In November's midterm election, Michigan voters will choose a new attorney general. The state’s current attorney general, Dana Nessel, is term-limited.
Here at Michigan Public, we’re bringing you interviews with the candidates.
Eli Savit is currently the prosecuting attorney for Washtenaw County. Savit has also clerked for United States Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and served as senior legal counsel for the city of Detroit.
He spoke with Morning Edition producer Caoilinn Goss.
Caoilinn Goss: What made you decide to run for state attorney general?
Eli Savit: So it was something that was, in candor, in the back of my mind. But I really didn't decide to make this leap and run for this position until after the 2024 election because, look, I actually read every page of Project 2025. I saw in that document a legal blueprint for dismantling so much of what I care about in American democracy: our civil rights, our voting rights, environmental, worker, and consumer protections. And I knew just how important state attorneys general were going to be in fighting back, not just against unlawful actions by this administration, but also serving as the backstop, making sure that we're enforcing our state level civil rights, environmental worker and consumer protection laws.
That's work I've done throughout my career. And fundamentally, at this incredibly challenging time, I didn't want to sit on the sidelines. And I don't want to look back in 10 or 20 years and have to tell my kids or my grandkids that I thought that I could have done more.
CG: You've touched on this a little bit, but can you tell us more about how your experiences at the city and county level have prepared you for a statewide office?
ES: Absolutely. My experience involves going up against even the most powerful of actors at the city of Detroit. I was proud to lead the city's lawsuits against Big Pharma for perpetuating the addiction crisis. I stood up for Detroit school children who didn't have a voice in the system, and was able to recover nearly $100 million, which is currently being reinvested in the Detroit Public Schools.
As Washtenaw County prosecutor, we've put sexual predators behind bars. We started a cold case sexual assault kit initiative, which investigates and prosecutes unsolved rape cases and all of that. That diverse experience is, I think, fundamentally what I bring to the table in this race.
CG: You touched on a lot of issues there. What would your top priorities be if elected?
ES: We are facing a pivotal moment in our democracy. We are seeing voting rights under attack. We are seeing civil rights under attack. If you are somebody that votes by mail, the reason that you were able to do that is actually only because Democratic state attorneys general went to court and sued to prevent this administration from weaponizing the United States Postal Service and taking away the right to vote by mail for millions of people, including right here in Michigan.
We've seen efforts by the federal government to cut funding for things like our Veterans Affairs, our hospitals, our schools, [and] crime victim services. If the federal government is doing something that is unlawful and harms Michiganders, I'm going to be in court to serve as the lawyer for the people of the state of Michigan and stand up for them against any and all attacks that come down the line.
CG: Attorney General Dana Nessel made it a priority to investigate sexual abuse claims against the Catholic Church in Michigan. She released a series of reports, although most of the cases were past their statutory limits and many of the accused were long retired or deceased.
Is there a particular large scale issue that you plan to highlight in a similar fashion if elected?
ES: Well, on the criminal side of things, I do want to continue AG Nessel's work in combating sexual violence and sexual abuse. You know, we have the Epstein related ties that we know about at the Interlochen case in northern Michigan, and that's something that will be a priority for me. If there is anybody that can be prosecuted, we are going to do everything that we can to ensure that justice is done for survivors.
And I'm going to use every legal tool that the Attorney General's office has at its disposal to make life more affordable for Michiganders. That includes, in my first 100 days in office, issuing a comprehensive suite of rules under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, which outlaws things like AI-based algorithmic price gouging.
We're going to create a workers rights unit in the attorney general's office. We need to be focused on the real cost of living issues that so many Michiganders are struggling with right now, and that is always going to be a priority for me as attorney general.
CG: As Washtenaw County prosecutor, you've made it a policy not to prosecute certain types of cases. Those include consensual sex work and the use of psilocybin mushrooms. You've also eliminated cash bail. How do you respond to the critique that you have politicized your current role and are too progressive for statewide office?
ES: I'm not running to take Washtenaw County's policies statewide. But the other thing that I will say is look at the data. Look at what we have accomplished in Washtenaw County. We have overdose deaths at and over a decade low in Washtenaw County. We have seen gun deaths and opioid deaths falling year, after year, after year.
And I'm going to continue to focus on preventive measures to stop crime from happening before it even occurs, while also making sure that we are putting the bad guys — the sexual predators, those who harm our community — behind bars.
CG: You've also received criticism, most notably from your Republican opponent, Doug Lloyd, for not pursuing harsher sentences in several high profile convictions. What have you learned from cases where you asked for less than maximum sentences, and then the person committed another crime?
ES: I want to be clear about this disingenuous attack by my opponent. He has highlighted cases in which individuals pleaded guilty as charged. If you plead guilty as charged — that's about as good as you can do as a prosecutor — and were sentenced by a judge in accordance with sentencing guidelines, which is a decision that is up to a judge.
CG: Are you saying that you feel that in cases where individuals were given less than the maximum sentence, and then went on to commit other crimes after getting out, that those sentences were not so much the result of your discretion as a prosecutor, but the result of the maximums in state law?
ES: Prosecutors don't sentence people, judges sentence people. And judges have sentencing guidelines that are established by the state that are the presumptive sentence range that they are supposed to give.
CG: But certainly prosecutors have discretion to request a certain sentence of the judge.
ES: Prosecutors can request sentences. But again, what happens in 90-plus percent of cases that, you know, end in a plea of guilty as charged is the judge is going to make a sentencing determination that is, you know, somewhere in the range of our sentencing guidelines.
It's simply not the case that prosecutors are the ones that are passing sentence. And, you know, prosecutors can advocate for something higher, but they're not the ones that are passing the sentence. And that's true in counties across the state of Michigan.
Editor's note: Quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity. You can play the full audio of this interview near the top of this page.
