Historic change in political landscape
First Black lawmakers to represent county in state House
She is a little known social worker and mother of four who had never run for public office before.
He was a political insider who had been unsuccessful in two previous attempts to get elected.
Together, Democrats Kimberly Edwards and Donavan McKinney will go down in the record books as the first two Black lawmakers elected to serve Macomb County in the Michigan House of Representatives.
It’s another sign the county is in the process of experiencing changing demographics and progressing forward with diversity, observers say.
.”This is my first rodeo and I am very proud of that,” Edwards said. “I am proud of the fact that I had the opportunity. And yes, I am really surprised that I won my first election in this district. I am excited for the outcome.”
Both McKinney and Edwards will be sworn into office Jan. 1, 2023.
Part of the changing landscape is due to an increase in minority population that is adding more people of color to the mix in Macomb.
Another aspect is because of new political maps assembled by the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission last year. Commissioners were constitutionally obligated to disregard political boundaries and incumbencies.
Under a redrawn district,
the 12th House District includes Eastpointe, Roseville and a portion of the east side of Detroit. Edwards will be the first representative of the district.
An analysis by the political newsletter MIRS found that, prior to the 2022 election cycle, only four incumbent Michigan lawmakers have lost in primary races to non-incumbent challengers since 2010.
Edwards, 44, pulled off a stunning upset over incumbent Richard Steenland of Roseville in the Democratic primary in the 12th House District. Steenland won handily in Macomb County by a 53%-to-47% margin, but lost in Detroit.
Her margin of victory was a razor-thin 287 votes. Among those endorsing her candidacy was the American Federation of Teachers Michigan.
In the November general election, she easily defeated Republican Diane Saber, who ran on anti-abortion rights, and expressed extremist right-wing views and spread conspiracy theories.
Edwards said her experience as a social worker gave her the back needed to connect with a community and identify their needs but also provide solutions that can help improve lives. She plans to resign from the hospital she is employed at in preparation of her new job in Lansing.
She has spent whatever free time she has been focused on touching base with various people who know their way around the state Capitol in an effort to hit the ground running.
“You do what you can between November and Jan. 1 to learn the background, where the bathrooms are, all those things so you can do your job effectively and efficiently,” Edwards said. “You talk to people who are already there, who have been there and have experience, ask them questions and figure out how to be fully aware.”
Edwards was born and raised on the west side of Detroit, moved to Roseville,
and later purchased a home in Eastpointe where she lives with her husband and four children. Her family, who basically made up her campaign team, supported her candidacy, as did a number of labor groups when they learned about what she stood for.
She counts U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, former state Rep. Alberta Tinsley-Talabi and the late Shirley Chisholm, the first Black female to be elected to Congress, as her as her role models, and says the three were advocates for women and minorities.
Edwards acknowledges she has given some thought to running for higher office, but for now she wants to concentrate on doing the job she was elected to do.
“My philosophy is to stay honest to the people I represent,” she said. “And to be a voice for those individuals who are unheard.”
Problem solver
Joining Edwards in the freshman class will be Donavan McKinney, who has been building experience in the community for the past several years.
He has worked as a legislative director in the Michigan Legislature, in community development and for the Service Employees International Union. He served on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Environmental Justice Council and helped develop the pandemic plan to restore water and sewage service to Detroiters.
“I want to be a problem solver for the people in my district,” McKinney said.
He ran on a platform of equitable funding based on need, improving mental health resources, affordable health care, environmental
justice, criminal justice reform, and pushing for a living wage and union rights.
Endorsed by more than three dozen entities, the native Detroiter is the first state rep from the newly-created District 14, which includes Center Line, Warren, and a portion of Detroit’s east side.
“Most folks want to break down the barriers that separate us,” the 30-year-old said. “We all want the same things — to be able to put our heads down to sleep peacefully at night, to not have our cars broken into, to have safe schools and clean water. So that’s a starting point for us.”
Earlier this year, his wife — an attorney — and he celebrated the birth of their first child. The event symbolized the birth of an expanded career for McKinney.
McKinney himself was born and grew up on Detroit’s east side. He was raised by his grandmother because his mother worked.
“My mother and grandmother used to tell me, ‘Donavan, no matter what you go through in life, one, wake up and count your blessings, that you have food and a house, and, two, always remember to never give up,” he said.
After graduating from high school and college, he found employment in various government positions, and participated in mock government programs in college that gave him “a chance to observe the process of how making a bill into law was done.”
Eventually, he began thinking about running for office and then put those thoughts into action.
In 2016, he finished third in the race for then-District 3 incumbent Rep. Wendell Byrd. Four years later, he lost
in the Democratic primary to Shri Thanedar.
No more
‘business as usual’
But in each case, more and more people paid attention to the outgoing McKinney as he built a reputation.
Around January of 2022, he started getting calls from various unions, stakeholders and others who said “you gotta run” for this seat.
“But I was coming off the loss in 2020 and I was still devastated,” McKinney said.
“I felt like I did the community a disservice. I felt like I let them down because I know what real representation looks like. So I prayed on it and eventually got my answer the same week my son was born. That’s why I am so excited to have this opportunity.”
One local political observer said the growth of diversity in Macomb County — especially in the county’s south end communities of Eastpointe, Roseville and Warren — is now translating into a rise of successful minority political candidates.
Joel Rutherford, chair of the Black Caucus of Macomb County, said the growing numbers of Black elected leaders in the city council, mayoral races and county commission were buttressed in 2022 by the ballot box triumphs of Macomb’s first Black circuit court judge Teri Lynn Dennings, and the two Black House representatives.
“The redistricting certainly has something to do with this, but also I think people’s attitudes are changing,” he said. “I’m not saying we are where we should be, but it looks like we’re going in the right direction.”
Rutherford said he’s optimistic the numbers of elected Black officials will continue to grow. He said he understands the anger and frustration of the redistricting, but adds “I am certainly glad to see historic change taking place in Macomb County.”
“It hasn’t been business as usual,” he said. “We are talking about equity and availability of candidates. The Black community is looking for equity, not an advantage. Any time we talk about change, people in power tend to look at it as a bad. It isn’t.”