Following the untimely withdrawal of a State Senate candidate, a replacement has stepped forward.
Longtime Livingston County Democrat Jordan Genso has filed to run as the Democratic candidate for the newly drawn 22nd State Senate seat. Previously, Mike Tipton of Howell Township had planned to file for a run for the Democratic nomination, but was forced to drop out after suffering a massive heart attack in late March from which he is still recovering.
“I am running to honor my good friend and fellow Democrat, Mike Tipton,” said Genso. “I ask every voter in the district, Republican and Democrat alike, to keep Mike’s recovery in their heart. When Mike told me he was going to run, I was excited to support his candidacy, and was heartbroken to hear of his heart attack. In the spirit of Mike’s intended campaign slogan of ‘You Have a Real Choice’, I felt I could help fulfill that promise by ensuring that the voters have a real choice this November. So I’m doing this for Mike, and I’m doing it for the Livingston County and district voters who aren’t happy with what our politics have become,” Genso continued.
With that in mind, Genso said his campaign will focus on restoring civility in what he termed “our hyper-polarized times.”
Genso is a Realtor with RE/MAX Platinum in Brighton. He, his wife Lesa, and their two daughters live in the city of Brighton, where he serves on the Brighton District Library Board of Trustees and the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
Genso, a lifelong Michigan resident, says that for decades the Michigan legislature has failed to have the forward-looking vision needed to ensure a sustainable future.
“I don’t know anyone who thinks our state is better off now than thirty years ago,” he said, noting that the State Senate has been controlled by the Republicans since 1984. “Every single bill that our legislature has passed during my lifetime is one that the Republicans either proposed or agreed to. With that long track record of failure, we can’t expect better results in the future if the Republicans continue to control our State Senate,” Genso argued.
The 22nd district is currently represented by Senator Lana Theis (R-Brighton), who faces an August primary against Mike Detmer (R-Howell). Genso is unopposed in the Democratic primary, so he will face either Theis or Detmer in November.
A 2020 candidate for Livingston County Clerk, Genso says he is deeply familiar with the state’s election system, which Detmer has made a focus of his campaign.
Detmer has repeatedly stated falsely that massive voter fraud resulted in Joe Biden’s win over former President Donald Trump. That’s despite over 250 state and local audits of those results which confirmed Biden’s more than 154,000 vote victory in Michigan.
Genso says he and Detmer had the opportunity to have a civil discussion about that topic in April of 2021. “From that conversation, I gained a better understanding of Detmer’s concerns about our election systems,” Genso stated. “But that said, the key takeaway for me was that he wasn’t actually able to identify a single problem that wouldn’t have been discovered and corrected by the numerous safeguards built into our election system.”
Genso’s disagreements over election integrity also extend to the current occupant of the district seat saying that “reforms being pushed by the Republicans, including bills Senator Theis has proposed to allow election clerks to refuse to certify election results they don’t like, do more harm than good and are not about improving election integrity.”
In the end, Genso said, “This race is a choice. Do we choose a political climate of civility and respectful disagreement, or do we continue to accept today’s increased polarization and dehumanization? Do we choose government that looks ahead to ensure we’re on a sustainable path, or shortsighted policies that foment division and pass the real problems on to future generations?”
Genso concluded by pointing to Mike Tipton’s vision for the district. “Mike saw how continuing on the path to ever-greater political division is harming our citizens. My campaign honors his courage by providing the voters with the choice to shift to a better path.”
The newly redrawn 22nd State Senate district includes all of Livingston County, and all or parts of Stockbridge, White Oak, and Leroy Townships in Ingham County, Argentine and Fenton Townships in Genesee County, Antrim and Burns Townships in Shiawassee County, and Holly Township in Oakland County.
