LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan Republicans are buckling up for the 2026 Midterm Elections, while cracking down on key policy issues.

Dick and Betsy Devos, prominent Republican donors, launched the Michigan Forward Network on Thursday to provide financial backing for the state’s Republican party. They enlisted former chair of the Republican National Committee Ronna McDaniel to serve as the organization’s CEO.

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“We [Michiganders] have whiplash, a little bit. We elect a Democrat, then we elect a Republican. We take two steps forward with conservative ideas, and then four steps back,” McDaniel said in an interview. “We need to make Michigan reliably red like Ohio, so that we can bring investors here, so we can have good jobs, so we can expand education, so that we can make our state and state that people are moving to instead of moving away from.”

Move Michigan forward.

McDaniel said that Michigan Forward Network was started to move Michigan forward and make the state a better place for people to raise their kids. The Read by Grade Three law, enacted in 2016 under former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, would have held back third-graders who failed a reading proficiency test.

“Gretchen Whitmer and the Democrats repealed the third grade reading law. They said, ‘You know, we’re going to let kids pass the third grade if they can’t read.’ How is that responsible leadership?,” McDaniel asked.

She also noted the state’s high taxes as a factor that will deter people from moving to Michigan. 

“This organization is saying, we need to make sure that we’re putting good policies in place that continue to move Michigan forward, and become a state like Florida and Texas, where people are moving to those states, because of those conservative policies that are drawing them there, instead of fleeing them like they’re doing from Michigan whenever we get Democrat leadership,” McDaniel said.

Another politician is considering a U.S. Senate run.

Michigan politicians are also preparing for next year’s elections. On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) announced that he is considering running for the U.S. Senate, according to the Detroit News. He will make his decision by this summer. If Huizenga wins, he would replace Democratic Sen. Gary Peters who is planning to retire at the end of his term.

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“I want to make sure we win [the Senate seat],” Huizenga told reporters at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Thursday. “I want to make sure we’ve got the right candidate to do that. Personally, I think it should have been won last election. It didn’t. And the question is: Are we going to run the same play and expect a different result?”

But Michigan Democrats are feeling the heat. U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) called out her party for claiming the economy was better than it was during the Biden administration.

Democrats must “own the mistakes” of the last election.

“Certainly, after two decades of watching reality television, Americans can sniff out inauthentic statements and talking points like a bloodhound,” Slotkin said in an interview on Wednesday. “So just when you’re trying to fake it, I think people know it.”

Slotkin is championing the state’s push toward a more united Michigan.

“I don’t think we can stand up to Trump in a credible, thoughtful, strategic way if we don’t own the mistakes we made in the last election that got us here,” Slotkin said. “And two, I acknowledge that our unity is our power, and that if we can work together — progressives, moderates, whatever the heck you want to call people — that we’ll be 10 times more effective encountering Trump than any kind of spotty approach that lots of groups take at the same time.”

Gov. Whitmer addresses similar concerns.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer echoed Slotkin’s sentiments in her keynote address at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Thursday.

“In Michigan, we know what it means to do hard things that make a real difference in people’s lives,” Whitmer said. “We must work together to make sure every Michigan kid can read and build on the work we’ve already done to implement proven, science of reading strategies. We must work across the aisle to deliver a sustainable, long-term solution for state and local roads so people can get where they need to go safely.”

Whitmer continued: “And we must secure a chip factory in Michigan, ensuring we can design and make the cutting-edge technology America will need to lead the 21st century, while creating thousands of good-paying jobs for Michiganders. Let’s build on our incredible progress over the last six-and-a-half-years, stay focused on the fundamentals, and move Michigan forward.”

As Michigan heads into its next election cycle, both Republicans and Democrats are ramping up their efforts to define the state’s future. As leaders on both sides call for action — from education reform to economic transformation — voters will ultimately decide which vision will move Michigan forward.