WISHFUL THINKING
Political observers in both major parties had their fingers crossed prior to the August primary that someone could finally dislodge Matt ‘Mad Dog’ Maddock, the Republican state House member from the 51st district (Milford, Highland, White Lake, Commerce and part of Springfield), husband of Meshawn Maddock, former Republican state party chair who is now facing legal charges for false elector shenanigans after the 2020 Donald Trump loss. Matt Maddock, first elected in 2018, was thrown out of his own GOP caucus in recent years for supposedly leaking normally tightly held proceedings and for campaigning against at least one Republican House member in the person’s own district. And let’s not forget his own involvement in the bogus pro-Trump elector efforts after the 2020 loss by the former prez, or the unsuccessful lawsuit to have him removed from the ballot for alleged support of the insurrection at the nation’s Capitol. In the Republican primary, Maddock was challenged by Milford Village Councilman Kevin Ziegler, who many thought might finally retire the Maddock name from local politics, including some local elected Republicans who lent their names to a pro-Ziegler mailer during the August primary. But Maddock soldiered on, and not just in his hometown of Milford where he took five of eight precincts. Maddock took 13 of 15 precincts in Commerce; all eight precincts in Highland, and by sizable margins; 10 of 15 precincts in Commerce; all 12 precincts in White Lake; and the two precincts in Springfield Township that are part of his district. Maddock will face Democrat Sarah May-Seward in November, a rematch from 2022 in which he won by 57.7 percent of the vote despite her major endorsements from the Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News (oh my!), Voters Not Politicians and Fems for Dems.