Elections and political party machines in Grand Rapids

I was out and about recently when I cam across the political yards signs shown here below. One is for David LaGrand, who is running to be the Mayor of Grand Rapids, and the other one is for Richard Williamson, who is running for a seat on the Grand Rapids Public School Board.

There were no other political signs at the residence, just these two candidates. It made me curious, so I started to look at both candidates and found out that it was no coincidence that these two yard signs were next to each other.

Both LaGrand and Williamson began their campaigns way before anyone else in their respective races, with LaGrand submitting paperwork with the County Clerk in May of 2023, and Williamson submitted paperwork in April of this year.

What is instructive is that Richard Williamson is the treasurer for David LaGrand. In fact, Williamson has a history with LaGrand, since he was his campaign director in 2021-22, when LaGrand was running for a State Senate position. Since then, Williamson has been a legislative aide for Rep. John Fitzgerald, worked for the Michigan Senate Democrats as Legislative Director and is currently the Deputy Finance Director for the Michigan Senate Democrats.

The treasurer for Richard Williamson is Max Aulbach. Aulbach is the Legislative Director for the 82nd District State Representative Kristian Grant.

If we look at endorsements for both LaGrand and Williamson, we see lots of similarities. Both have numerous endorsements from Democratic Elected officials and numerous labor groups that have a history of providing lots of campaign funding to Democrats. However, LaGrand also has the endorsement of a few overtly far right people, such as the notorious Grand Rapids Capitalist Sam Cummings and Pro-Cop business people Johnny Brann Sr. and Johnny Brann Jr. 

On the matter of campaign finances, David LaGrand has received funding from some of the usual Democratic Party elites and the business community, as we noted in July of 2023, November 2023, and in July of 2024. We don’t have campaign finance data for Williamson as of yet, since his campaign didn’t report anything in the last campaign deadline cycle in July, but I will post his campaign finance information in late October, when the Kent County Clerk’s office makes that information available. Only then can we determine if there are similarities between LaGrand and Williamson in regards to campaign contributions.

However, what seems clear is that both LaGrand and Williamson are backed by the Democratic Party establishment, since both have been involved in Democratic Party politics in Grand Rapids, Kent County and at the state level. Both David LaGrand and Richard Williamson have been endorsed by the Kent County Democrats, despite the fact that both are running for non-partisan positions.

The question I have for voters is, since both LaGrand and Williamson are part of the Democratic Party machine, will that translate into supporting business as usual politics if elected or will they really listen to the community, especially BIPOC and other marginalized communities, that have been most impacted by business as usual politics that both the Democrats and Republicans have supported in Grand Rapids?