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The annual Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference is an annual exercise in political, informational, boozy and caloric excess, so we’re going to stay away from the near-futile task of summing it all up here. But it’s safe to say this was a consequential meet-up of Michigan’s political and business leaders tailed by journalists getting the inside out, even if there were no big policy negotiation breakthroughs.
Here are the five takeaways from the Grand Hotel with a lot to follow up in the weeks and months ahead.
The GOP’s future
In the Donald Trump era and the retinue of MAGA Republicans favoring tariffs and economic populism, a lot of business-focused Republicans feel like they don’t have a political home.
“We’ve changed jerseys,” chamber President and CEO Sandy Baruah told Rick this week. “Nine out of 10 of the wealthiest congressional districts in the country are represented by Democrats and a majority of the poorest congressional districts in the country are represented by Republicans.”
Baruah, a former congressional staffer who also served in both Bush administrations, says a lot of business people are going to be more independent-minded going forward on where they’re going to throw their support and campaign donations. Some business-friendly Democrats may be the beneficiaries depending on the outcome of Republican primaries.
Whitmer & Trump: It’s still complicated
Whitmer appeared copacetic with that message in her main address to the conference, calling for state and federal elected officials to embrace certainty and predictability over the chaos of Washington D.C. Whitmer may be the model (or something close to it) of what Baruah’s talking about even as she pushes for some type of a big road-funding solution that would likely have to include some type of revenue enhancements. (You know – taxes) She’s already gained some favor with business folks by signing business-friendly bills earlier this year on the state minimum wage and earned sick leave.
Whitmer also talked up her working relationship with President Donald Trump to win a new fighter jet mission to be stationed at Selfridge Air National Guard base in Macomb County – a major boost to the local and state economies. She basically said the Selfridge announcement made the awkward Oval Office visit where she famously tried to cover her face with a blue folder to avoid being photographed worthwhile.
And while the governor reiterated she’s willing to work with Trump to get things done for Michigan, she was mightily chagrined to hear the President say earlier this week that he’s considering pardons for two anti-government extremists convicted of conspiring to kidnap Whitmer. [They’re currently serving lengthy federal prison terms.]
“It looks to me like something of a railroad job,” Trump said of the convictions in response to a question by a reporter from The Detroit News.
Whitmer told Rick at the conference that pardons would go back on a face-to-face promise the President made to her.
“Well, I think anything short of condemning political violence does a disservice to everyone,” she said. “I'll be honest with you, I talked to the President about a month ago and he asked me how I'd feel about this and I said I think it would be the wrong decision. I would oppose it and he said ‘okay, I'll drop it’.”
Whitmer said she plans to get in touch with the White House and remind Trump of that promise.
The Icy Four
Zoe moderated a much-anticipated panel of the state Legislative “quadrant” - that’s Lansing-speak for a convening of the four legislative leaders: the Speaker of the House, Senator Majority Leader, House Minority Leader and Senate Minority Leader. It’s no secret in Lansing that the relationship among these four is frosty but it went to sub-zero quickly in the nearly forty minutes of on-stage conversation (it’s believed this is the first time the four have actually been on stage together since the start of the legislative session in January).
Clearly, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) wasn’t paying attention or simply paid no heed to Whitmer’s call for civility in her conference remarks. The pot-stirring Republican leader turned to House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) and said “I don’t need you” to get things done. Hall has regularly used Puri as a punching bag in his weekly press conferences with reporters. This time it was in front of an auditorium full of spectators who didn’t necessarily appreciate Hall’s pugilism (although the House Republican caucus certainly seems to embrace Hall’s take-no-prisoners approach).
Hall seemingly attempted to find something good to say about his Senate counterpart. But complimenting adversaries doesn’t really fit into his skill set. He started to talk about bipartisan cooperation to resolve business concerns about the state’s minimum wage and paid sick laws before pivoting to how many Democrats voted no and said it was Republicans who got the bills across the finish line.
“Matt, that’s not a compliment,” replied Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids),
“It is,” he insisted.
It’s worth mentioning that Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) largely stayed out of the fray, which may have something to do with the fact that he’s running for governor and there would be some downside risk in front of an organization that preaches civility.
The Chamber, to be expected, also likes government to be fiscally responsible and it is no secret that the Lansing budget process is well behind schedule. Hall has gone so far as to say he doesn’t consider the July 1st deadline in state law to be a major consideration. And, to be honest here, it’s not like there are real consequences spelled out in the law. But there are consequences for local governments, school districts, community colleges and public universities that have budget years that begin July 1st and will have to engage in educated guesswork as they come up with their spending plans. The state’s fiscal year doesn’t begin until October 1st, which is the real deadline for lawmakers, when there is an obligation to have a balanced budget in place.
Hall’s proposal to adopt an emergency "government shutdown prevention plan” isn’t landing well with this group. But, Hall doesn’t necessarily care a lot about the opinion of the “elites” who gather on Mackinac. He has also called for a late-in-the-game spending review that could decelerate the budget process.
Duggan’s conference
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan certainly had a good week on Mackinac. In many respects, he owned the conversation even before conference attendees made it on the island as his campaign for governor peppered I-75 north with billboards highlighting his 2026 run for governor as an independent.
Duggan was given prime time at the conference to highlight his agenda as Detroit mayor and to tout his problem-solving process in what was basically a campaign speech.
He used his main stage address to call for a $4.5 billion dollar investment in Michigan’s education system and took on the negative campaigning that’s plagued state and national elections. Duggan – until very recently a Democratic Party power broker – is banking on his “plague on both their houses”approach to motivate voters next year. His no-nonsense approach has a lot of admirers in the business crowd and it’s been suggested that Duggan would easily win the Detroit Regional Chamber’s political action committee endorsement if that board vote were held today.
A big question: Can Duggan win as a politically non-aligned candidate or is he a spoiler?
Well, chamber-commissioned polling from the Glengariff Group that was rolled out on the first day of the conference shows Duggan pulling votes almost equally from both Democrats and Republicans in the decisive southeast Michigan area. That suggests those politically Republicans, in particular, may see a port in the storm with Duggan.
Glengariff Group founder Richard Czuba was on the IJP podcast this week and told us, “Honestly, I think in my 42, 43 years of polling in Michigan, Mike Duggan has the most fascinating numbers I've ever seen.” Take a listen to hear to find out why.
In the end, uncertainty is what’s certain
We’ve got to mention, the 2026 election is still more than a year away and a lot could change. There were too many mentions to count of how often the words “uncertainty” and “unpredictable” came up in our interviews about the economy and the political environment.
Here’s a few examples.
-A federal court freeze on many of the Trump tariffs doesn’t fully allay concerns about the impact of protectionism on a very complex supply-chain-dependent manufacturing economy. U.S. Ambassador to Canada (and former Michigan congressman and state GOP chair) Pete Hoekstra was on hand at the conference to try to allay those fears.
–There is a new survey from Business Leaders for Michigan that shows some 87% of Michigan executives expect a decline in Michigan’s economy.
–And in that Glengariff Group polling that we mentioned earlier, a growing group of Michiganders expect a recession. There was an 11 percentage point increase from that answer to a similar question in a Glengariff survey in January.
Let’s just circle that word “uncertainty.” We’ll be seeing it a lot.
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Yours in political nerdiness - and Mackinac Island fudge,
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
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Admission is free, but space is limited, so advance registration is needed. You can attend in person or watch it online.
