Longtime county Dem chairman stepping down
Bruley throws support behind vice chair Diebolt to fill Macomb County role
A well-known politico in Macomb County is stepping down as longtime chairman of the county’s Democratic Party, and he anticipates the baton will be passed to a member of the younger generation.
Ed Bruley, chairman of the county’s Democratic Party for two decades, isn’t running for chair again and is supporting vice chair Alysa Diebolt, of Eastpointe, for the role. He believes the voting process will be wrapped up in the middle of December.
Bruley, 71, of Clinton Township, said Diebolt, 33, is “young, enthusiastic and incredibly knowledgeable” and that he believes she will be “an excellent replacement.”
“The time has come,” he said of stepping down from the post in Michigan’s third-most populous county, home of the socalled Reagan Democrats and closely watched nationally, particularly during presidential elections.
‘Ed Bruley is an institution’ with links to David Bonior
“I’m going to be supportive of Democratic candidates, as I always have been, but in a different capacity,” said Bruley, who also is secretary of the board of directors of the Macomb Cultural and Economic Partnership and chair of the Macomb Art Institute Authority.
Bruley, who said he anticipates being a member of the county party’s committee and board, has been moving and shaking in Democratic Party circles for years, with ties to former U.S. Rep. David Bonior, D-Mount Clemens, who represented the county in Congress for 26 years and was a former House Democratic whip and presidential campaign adviser.
“Ed Bruley is an institution,” said Ed Sarpolus, founder and executive director of Target-Insyght. “Ed’s been part of the Macomb County political machine since the very beginning of time.”
He said Bruley has knowledge about the good, the bad, the actors, where the money is and solving problems. He said Bruley is “old party” and knows about door-knocking, getting out the vote, coordinating and appeasing to interest groups.
He said the party chair is “just more than the party chair, he keeps things together.”
It’s a good time for transition in Macomb County
Mark Brewer, the longest-serving chair of the Michigan Democratic Party who lives in Clinton Township, said Bruley’s institutional knowledge goes back decades. He said the party, under Bruley’s leadership, recruited people and built up the volunteer base.
“Ed has been fighting the trends in the county,” Brewer said. “I think Alysa will be an heir to that.”
Brewer said now is a good time for a transition like this. Sarpolus agreed, saying a change in leadership needs to come while there are still mentors.
Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she would not seek reelection to the Democratic leadership in the next Congress, passing the torch to a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus.
The Macomb County battleground
Brewer said Macomb County faces its political challenges, with former President Donald Trump being a big part of that attraction. The majority of voters in the county cast their ballots for the GOP candidate in the 2016 and 2020 elections. The countywide elected leaders and county commission also have swung majority GOP in recent years.
But in this month’s general election, a majority of Macomb County voters reelected the state’s top three Democrats for governor, secretary of state and attorney general.
“It remains a real battleground,” Brewer said of the county. “It remains a very competitive, twoparty county. … Again, Macomb County will be a battleground in 2024. I think it continues to be a real bellwether swing county and worthy of national attention.”
Diebolt says she’s ready to handle the national attention in the new role as the county’s Democratic Party chair, taking over for Bruley, a former county commissioner and former Mount Clemens Community Schools trustee who will still be available for guidance, knowledge and questions.
Diebolt, a member of the county’s Board of Canvassers, is a glass artist and a small-business owner. She’s a self-described election and data nerd who has lived in the county for 11 years.
Diebolt said she is originally from the small town of Rock, Mich., in the Upper Peninsula, nearly a 61⁄2-hour drive from Eastpointe, but which makes the northern, more rural part of Macomb County more understandable to her.
Diebolt is married to Eastpointe City Councilman Cardi DeMonaco and served as chair of the city’s arts and culture diversity commission. In 2017, she said she was a legislative aide to Democratic state Rep. Bill Sowerby for a year. She said she then was appointed as the county party’s vice chair, a role she has held about a handful of years, when former vice chair Kathy Tocco resigned to run for a district judge seat.
Diebolt said she wants to bring in new voices — not just young people, but also those new to politics. She said she would like to see more Democrats apply to boards and commissions across the county, which not only helps the community but also brings more diverse opinions as well as name recognition.
She said Democrats have the opportunity for expansion in all the communities in the county, and she said she’s hearing “new voices” out of traditionally Republican northern communities, such as Washington Township.
Diebolt said she hopes for the county party to have more symbiosis with the local Democratic clubs and for Democrats to win more seats, particularly on the county commission.