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WARREN — Warren’s longtime former mayor has lost his bid for a seat in the Michigan House of Representatives.
In the Aug. 6 Democratic primary election, Jim Fouts was defeated by state Rep. Mike McFall in the race for a spot on the November ballot opposite Republican Barbara Barber, who ran uncontested in the primary for the District 14 seat in the state House. McFall, who represented District 8 before redistricting, received 6,491 votes and Fouts received 2,638 votes. Barber received 3,195 and will automatically advance to the November election.
State representatives are elected to serve two-year terms.
District 14 now encompasses part of Warren, Center Line, Hazel Park and Madison Heights.
Fouts attributed the results of his candidacy to being bipartisan for most of his political career, which included 16 years as Warren’s mayor and more than 20 years on Warren City Council.
In a telephone conversation, he said, “My Facebook page explains it.”
“Based upon my understanding of the political process I cannot win this partisan election. I’m neither a partisan on either side but a bipartisan official,” Fouts stated on Facebook.
Other reasons Fouts gave as to why his candidacy was not successful included Warren only making up a small portion of the district. The city councils and mayors of Warren, Madison Heights and Hazel Park supported McFall, who was also endorsed by the daily Detroit newspapers, according to Fouts.
“I have three major goals. One of my top priorities I talked about with voters at their doors is pushing for more mental health resources. We need to continue doing that as a state,” McFall said. “Another priority is holding utility companies accountable, especially with all the recent storms we’ve had, and the large number of power outages. And to go along with that, we need additional infrastructure funding, like with the large amount of flooding we’ve had in Warren. We need to get a handle on that.”
The primary contests for spots on the ballot for the November election in District 13 of the Michigan House of Representatives featured a total of seven candidates: three Democrats and four Republicans.
State Rep. Mai Xiong led the Democrats with 5,992 votes in the primary and will advance to November. In April, Xiong won a special election to fill the District 13 seat left vacant when Lori Stone was elected mayor of Warren in November 2023.
“It reaffirms that people want a leader, a representative that will be there for them and will listen to them, and I am very grateful that the voters have spoken very loudly,” Xiong said. “Residents are concerned about the increased cost of living, mainly seniors in particular, who live on fixed incomes and can’t continue to afford groceries or rising rent. I’m going to work with my colleagues to find ways to lower costs for families and put money back into their pockets.”
Advancing to face Xiong in November is Ronald Singer, who led the Republicans with 1,848 votes.
“It’s really not about me. It’s about all of our citizens in Michigan, especially about the younger ones. It seems like year to year we are leaving a bleaker and bleaker future to them,” Singer said. “What I’m hoping is that we can just bring a little bit more common sense not just to District 13 but all the 110 districts and work together to make things better for everybody.”
The other candidates were Democrats Patricia Johnson Singleton (798 votes) and Richard Steenland (1,600 votes), and Republicans Jerrie Bowl Bilello (465 votes), Mark Foster (1,555 votes) and John Sheets (967 votes).
The race for seats on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners included more than 30 candidates across 13 districts countywide, each running for a four-year term. Districts 11 and 12 represent Warren and Center Line.
In District 11, Gus Ghanam (2,118 votes) defeated Garry Watts (1,853 votes) in the Republican primary.
“I will make sure people come first, not politics. In my over 33 years of public service, I will make sure the people and residents of the city of Warren and Macomb (County) are taken care of. I will be working on cleaning up the Red Run Drain with Candice Miller. I will make sure our law enforcement has all the tools necessary to make Macomb and Warren safe, get the roads fixed, and help these people with basement flooding,” said Ghanam. “I have two feet in.”
Ghanam will appear on the November ballot opposite Lisa Wojno, who ran uncontested as a Democrat and received 6,082 votes.
“It was a great showing of support by the voters. I am extremely pleased with those results. I am looking forward to continuing to campaign,” said Wojno. “As a nurse, funding our health department is extremely important to me along with mental health services, senior services and veteran’s services.”
The District 12 race had four candidates all running as Democrats, which means the winner is the district’s new Macomb County commissioner. Michael Howard led this charge with 2,014 votes. The other candidates were Khaja Shahab Ahmed (1,235 votes), incumbent County Commissioner Michelle Nard (1,153 votes) and Terry Wisniewski (1,006 votes). Gloria Sankuer was a write-in candidate, and her results were not available at press time.
“I think it shows that how many folks care about the community and when folks rally together under a united mission, we can push forward for one another, and that’s what happened in my campaign,” Howard said. “I had volunteers from all sorts of different backgrounds, languages. We had Bengali volunteers — white, young, old, Black. Folks all rallied together around one mission and one purpose, and we want to see a change in the community. People supported in every way they could. Some stood out in the rain to distribute campaign materials.”
Warren voters pass proposals
Voters wanted changes in charter language and quicker road repairs and voted overwhelmingly “yes” for these.
By a margin of 12,836 to 5,153, Warren voters approved a 20-year, 1.98-mill levy that will generate money to pay debt and allow repairs to happen more quickly rather than stretched out over multiple years, according to government officials.
The charter amendment to clarify partial terms of office was passed overwhelmingly by a margin of 12,932 to 4,992. Now, if a council member serves two years or longer, it will be counted as a full term.
A charter amendment to replace the city assessor with a citizen on the Warren Election Commission was approved by a margin of 10,281 votes to 7,288. It will ensure another Warren resident is on the commission.
The language from the 1950s requiring meetings and city notices placed on at least 10 bulletin boards throughout the city will be updated after a vote of 12,462 to 5,297.
According to the Warren city clerk’s office, 21.43% of the 96,715 registered voters voted in this year’s primary compared to 18.44% in the 2023 primary and 20.6% in the 2022 primary.
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