Sporting a campaign button
on the right lapel and a U.S. Senate pin on the left lapel of his suit jacket, former 38th District State Senator Mike Prusi (D) on Sunday stepped in for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer at an Economic Club of
Marquette event after her plane
hit a flock of birds and was forced
to make an emergency landing in
Pontiac.

Prusi said he believes Whitmer
will be committed to the citizens
of the U.P.

“She has an affinity for the
people in the Upper Peninsula,”
Prusi said. “She came up here
long before she thought about
campaigning or asking people for
their vote.”

Prusi has known Whitmer since
2002. He cited their collaboration
in the House of Representatives
and six-year Senate relationship

as reasons for his endorsement.

“She’s demonstrated that she’s
willing to make compromises to
get things done, but she will not
be ramrodded and she will not
be railroaded,” Prusi said. “I
saw how much she cared about
the people she represented. I
saw how much she cared
about the issues she was
fighting for.”

Whitmer, a former state
senator and state house
representative, is facing
the state attorney general

Bill Schuette, a Republican who has received endorsement from President

Trump, but not from outgoing governor and would-be

G.O.P. successor Rick Snyder. Whitmer has been endorsed by former President

Obama and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

In Michigan’s primary
election, Whitmer captured
nine U.P. counties, whereas

Schuettee won six.

In a mid-October Marketing

Resource Group
Inc. (MRG) poll,
Whitmer led

Schuette in every geographical area in the state except for

Northern Lower Michigan and
the U.P., where he leads her 45
percent to 41 percent.
Scott Dianda (D-Calumet),

110th district state representative and senate candidate for

the 38th District, is optimistic

that the efforts of U.P. Democratic politicians along with

Whitmer’s bipartisan relationships and current momentum will turn the historically red

half of the state into a Democratic-leaning peninsula.

“We need to concentrate on
our 3 percent population of the
U.P.,” Dianda said at the event.
“We’ve been out knocking doors
and we’ll get the votes.”
Dianda will face Republican
candidate Ed McBroom and
Green Party candidate Wade
Roberts on the November
ballot.

The Michigan general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 6