UPCOMING EVENTS
DATE & TIME | EVENT & LOCATION |
|---|---|
Ongoing / Wednesdays | Yoopers for Ukraine Bridge March. Every Wednesday at 5 PM. More info on the Yoopers for Ukraine Facebook page. |
September 22 | “The Active Responsibility of Citizenship by Lindsey Cormack” —lecture cosponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Copper Country, Michigan Tech Huskies Vote and others (more info here) |
September 23 | HCDP Fall Highway Clean Up (see item below for more info) |
October 1 | Get the Flock Out! — Virtual Townhall by ACLU of Michigan (more info here) |
Events featured in our newsletter can also be found on the Events Calendar on the main page of our website.
FALL ELECTION DATES
DATE | WHAT’S HAPPENING |
|---|---|
September 24 | Absentee ballots and drop boxes become available |
October 19 | Last day to register to vote online or by mail (registration in person at your local clerk’s office is still available up to and including Election Day.) |
October 24 | Early in-person voting begins. The early voting site for all Houghton County precincts is the Houghton County Building at 19741 W. Sharon Avenue. |
November 3 | Election Day |
PARTY NEWS
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES - HELP GET OUT THE VOTE WITH MDP ONE TEAM
Door knocking and phone banking continue in cooperation with the Michigan Dems’ One Team. Turn out is even more important this year than in previous years, and while pundits can make predictions for a “blue wave”, it won’t happen on Election Day without all of us working to Get Out the Vote! Join the door knocking and phone banking efforts and encourage your friends and family to vote!!
DOOR KNOCKING IN HOUGHTON COUNTY
This fall, Michigan picks a new Governor, a new U.S. Senator…and the doors we knock now are how we win in November…
Whether this is your first time knocking doors or you're a seasoned pro, we'll provide plenty of training and all the materials you need to feel comfortable and confident. You'll get a walk list, a quick run-through of the script, and everything you need to hit the doors.
PHONE BANKING (VIRTUALLY)
With over 300,000 people in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, we have the capacity to swing the results of this November's election…
So this is our invitation to you, our northern friends, to aid us in this endeavor. If you have a day, an hour, and the desire to help us build a brighter tomorrow, then we have a place for you. Six days a week we're making calls to folks across the UP and the rest of Northern Michigan.
CAN’T DOOR KNOCK OR PHONE BANK THIS FALL?
Your monetary donation to a candidate can make a big difference in getting out the vote. Below are links to the ActBlue fundraising pages of our 2026 Michigan Democratic candidates. Please consider a donation:
Callie Barr for US House
Abdul El-Sayed for US Senate
HIGHWAY CLEAN UP SEPTEMBER 23
COME JOIN US FOR THE FALL HIGHWAY CLEAN UP!
Join us tomorrow, Wednesday, September 23rd at 5:30 PM. (Rain Date is the following Wednesday, September 30th). Parking is available at the Adopt-A-Highway sign just past Goat Hill Rd. We provide gloves, safety vests and bags. We’ll be cleaning our stretch of highway as part of the Adopt-A-Highway program — M-26 from just past Goat Hill Rd heading out of Ripley, and on through to Dollar Bay.
STOP BY - THE OFFICE IS OPEN!
Now open four days a week!
Stop by to pick up yard signs and campaign literature, or just to say hello!
CAMPAIGN NEWS
CALLIE BARR’S FIRST AD RELEASED
US House candidate Callie Barr’s first ad of the general election cycle is now out. If you’ve not seen it yet, you can view the ad here on Callie’s Instagram account.
EL-SAYED ANSWERS QUESTIONS WHILE MIKE ROGERS IS A NO SHOW AT DEBATE
It was an unusual setting last week when Fox 2 Detroit went ahead with a televised debate for Michigan’s US Senate candidates, even though one of the candidates — Republican Mike Rogers — never responded to the station’s invitation to participate. That left the stage to our Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed, standing next to an empty podium reserved for the Republican.
El-Sayed answered questions from Detroiters, submitted both by text and in person from the studio audience. You can see the full debate here on the Fox 2 website.
BRIAN IRIZARRY SITS DOWN WITH TV6’S BRADY MEYER
Brian Irizarry took questions from TV6’s Brady Meyer in Episode 65 of that station’s “Beyond the Ballot” internet interview series. You can find the discussion here on the show’s webpage. Look for Episode 65 along the bottom of the screen (use the left and right arrows to move through the list of episodes). The interview starts at about 3:35 minutes into the show.
You can also find the interview that Brady Meyer did with Secretary of State and candidate for Governor Jocelyn Benson on that webpage. That interview is in Episode 64, and starts at about 5:20 minutes into the show.
WHAT’S ON YOUR BALLOT?
CANDIDATE SLATE & JUDICIAL ENDORSEMENTS
Every election year we put together our slate of Democratic candidates and recommendations for the nonpartisan judicial races. You can find this year’s slate on our web page (houghtoncountydems.org), or just click here to get a two page PDF you can print out to share with friends and family or to take with you to the ballot box.
The PDF also includes our “Vote YES” or “Vote NO” recommendations on the ballot proposals for this year, which are explained in more detail below.
BALLOT PROPOSALS
Local Proposals
» County Jail Proposal
We support the millage proposal for the county jail and recommend you vote YES.
» School Millage Proposals
The Copper Country Intermediate School District has a millage proposal on Houghton, Baraga and Keweenaw County ballots — HCDP recommends you vote yes.
There is also at least one local school district millage proposal on specific precinct ballots in the county as well. While the Houghton County Dems support strong local public education, we are not recommending one way or the other on local school district proposals.
Statewide Ballot Proposals
» Constitutional Convention Proposal: Proposal 2026-1
This is the question of whether the state should hold a Constitutional Convention. This proposal automatically appears on the ballot every 16 years, and this is one of those years. It has appeared before voters three times since the current Michigan constitution was adopted in 1963, and has been soundly defeated each time. This time around both Democratic and Republican candidates are almost unanimous in saying they do not favor holding a new convention. — HCDP recommends you vote no.
» Money Out of Politics Proposal: Proposal 2026-2
This proposal is also known as the Michigan Money Out of Politics proposal, would prohibit certain organizations and individuals — such as regulated electric and gas utilities, contractors with over $250,000 annually in government contracts, and people and organizations with substantial connections to those utilities or contractors — from making direct or indirect contributions to those who run for office, and also provide further regulations for campaign finance laws and spending on political communications. — HCDP recommends you vote yes.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT MEETINGS
WED SEP 23
The Houghton City Council meets at 5:30 PM on Wednesday. The Meeting Agenda is typically posted ahead of the meeting. Look for it in the Searchable Document Center of the Council's website.
A FULL LISTING OF ALL LOCAL CITY, VILLAGE AND TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENTS, WITH CONTACT INFORMATION, AND (WHERE AVAILABLE) TIMING OF LOCAL COUNCIL MEETINGS CAN BE FOUND ON OUR WEBSITE.
SUBMIT A RESOLUTION
This newsletter is paid for with regulated funds by the Houghton County Democratic Party, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.
Contact us by email at [email protected] or by text or voicemail at 906-523-1233