With less than a week before Election Day and stakes that could not be higher, the race for attorney general in Michigan is surprisingly tight.
The race is between the out incumbent Democrat, Dana Nessel, and Republican Matthew DePerno, who famously lost a case as part of the Big Lie election meddling conspiracy leading to the January 6 insurrection.Nessel tells The Advocate the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community this election cycle are opportunistic and have no widespread constituency in the Great Lakes State."[Republicans] get the attention because they have money, and unfortunately because the Republican Party now has become the party of homophobia and transphobia, that [anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric] gets spotlighted a lot," she says. "But it's not how most Michiganders view the community, and it's not how most Americans view the community."The married mother of two is the first LGBTQ+ person to serve in statewide office in Michigan.
She says she's heartened by the younger generation of Gen Z Americans who have these issues figured out and hopes the vitriol is transitory. "The stuff that was done right now, the relentless attack on transgender youth and against drag queens — all of these wedge issues that really have nothing to do with making people's lives better," she says. "It's only an attack on some of our most vulnerable members of society in an effort to divide us," Nessel explains.