, which has also changed dramatically.
This time, Edwards will face two lesser-known primary candidates on Aug. 6. Patrick Biange, 57, is an agricultural inspector who previously ran for seats in the Michigan Legislature. Angela McIntosh, 52, runs an insurance agency and trains insurance and financial professionals seeking state licenses. She is making her first bid for office.
Only one Republican, Randell Shafer, 60 — a retiree and veteran who has run for several elected offices over the years — is on the ballot.
The winner of the Nov. 5 general election will serve a two-year term in the Michigan House of Representatives, which currently has a narrow Democratic majority.
Edwards, a social worker and mother of four who lives in Eastpointe, said she is especially proud of two laws she authored during her first term. One is aimed at ensuring better educational outcomes for foster children. Another prohibits insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions — part of a larger effort by lawmakers to codify provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act under state law. She said she was also proud to help secure funding to replace lead water pipes in Eastpointe and expand programming at her community Boys & Girls Club.
“Every social worker gets a problem and tries to provide a solution, and that’s exactly what we do in the legislature,” Edwards said.
More: Whitmer signs $23.4 billion education budget amid concerns over stagnant school funding
Edwards’ priorities in a second term would be to continue improving the district’s water infrastructure and also addressing constituents’ concerns about high utility prices, even as power outages have become relatively common. She said she also wants to improve the state’s mental health care system and explore whether medical racism is a problem that needs to be addressed in Michigan.
Biange, an Army veteran who serves as a U.S. Department of Agriculture agricultural products inspector at the Ambassador Bridge crossing, has previously run for seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate. He said he is running because he wants to improve the state’s “socio-economic trajectory” and advocate for a “more vibrant economy.”
Biange said that can be accomplished by encouraging and providing subsidies for more small businesses in Michigan, particularly those in clean energy and technology such as wind and solar, as well as job training programs to support them. He said he would also advocate for more small farms and agribusinesses and farmers markets. Smaller businesses, he said, are better at taking care of their workers.
McIntosh, the insurance expert who lives in the Detroit part of the district, said in an email that her main goal, if elected, would be to increase funding in several areas for the district, including education, small business job creation and retention, community mental health services and infrastructure projects.
One of the main goals would be to help stop “the constant flooding that happens every year” in the district’s suburbs, McIntosh said.
McIntosh said she would especially like to serve on the House Budget and Small Business committees.
Shafer, the lone Republican in the race, has run unsuccessfully for several Macomb County positions over the years, including commissioner and clerk, and a seat in Congress. The Army veteran and St. Clair Shores resident said he does a lot of volunteer work in the area, including for his local veterans organization and an animal rescue.
“I want to be involved because of Gov. Whitmer and her far-left stance on a lot of issues — I want to fight against that,” said Shafer, who highlighted his concerns about state government spending. He said the Democratic Party in the state has moved too far left and is “driving businesses out of Michigan.”
Given his background in the military, he said he would also bring his expertise to veterans’ affairs in the Legislature.
“I agree with Donald Trump on a lot of things, not everything,” Shafer said. “I like his choice for VP (J.D. Vance). He was a Marine.”
[email protected]
@lramseth
