Washtenaw County Commissioner Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor) announced his campaign for the Michigan State Representative of District 53 in the 2022 election on June 17. If elected, Morgan will replace incumbent Yusef Rabhi (D-MI), who will end his fixed term in 2022.
The current Washtenaw County Commissioner for District 8, Morgan, was elected in 2016 and won re-election for his next two terms. Morgan was also elected chairman of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners from 2019 to January 2021, making him the first LGTBQ + chairman in Ann Arbor history.
Since his campaign was announced, Morgan has had the support of half of Ann Arbor city council members, over a dozen local community leaders, and other elected officials in Washtenaw district.
For example, Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor expressed support for Morgan’s campaign in a press release.
“I’m very excited to support Jason’s candidacy for state representative,” said Taylor. “Jason has the energy, drive, and compassion it takes to be an effective voice for the people of Ann Arbor. I look forward to working with him to advance our community. ”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Morgan said his advocacy for progressive politics will help represent Ann Arbor and Washtenaw Counties at the state level.
“I’m running because I think we need good representation in Lansing,” said Morgan. “I think we need someone for Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor at the same time who is boldly progressive, forward-thinking, and pragmatic. I believe we can work on things like protecting our access to the right to vote, the environment and LGBTQ rights and all of those things. The Ann Arbor representative has a uniquely powerful and immense role in ensuring that these voices are heard in our legislature. “
As a member of the LGTBQ + community, Morgan said community members shared meaningful experiences seeing him, a gay man, serving as a civil servant in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw Counties.
“It’s one reason I think it’s very important to be outside and proud; being gay and making sure people know it’s me, ”Morgan said. “Not because that is a sign of a good civil servant or not, but because representation is important.”
Laws against transgender athletes and other anti-transgender laws have been kicking back against these anti-transgender and other discriminatory laws in the United States with increasing frequency since early 2021.
“My hope of being elected would be to further promote LGTBQ + rights,” said Morgan. “(To) ensure that people who are gay or transgender or otherwise are not fired for who they are, that they are not discriminated against on the basis of their identity on the basis of their home or any other aspect of participation in our society. This is something that is still a struggle for the LGBTQ community, and especially for our transgender community and those who are black and brown in the LGBTQ + community. “
Based on his experience as an instructor at Washtenaw Community College, Morgan said that he believes in the importance of teaching and wants to ensure that Michigan’s K-12 education system receives the support it needs at the state level.
“Our K-12 education system was so incredibly underfunded and our teachers were taken for granted,” said Morgan. “We’re not doing our students a good service with this. We have teachers who want to do this work, they’ll show up and want to teach, but the classrooms are falling apart. We have textbooks that are way out of date and they lack the technology to do their jobs. Much of it has to do with funding and the injustice in our state funding system … I think this is a place where our state has done a terrible job over the past few decades. “
Jacob Sendra, sophomore at LSA, is an intern for Morgan’s campaign for the State Representative. Sendra intends to study political science and has worked on several political campaigns at the local, state, and national levels.
Sendra, an Ann Arbor local, attended the Washtenaw County Youth Commission while in school – a group that works with teenagers in Washtenaw County to discuss and educate students on local government issues – and met Morgan through his work know in this program. Sendra said working with Morgan showed him how local government can affect the lives of those around him.
“He showed me the importance of advocacy at the local level,” said Sendra. “It’s easy to (just) pay attention to national politics. But when I was on that commission and worked with Jason, I really saw the impact local government has on everyone’s life and the importance of the progressive advocacy that Jason values so much. “
Sendra also said that he believes Morgan will bring progressive advocacy that will be needed in the Michigan state government if he is elected as a state representative.
“The state legislature is currently dominated by the Republicans,” said Sendra. “Ann Arbor has a long history of sending strong, progressive voices to Lansing. We really need to carry on this legacy if we are to protect the fundamental rights that have been attacked by Republicans who are firmly behind Trumpism. We need progressive voices like Jason to counter that. “
Many of the issues that Washtenaw County’s commissioners are working on are interlinked, according to Morgan. He said that focusing on multiple guidelines in his campaign will ensure that everyone is represented equally at the state level.
“A lot of these issues we talked about are so interrelated,” said Morgan. “My hope would be to continue to ensure that our state works for everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, socio-economic status, or anything about someone’s identity or life situation.”
The Daily News editor Jasmin Lee can be reached at [email protected].
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