Earlier this year, Democrats in Michigan’s state legislature broke with Democratic Party norms by actually using their elected offices to push through a suite of significant pro-worker legislation. This included rolling back the right-to-work law that Michigan passed in 2012, making Michigan the first state in more than fifty years to do so.
Joey Andrews, elected to the state house in 2022 to represent District 38 in southwestern Michigan, championed the repeal of right to work and other pro-union policies, like restoring teachers’ bargaining rights. Jacobin’s Nick French spoke with Andrews about Michigan Democrats’ recent legislative record, the relationship between labor and the Democratic Party, and the current moment in working-class politics more broadly.
Joey Andrews
I got really involved politically locally after the tail end of the 2016 election — like a lot of people inspired by the horror that was the Donald Trump campaign — to try to do everything possible to stop him from being president. When that was unsuccessful, I got involved with my local Democratic Party, and specifically with the community in Benton Harbor.
The district I represent is the southwest coastline of Michigan, running from Saugatuck to New Buffalo. It includes the city of Benton Harbor, which is a roughly 90 percent African American community surrounded by significantly whiter communities. What we saw during 2016 was low turnout in the black community. I started getting involved there...
KATIE Price’s husband Lee Andrews was active on Instagram AGAIN after false claims that he was arrested. On Saturday, Katie, 48, was forced todeny claims by Lee’s dad that he had been arrested in ...