In '22, Democrats won state House control. In '24, Downriver could decide if they keep it.

Downriver — the purple southeast corner of bright blue Wayne County — was home to some of Michigan's closest races two years ago and helped deliver a razor-thin House majority and full control of state government to Democrats for the first time in 40 years. This year, Downriver voters could decide whether the party will hold on to it.

In an election where only a handful of races could flip control of the state House, Downriver contests could provide Democrats pickup opportunities or help Republicans win back control. In 2022, Downriver elected to the state House by some of the tightest margins that year Democrat Jaime Churches, of Wyandotte, Republican Jamie Thompson, of Brownstown Township, and Republican James DeSana, of Carleton.

Downriver encompasses the Wayne County communities along and near the Detroit River south of the Motor City. The area is home to auto plants, former industrial sites, quaint downtown corridors and strip malls. Local political leaders describe it as a working-class area home to independent-minded voters.

With less than a month until the election, political lawn signs dot the Halloween kitsch outside homes across Downriver. It's easy to find blocks where residents have staked into the ground an uninterrupted line of signs for former President Donald Trump and around the corner stumble across neighbors at political odds.

Churches' district falls entirely within Downriver. But Thompson and DeSana represent districts that straddle Wayne and Monroe counties. While about three-quarters of the votes in their 2022 races came from Downriver, the pair of GOP lawmakers narrowly lost the Wayne County portions of their districts while carrying every precinct in the Monroe County portions to secure victories.

While state legislative candidates sometimes ride the coattails of the top of the ticket to victory, fierce partisans Downriver may not decide which party prevails in the fight to control the state House.

"Downriver voters have been proven to be some of the top ticket-splitters in the state," said Wayne County Commissioner Alex Garza, who lost his bid for a Downriver state House seat in 2022.

In 2016, Downriver voters narrowly propelled Democrat Darrin Camilleri to his state House victory while backing Trump by a double-digit margin. Camilleri — now a state senator — was the only Democrat in 2016 to flip a red seat in the state House.

Trenton Mayor Steve Rzeppa said a change in voting patterns has made Downriver a battleground. "I think that it has gotten a little bit more competitive especially when Trump is on the ballot," he said.

Voters across the swing state of Michigan already know they live in one of the most politically consequential parts of the U.S. that could decide the presidential election. But on one block in Wyandotte, Churches tried to convince voters they live in one of the most politically consequential parts of the state, too.

Churches promises to be Downriver advocate in tough reelection fight

Downriver is the "epicenter" of Michigan politics, Churches told voters in Wyandotte on Oct. 4 as she knocked doors.

A former elementary school teacher, Churches points to the COVID-19 pandemic as a motivator for her first state House bid, saying during that time, she felt the weight of the challenges students face outside school that teachers confront in the classroom.

Churches has had four bills signed into law: to expand background checks to all firearm purchases, allow public schools to help collect union dues, improve traffic at railroad crossings and enable Grosse Ile Township to own and operate a toll bridge with voters' approval.

Churches said she's seeking reelection to "make sure Downriver has a strong advocate that isn't afraid to cast votes that are reflective of the community." She recently abstained from voting on a bill to give data centers a tax break, saying she wrestled with business leaders' development goals and constituents' concerns about energy reliability and affordability.

Churches said she's working to expand care for women experiencing fertility challenges. She gave an emotional speech on the House floor last year sharing her story of living with endometriosis, a chronic disease in which tissue grows outside the uterus that can cause infertility. She's undergoing IVF treatment as she faces another tough campaign.

"I didn't want to have to pick one or the other," Churches said. In addition to bringing down the cost of fertility care, Churches says she also wants to lower child care costs. One voter asked Churches what she's most passionate about while the Democratic incumbent knocked doors on a recent Friday night. "Making sure that people can have families," Churches responded.

Churches' opponent is 22-year-old Rylee Linting, whose campaign website provides few details about her legislative priorities, but names lowering taxes and stopping the state budget from growing as some of her key goals. Her campaign website features a photo of her at a shooting range but does not detail her stance on firearm regulations. Linting declined a request for an interview through a Republican campaign spokesperson.

Linting pinpoints her time at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) as inspiring her to become politically involved, saying that as a student she "faced indoctrination, vaccination mandates, and woke student culture." She attended GVSU from 2020-23 but did not graduate, according to the university. She then studied at the private evangelical Christian Liberty University in the fall of 2023 and the spring of 2024 but has not earned a degree, according to the school.

Before running for the state House, Linting served as the youth chair for the Michigan GOP. According to her website, she currently serves as a field representative for the conservative youth organization Turning Point Action.

Challenging Thompson wasn't on this Dem's 'to-do list'

Thompson holds a unique position in Michigan politics: She's the only Republican state lawmaker who lives in Wayne County.

She's a nurse — the only one in the state House, she pointed out — and is raising three of her grandchildren after her daughter died in a motorcycle accident. Thompson said her husband stopped working to help care for their grandchildren, so she's raising a family of five on a lawmaker's salary. "That's what's so disheartening sometimes … (when) the more grassroots Republicans … when they're like, 'You're establishment, and you're a globalist and you're a RINO.' And it's like, really? I drive a minivan with 230,000 miles on it," she said.

Some of Thompson's online social media posts appear aimed at dispelling any doubt on the right about her ideological commitments. In some, she appears as a conservative firebrand. In one, she rails against Target for displaying an advertisement showing men using cosmetics, calling it "woke" and saying it "has to go."

But in an hourlong interview with the Free Press, she didn't veer much into culture war issues. Instead, she emphasized her advocacy around mental health, opposition to toxic waste coming into Wayne County and the fight to address the socioeconomic challenges voters in her district face.

"It seems that most of my Republican colleagues tend to live in wealthier districts," she said. "We see a lot of generational poverty Downriver."

In the November election, Thompson faces Janise O’Neil Robinson, a special education teacher in Taylor who lives in Brownstown Township. Robinson said she envisions approaching legislating on behalf of her district as she would developing an individualized education program for a student with stakeholders coming to the table to make decisions based on group input and data.

Robinson wasn't initially planning to run.

"This has not been on my to-do list," she said. Robinson said she was complaining about Thompson's voting record to Camilleri and asked who could challenge the GOP lawmaker when Camilleri suggested her. She said she initially feared the idea, but decided it would be hypocritical for her not to jump in since she said she's always encouraging her daughter to do hard things.

On the campaign trail, Robinson shares her arduous journey to motherhood when talking about reproductive rights. She said her desire to start a family drove her to become a teacher so she could spend summers with her child. She said she miscarried for the first time 15 weeks into a pregnancy right after she told those in her life that she was expecting a child. After undergoing surgery to remove a tumor on her uterus, she said she underwent fertility treatments and became pregnant with her daughter. She wanted to have another child, but after two more miscarriages and another failed fertility treatment, she said she stopped trying.

In 2022, voters in the 28th House District approved an abortion rights ballot proposal while also electing Thompson, who opposed legislation repealing Michigan's abortion ban.

DeSana faces challenge from Dem who calls opponent divisive

DeSana is a sheep and cattle farmer and former fastener salesman. He's a member of the House Freedom Caucus — a group of far-right Republican House lawmakers. While they have often stuck together to stake out more conservative positions than their Republican colleagues, they've also split over legislation to ban child marriage in Michigan (DeSana joined Republicans supporting the package) and a bill that added new penalties for littering (DeSana also backed the increased fines for illegal dumping).

During his first term in the state House, DeSana has introduced measures to ban employers from discriminating based on an individual's vaccination status, ban the sale of lab-grown meat in Michigan and to impeach Attorney General Dana Nessel.

While DeSana has put forward legislation backed by other conservative GOP lawmakers, he also stands out from other Republicans as an advocate for reining in corporate influence in Michigan politics. He's the lone Republican listed among the lawmakers who have signed onto the "Taking Back Our Power" pledge to publicly support legislation to ban DTE, Consumers Energy and companies seeking state contracts from making political donations.

This fall, DeSana had hoped to see a proposal to eliminate property taxes on the ballot. "I believe that property taxes prevent Americans from truly owning private property and owning their home," he wrote in a letter the AxMITax ballot campaign shared on its website. The initiative missed the filing deadline, but legislation DeSana introduced to cut property taxes in half for seniors remains pending. He declined an interview request through a GOP campaign spokesperson.

Democratic challenger Kyle Wright described DeSana's membership in the House Freedom Caucus as closing the door to constituents and their concerns. "It isolates a lot of the community to feel like they don't have a representative," he said. To serve a diverse district that spans suburban communities close to Detroit and rural areas requires someone who's not attached to partisan labels who make everyone feel like they can talk to their lawmaker, Wright said.

The 25-year-old Democrat was raised in Taylor and serves on the local school board. He counts dressing up as a human hot dog and having ketchup and mustard thrown on him during "fun day" on a school visit among his adventures as a public servant.

Some of his priorities include increasing funding for public schools, making companies pay for cleaning up sites they contaminate and investing in public transit and mental health services.

Wright loved growing up Downriver and recalls neighbors who didn't care about one another’s political leanings. "You watched out for each other," he said.

Despite the political polarization in the region today, he said, the area still maintains a community feel and residents stick up for where they live when people paint Downriver in a negative light. "It's a united group where we all say, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You might not be from here, so don't talk bad, because at the end of the day, we know that we have something special,' " Wright said.

Contact Clara Hendrickson: [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Downriver could decide which party controls Michigan House