MIRS Monday, September 7, 2026

Welcome back to Murz Monday for more than 10 years, the Michigan political podcast. Murz sits down with Rashida Harrison, the Democratic nominee who had a surprise victory in Michigan's 28th Senate District, covering East Lansing, Meridian Township, St. John's, and other Clinton, Ingham, and Chiawase County communities. Harrison moved to East Lansing two decades ago from New York City, and recently taught about black women's political organizing and social movements at Michigan State University. Also, Murz catches up with the Republican nominee in one of Oakland County's political battlegrounds, 23-year-old Roman Gasky in the 54th House District. In 2024, President Donald Trump won the House District with around 49% of the vote. Gasky talks about his life working for an artificial intelligence startup, and the role, flock cameras, and property taxes can play this fall. All recordings and edits for this week's episode are being completed around 2 p.m., Sunday September 6th, and things might be different by the time you tune in. Also, all Murz podcast segments are altered for the purposes of time and quality. The East Lansing area's 28th Senate District is considered a consistently blue seat, with the past Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 winning in the district with more than 53% of the vote. The East Lansing area has consistently been represented by some of Democrats' most high-level politicians and dealmakers, like Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hotel, Jr., Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Diane Byron, the founding partner of Byron and Fisk Advocacy Communications. Rashida Harrison's victory represents a shift in the area toward the grassroots. Here is Murz podcast hosts Samantha Shriver and Democratic nominee Rashida Harrison for the 28th Senate seat right now. We are joined today by Professor Rashida Harrison, the Democratic nominee and Michigan's 28th State Senate race. She won a four-person primary in August with 41.8% of the vote for more than 10 years Professor Harrison has been an assistant professor at Michigan State University's James Madison College, researching and teaching on subjects like Black Women's Political Organizing, Citizenship, and Social Justice and Movement. Now just to inform you all, she has not been on Michigan State University's payroll since August 15th of this year. Furthermore, she is the co-founder and lead strategist of the conduit collective. A consulting firm assisting with organizations and teams equity plans. Hello, Dr. Rashida. How are you today? Welcome to Murz Monday. Thanks, Samantha. Thank you for reaching out for this conversation. I am excited to share more about myself and my journey as well as just what kind of work I'm planning to do. So I am just going to tackle, do I dare say, the elephant in the room? Maybe the elephant has now left, but I think it's worth noting that there were folks around Lansing who thought the winner of this primary was going to be at markup polls to offer. He is the candidate who Sam Singh, the seat's current state senator endorsed his predecessor. When Singh made it public in early March that he would not be seeking re-election, Mark quickly formed a Facebook page and activated his website, ultimately making some around Lansing ASCO, what conversations were had between the state senator and Ingham County Commission or beforehand. And then, surprise, you win in early August. I mean, you had no mailers, no big army of volunteers, but you were able to pull this off. So what was it like to win this primary and kind of ultimately introduce yourself to the folks who didn't really think you had a shot in this race? Well, first of all, I am so loose to people underestimating me, and I take it as a challenge. I have been in the area for 23 years. I moved out here, came out here for a graduate school in 2003, and you know, like I mentioned to Kyle, I feel like I've had like three, maybe even four lifetimes here, right, in terms of thinking about, I came out here when I was 23, right? And so I've spent my adult life in Michigan, in that life, I've had lots of encounters with different kind of community organizations. I've volunteered, I've worked in, you know, youth spaces, I've worked in spaces with lots of older folks. When I was a member of Zonta International, I was the youngest person there. And so I think, and well, clearly I know that I made impressions on people, good impressions on people that were lasting. And so when I decided that I was going to run and I just tried to reach out to people from the past that I knew, there were lots of folks, you know, like you remain Facebook friends with them and you kind of just, you're living your life. And then once the ballots were mailed out, I got a lot of messages from people I hadn't heard from. And maybe like a decade, right? Was she, is this you? Oh my God, I voted, I just voted for you. And so I think that there was just an underestimation. The political crew didn't know me. And I wouldn't even say the political crew because I've taught so many of the people that sort of run like legislative staff, lots of folks that have interned. They have ever iconic James Madison to stay exactly, exactly, exactly. And again, I've made good impressions, right? I know who I am in this world and I move treating everyone like I want to be treated. And so people remember that and I was able to take advantage of all the sort of like free media, right? So I did every forum that I tried to do every forum that I was invited to, like whether it was, you know, recorded like home TV or the League of Women Boaters or in person, like local voices, local choices or going to the fledged for the housing policy conversation. I was the only one for my race that showed up to that one. I just decided that I had to run in the authentic way. What I do know is organizing and the power of grassroots and the power of relationships. And so I tapped into those relationships. I tapped into my organizing skills, which is really like, okay, I had a few volunteers, a few people in the early part that came in to help like build a website and things like that, right? I did pay them. Then I had to make some decisions about whether or not I was going to try to run like the traditional candidate, but I didn't have traditional candidate money. So I really just utilized what I knew and that is calling people, people who believed in me and I had a few students that were just, ooh, down for it. Like the moments when I was just like, I can't do this. I was look at one of my student interns and the fact that he taught himself then so that he could cut turf so that he could just start knocking on doors and, you know, and get him friends to knock on doors. It's those moments that I'm like, well, if he's going to work this hard for me because he believes in me, that means I can't stop today. And so there was a lot of that. And when I use this term, I mean, lancing insider, political insider. And when I use this term, political insider, I mean, I don't mean it in a negative way, but just somebody who knows how the system works and knows how to get it. And I think when you think about the state Senate, see, I mean, you're thinking about the current state senator who's Senator Sam Seng, who has a reputation of being a deal maker, who knows how to navigate policy extremely well. And then you obviously have Kurdish hotel, junior, which is similar, a deal maker who has bought these longstanding relationships with the Lansing State Capitol ecosystem. But how do you think the game changes for this district to have someone like yourself who comes across a grassroots side of the political ecosystem? I think we have shifted a little bit if I just based on the conversations I had over the several, the last couple of months. People want to know that you can negotiate and they want to know that you're a real person that you are authentic and can have just day-to-day conversations with folks. I would share about the fact that I have an almost eight year old talk about like, oh, being a mom of this young person with all the energy. I think people just, I found that people want to know that their legislator is someone who's had some experience with things that they are struggling with, right? I talked about the fact that I worry about my electricity bill or my consumers energy bill. And I think the model of politicians has been, we've got it all together, don't share any weaknesses, right? You have to present a strong man face and that is the key to negotiating. As a black woman, that's, I can't negotiate like that, right? So I have learned that the best way for me to negotiate is just to be myself, my authentic self, learn about what people, what they have on their mind, understanding that I might not agree all the time. And I do what's also just sort of plainly speaking, I'm also not running for myself. And so I think that that also came through. I think there are, there's a huge skepticism about, you know, quote unquote, career politicians. And that's nationwide. And I think there, there were some people that miss that that was also happening in our own district. You are poised to represent Michigan State University, obviously the place you work at that you've been, that you've been a part of that community for a long time. How many decades is it one, one decade, two to two, because that was the I am a Spartan, I got my PhD from MSU. And you know, throughout graduate school, if anybody knows about graduate school, as a first generation person, I always worked throughout graduate school. So whether that was somewhere on campus, also a side gig somewhere in community. And so I've navigated like I've been an academic advisor, I've worked in the office for inclusion, I taught in the, you know, writing in my direct department. And when I was finishing my dissertation, that was the first time I started teaching in James Madison, that was 2008. I did just want to ask, I mean, how do you think the state legislature can improve how they represent students and faculty? Right, they want everything that everyone else wants, right, in terms of being able to exercise the rights they've been promised faculty, I know over the last several years, right, with the larger cuts at the federal level, particularly thinking about cuts of research grants, as well as what seems to be sensory, right? Faculty want to maintain their academic freedom, their ability to continue to do research and research that actually will lead to some improvements in everyday lives, right? Students want to be able to afford, right, what they've been told if they work hard in high school, right, they can go to college, they want to actually be able to afford to do that. But or and they also want jobs, right, that result from going to college, they want to be able to do it in a way where they are not constantly stressed. I've seen students that have had housing precarity, food insecurity, right, and there's a roaming number of unhoused students, but still sort of pushing through and doing the work because they believe that once they get this education that they'll be able to get a job and, you know, support themselves. And so for me, my job is to ensure that they're able to do that, right, so my job is to ensure that we think about different kinds of regulations or whether it's raising the wage, the minimum wage, and things like that, that we are cultivating, right, future jobs. And we are making sure that we're building affordable housing, right, that we are making sure that there are banking systems that can actually be utilized to get loans to actually buy property by housing. So that's what some students mind, students, I was just at MSU on Tuesday with the MSU Downs and a young woman came up to me and she was asking me, she's really interested in policy. But ultimately she was asking me, are there jobs there, she wasn't asking me is, you know, she's like, is this a good field to get a job. She's passionate about it, she wants to do this thing, but am I going to get a job. My job in the Senate is to ensure that she can get a job that there are avenues, they're multiple avenues and that those avenues are not just taking over by people who just have inherited it, inherited the job. And so, you know, even think going back to me and coming into this space, I worked hard, I did not inherit the, you know, the candidate position. And so I will continue to do that. According this on Thursday, September 3rd and Craig Mogger of the Detroit News, he just came out with a story on how MSU representatives offered football and basketball tickets to more than 100 state legislators, staffers, budget analyzers and other key government officials in just one single year period. He also notes that the basketball tickets were off and were often given without requests for payment, although state policy prohibits registered lobbyists from giving gifts worth more than $79 and fair market value. Have you, you know, I'm not sure, I mean, have you read this article, totally fine, if not, I mean, but do you personally have an issue with this idea of MSU sports suites being a place where Lansing critters get wind and dined. I think it's a different version and we have to be careful because first of all, I have not read the article yet, being news to this space, it is something that I'm learning and grappling with. I just had one of my first meetings with the lobbyists and there are different types of lobbyists, right, I think that lobbyists get a negative connotation because of the bad actors, right. And there are lobbyists doing great things and working on behalf of organizations that are really there to undergird our like social infrastructure, but we're in. I think giving of tickets free tickets and things like that are another version of when we talk about money and politics, right, because it is a perk that can be used later on. I'm like, I got these tickets, you know, can you do me this favor and I think that anything that's going to put a legislator in a position where they owe someone that's not the people, right, something, then that is dangerous. I think that we ought to be working for the people on behalf of the people. So that was taken with no strings attached, but oftentimes what we know in our society, there's always strings attached to something. So I do think it's a dangerous trend. I'll definitely read more to see sort of how that operated. What about when it comes to the board of trustees, are you somebody would you support the proposal that has floated this year that the board of strut in trustees should be appointed by governors and not elected on a statewide ballot. So there's so much going on where it seems like Michiganders voices are being stifled and it's not just Michiganders again. We see it on this national level and now we're seeing it even more so coming into Michigan, whether we're talking about data census slot cameras, right. What I've heard overwhelmingly, right, is that people want to have a say in their governance. And so with that, I am on the side of democracy and the people. And so I do not necessarily think that that is a better way of doing things because I think it means taking once again, taking away the voice of a people to have a say in what's going on in their communities. Another thing I would love to ask you about when it comes to the college community of your district. I mean, do you think college students should have their ability to be registered to vote in their college town protected. I have heard the argument before that college kids shouldn't be able to vote on millage commitments in a place where they're only going to live about nine months out of the year at what are your thoughts on that. I do think they're right to vote in their college town should be protected. They have to spend four years there, even as we have transient communities, they pay into the community. And so they should also have a voice. And they have investment. I think a university like MSU oftentimes, you know, there was lots of people that are here for five or six years, right. Oftentimes students cannot afford to live just on campus so they end up living in and participating in the larger community. And so they should have a say and particularly at a state senate level, you know, like I'm just like, when I'm legislating, I'm thinking about my district and it's also thinking about the larger impact on the state. I am a fan of voting strategically thinking about what makes sense in a given year, given the sort of political dynamics. But again, I think this is about making access for people to use their voice and use their voice, where they are, where they need it. So this is their community for at least four years. And so I think that they should be able to have a voice here. The 28th senate district includes parts of Lansing and Grand Lodge, as well as all of Lanesburg, Moridian Township, East Lansing, a wasso, Middlebury Township, and St. John's. What is an issue or a distinct population in your district that you think could use a little extra love from the state capital. And you can take this in any direction. wish out of box idea, hit me with it. What needs some actual carbon? There's so much. I think I'm going to go to the royal areas because as someone who grew up in a deeply urban quote-unquote inner city area, what I've noticed is that a lot of the sentiments are similar to the ones I grew up in. And that is that they forget about us, right? And that forgetting about us includes the investment, right? So when we think about our rural communities that are responsible for thinking about our farmers, thinking about the corn growers, their small businesses, as well as sources of great resources, whether that's food or the ability to produce fuel. And their demands, there's some basic demands that we should have bridges that are not going to fall apart. So that we can be mobile in our communities, right? We should have the right to repair our machinery because that actually is the key to our livelihood in a given growth season. And so I would definitely speak to what's lacking-- and the folks that are forgotten-- on the margins of the funter of things. Which in this district tends to be sort of like that MSU East Lansing area. It's the most populated. And so much of what upholds that is on the outskirts, or in the wasos, or the St. John's communities. So is it-- and I know we talked about not wanting to make assumptions, but is it safe for me to assume that you're a William Lawrence fan? Oh, sure. Yes. OK, so one thing I find just quite fascinating about the seventh congressional district is that President Donald Trump won the district in 2024 by 49.9%. But Congressman Tom Barrett, he had won it by 50.3%. So a bit of a larger victory margin. And I think that ultimately shows that if you are a dem or a Republican running for this congressional seat, do I dare say that you kind of have to compete harder, try to win more people over than the top of the ticket does? So I would love to hear your thoughts. I mean, how do you think candidates earn CD7 residents trust? Being in the community. And which is why I do think so far will has done a great job because of his grassroots and commitment to community and haven't been in community working when I go-- I've actually-- some of our strategy is really thinking about-- I'm adamant about going to Karuna, going to Alasso, going into St. John's, because I want people to know me as a person. I was at the Clinton County Road Commission last week, Road Commission and Transit Authority together. And it's a bipartisan commission. And we just shared a lot of my story. Like I do, right? Like how I got here and is some of the backstory of the things that motivate me. And my two favorite people leaving that day were two Republicans. We hugged when we laughed, you know, when I left. And they understood that I deeply care about community. And we may not always agree on how it is that we make sure that our communities are taken care of. But they really want to know that you as an individual care. And I just don't think that has been part of the sort of mainstream narrative of what politicians ought to do or to be like. Yeah, and that's what I'll continue to do. I think authenticity is the new way. And if that is something that comes natural to you, then I don't think you should suppress it. There were people early on that told me, I need to run this way or I need to run that way. It's a purple state. So you can't do this or you can't. And it's just like, OK, I hear you. But I've been navigating these spaces all my life. And when I say these spaces, I mean spaces where I'm the different one or I'm the one that's assumed to have a different view of things or, right? And being my authentic self learning, right? Sitting here and actually listening to what people are saying and why they are saying the thing, helping so that I understand, even if I disagree, absolutely understand why it is that you have that view, right? So what can we do to work together, right? To dispel myths, right? As well as learn like, OK, this is what makes sense for us. And so I'm going to continue doing things the way I've done it. And, you know, one of the things I've been telling my campaign manager, I was like, let's get some town halls on the books because, and let's go into Clinton County. Let's do that, right? Let's do it at the library. Like, I am not shining away from a publicans in conversation. I want those conversations. I love those conversations. Again, I have taught at James Madison College. And there is a reputation. Part of that reputation is the sort of rush you get with like mild conflict. But for me, you know what it is? It's the end game. It's the end game of that, right? Because conflict for me, I know that something good is going to come out of this. I'm excited about my district. I've been learning so much. I've been meeting so many people that have been in community for years and years. I love talking to folks that were elected back in 1974. And they're telling me about the lay of the land. It's so great to get to know you. Thank you so much for taking it out of your day to come on MERS Monday podcast. That is Dr. Rashida, the Democratic nominee and Michigan's 28th State Senate race. Again, she won a four person primary in August of 41.8% of the vote. Dr. Rashida, Paris, thank you so much again for coming onto MERS Monday. Thanks, Sam. Thanks so much for having me. (upbeat music) - Joining us for this week's episode of the MERS Monday podcast is Roman Gasky. Did I get the last name pronounced right, Roman? Yes, you did. A lot of people say Gasky or Gasky, but there is no T. It's just Gasky. So you did a great job. - The great Gasky. Not to be confused with the great Gask, Gasky. I'm going to be glad. Roman Gasky, a candidate running to replace outgoing Republican representative Donnie Steele in the 54th State House District, including Oakland County communities like Auburn Hills, Orient Township, Oakland Township, and both Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township. The district is an Oakland County Batogram, and in the 54th State House District specifically, President Donald Trump won it in 2024 by an awfully tight 49.19% of the vote. And late July, Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson, Democrat nominee for governor, made this district a major stop on her road to trifact a tour, promoting the Democratic candidate for the seat Lake Orient Parallegal Sarah Pounds. Now, as for Roman Gasky, he was seen as the young 23-year-old Republican who emerged from the primary after putting $100,000 of his own money into the race, defeating his opponent by a tight 50.3% to 49.7%. And the 35-day post-primary campaign fundraising period, Republican and Roman Gasky raised $21,955, and Democrat Sarah Pounds raised $63,212. So now, before we ask the political questions, I would love Roman, if I could hit you with three questions, just to get to know you better. Are you down for that? - Yeah, I'm down for that. - Okay, well, first off, what do you do for living? - So I am a strategy and product analyst for an AI startup in the legal tech space. I know that the terms for these job titles for a startup can be kind of nebulous. So what I do in plain English is I coordinate the business and engineering side of the company. So I can talk to the engineering team, hear about certain product requirements, and then factor that into how the product can be designed on the business side. That's just one example of the type of thing that I do. - If you had to become an animal, what animal would you be? - You know, I really like the capybarras. I know that that was like a mean last year, but they just seem very chill, very zen. And I wish that I had more of that energy. So I will say a capybarr. - I wanna do a capybarrer experience so bad. Like, one of those small zoos around Michigan, I wanna pet one. - Yeah, they're cute. I was actually in Japan last year. There weren't capybarras, but there were otters and all sorts of animals at the cafe. So I definitely recommend a capybarrer cafe if you could find one. - Ooh, additionally, where is your favorite place to go in the 54th House District on a sunny Saturday morning? - Well, I'm not really a morning person, so I guess I will say a coffee shop. I have two favorite coffee shops in the district. Of course, there's we being in downtown Lake Orion. I've literally known the owner since I was like a year old and she was six months old, so that's the hometown place. It's a very cute atmosphere. And then also when I'm in Bloomfield Township or Bloomfield Hills door knocking, there's percent coffee on square lake and telegraph. It's really expensive, but I love the matcha and the sandwiches there. - And are you 23 or 24? Did I get your age, right? - No, you are, you are correct. I never thought in my life that people would care so much about my age, but yes, I am 23. - And I'm sure a lot of people have been bringing it up now. And I mean, obviously, Maris Monday, we do not shy away from uncomfortable financial question, but I have to be totally honest with you, Roman. I mean, a lot of folks at the Merz newsroom want to ask and they brought this up and I said that I had this interview scheduled with you. They want to ask, how was a 23 year old able to put $100,000 of his own money into a political race? Where did that $100,000 come from? - Well, it's all legal. I basically leverage more or less, I put a lot of leverage on myself. I've put a lot into this. I'm in a lucky situation where I can borrow money and I'm gonna pay it back whether I win or whether I don't. - Yeah, so well, some 23 year olds would use that $100,000 to go to a visa for summer, 20, 20, 10, he decided to run in a state house primary. - Yeah, absolutely. I am that type of guy and I just want to clarify 'cause a lot is being made out of the money that was spent. This is definitely an expensive primary but the $100,000 definitely deserves some context. That was not at all my budget going in. In terms of my primary, my opponent was backed by many outside groups. He had a large six figure amount spent on him. Obviously, we don't know the exact amount yet with how some of the money is hidden. But from what I understand and speaking to the caucus, the only candidate who had more spent against him was Steve Cara. So I was outspent by at least two to one in this race when you factor in the outside spending. - Right now, the Lansing pundits like to say that the Michigan House Republican campaign committee is not investing into the seat. And I know one of the things you really wanted to address on this podcast is how that is not true. So what do you have to say about the HRCC's attention on this race? - So in terms of the open seats, this is absolutely number one from what I can tell myself and then House District 31 with Laura Perry as the Republican nominee. Those are the main seats that the caucus is playing in. But of course, 31 is a pickup opportunity. So in terms of defending the majority that puts this seat higher on that priority list, I would be curious to see where one of your reporters got a number that only $420 had been spent by the caucus that's completely false. We had an ad shoot and just that shoot alone costs a five figure amount. So they are fully invested in this race. This is absolutely the most important open race to the caucus and Speaker Hall has brought me up specifically a lot in caucus meetings, which makes me feel like a teacher's pet. And I thought I was done with that in high school, but apparently we're back to that again. - I think one thing that's really interesting to look at when it comes to the August primaries in Oakland County is like looking county-wide now is that, while Abdu Lausay had won Democrats US Senate nomination, he lost in Oakland County to the local Congresswoman, Haley Stevens, who won the county with more than 52% of the vote. So I mean, what has been your strategy for courting Haley Stevens voters to not only vote for Mike Rogers in the US Senate race, but to additionally vote for you lower on that ballot? I mean, is that something that you've started doing interacting with those Haley Stevens voters? - So I am targeting voters that I see as persuadable. And in our district, I would say we have more moderates than the average seat in a lot of these seats in a midterm. It can come down to turnout who can turn out more to the Democrat base or the Republican base. There's certainly partisan bases in my seat. I mean, we're a polarized state, we're a polarized country. But there's a lot of persuadable moderates who really pay a lot of attention to policy and some of those are certainly Stephen supporters. I wouldn't say I'm specifically reaching out to people who supported Stevens because I would also say I'm reaching out to people who support Abdu Lausay. The Stephen supporters, it's certainly an easier lift given that there's some animosity toward Abdu Lausay with how divisive the primary was and some of the Stephen supporters that are more ideologically moderate view someone like El Sayed as simply out of step with what their party would want. And so in that respect, yes, because I am not as far left as someone like El Sayed, they'd give me a look. But I'm also reaching out to young voters who voted for Abdu Lausay. I think pundits like to make a lot about ideology when I don't think a lot of voters, especially younger voters are ideological. I think there's a lot of young voters, particularly young men, that like Abdu Lausay simply because he has a fresh message, she's talking about change, she's talking about how the acceleration of AI and how AI is being integrated into our economy so quickly, how that's causing some disruptions in the labor force that are hitting young people the hardest. So while I obviously have strong disagreements with El Sayed on policy, I do think there's some overlaps in the themes that we're talking about in terms of the problems that Michiganers are experiencing. So I'm not leaving anyone on the table. - So what makes your message fresh? What do you think are some of the freshest components that you bring to the table? - Well, of course, there's the whole next generation thing. I mean, that's, if you take the bird's eye view, if you look at it from a far out perspective, just being in the next generation, being a first-time candidate, that's fresh. But I'm also trying to be deeper on policy and talk about policy areas that people don't necessarily talk about. So from what I can tell, I'm the only state legislative candidate with a specific plan for AI. As I said earlier, I work for a tech company that uses AI to power its products. So I understand how AI is being deployed in our economy, not just in terms of these large companies like OpenAI or Anthropic, but these specific startups that are deploying it for specific industry-specific applications. So I understand it from that respect, but I also have a degree in math and data science and in math, I specifically studied probability. So a lot of that probability and machine learning stuff I learned, that directly applies to how LLMs work. So while I'm not a PhD in AI architecture, I would say I understand more about it than the average legislator. I think before we intervene or do anything very significant with it, I think we just need to first watch what's happening with it. I've talked to a lot of state reps and state senators and I asked them, so what committee is gonna govern AI? How are we gonna watch it? How are we gonna let it continue to innovate? How are we gonna potentially regulate it? And there's not even agreement on which committee rather would oversee AI. And I think that's a big problem. So I would support creating a select committee on artificial intelligence just to first measure the impact that it's having on our state period. - Well, I additionally had a AI-specific question for you. I mean, as someone who works for an artificial intelligence startup, do you think that there is a way to regulate and maybe reign in on some of today's mass uses of AI while also still honoring the free market? What does that type of regulation look like where you can, do I dare say, have your cake and eat it too and it comes to artificial intelligence? - Well, we also, we always wanna have our cake and eat it too. I think for national security reasons, I would generally be against trying to quash specific types of development of the technology where I think the regulation should come in is in terms of the safety perspective and the copyright perspective. You've heard some horror stories about people, especially minors using AI chatbots as a therapist and the AI telling these people to do horrible things to themselves or same things that are totally unacceptable that a therapist would never say. So I think we need to focus on getting some safeguards for minors in regards to this product and then we also need to look at copyright. I know a lot of people who work in creative industries and they're embracing these tools to make something faster but they're concerned that all of their work is essentially going to be gobbled up by this machine for free and they're not gonna get any credit. So I think we need to find a way to protect creativity and protect the creation of that humans create while also embracing AI to make more content. that people can enjoy. I can imagine that for Democrats because obviously Oakland County has become substantially more blue in the last 20 years, more consistently blue as well. I feel like for Democrats when they think about what are Republicans vulnerabilities and this type of district in the 2026 election cycle is one, the Oakland County Republicans that are kind of that pre-Trump white collar Republican that kind of felt that they lost their place in the party when Trump first took office and after the 2016 elections. And then additionally, I think you're going to see them really target the business community. Like, oh, if you're upset with tariffs or if you're upset with the increased cost of supplies, you should vote blue because of that. Now, from the Republican perspective, what do you view as Democrats biggest weakness in a district like this? Well, first, I want to address the things you brought up. So in terms of the shift from the sort of old-style country club, Oakland County Republicans shifting away from Republicans because of Trump, I think that's largely already happened. I have spoken to some people who they just say, yes, I was a Republican, but I think the party has, you know, let the president get away with too much or I don't like this or that about the party. So now I will just not vote for any Republican period. However, I would say that's a minority of, you know, former Oakland County Republicans who disapprove of the president. A lot of them make distinctions between the federal versus the state and local level. So there's a lot of people who at the top of the ticket might vote Democrat, but down ballot might vote Republican. And then in terms of the stuff regarding the outreach to the business community, again, that's more of a federal issue. At the state level, we don't have, we don't have a say of what the tariffs are. The governor can try to advise the president on what to do or what not to do, but I think we see that the president more or less does what he wants. In terms of the Democrats, biggest vulnerability, I think it's two things. Number one, I think this is similar to why they had issues in 2024. It's that the main thing animating their party is just being against the president. And I get why they're doing that. Obviously, the president's numbers are pretty underwater. So it's a safe thing to say. I just, that someone disapproves of the president. However, you have to have a positive agenda. You have to make people think that you're going to actually improve their lives, even as Republicans in the generic ballot haven't been doing that well. I haven't really seen Democrats breaking the upper 40s and a lot of these generic ballot polls because I think there's a hangover of serious issues with the brand and the party. So saying, I don't like the president. People might agree with that, but they need to see, okay, what else? What other changes have you made? Because in 2024, I don't feel like you were listening to me. And then that also dovetails into the second weakness I have, which is the ideological extremism. I think the base of the Democratic party, they certainly move to the left on social issues, but now they've also moved to the left pretty rapidly on economic issues. And for a while, they were willing to let the establishment have control of the wheel because they bought the idea that, okay, the establishment will focus on electability and we have to defeat Donald Trump. So we can put up a candidate that might not be as left as we want, but we need to do it because we have to defeat Donald Trump. That didn't happen, so I think all bets are off and you're seeing a massive lurch to the left with a lot of these candidates either directly in or associated with the Democratic Socialists of America. And back to your early point, whether it's some of these Haley Stevens voters or some of these former Oakland County Republicans who don't like the president, they absolutely do not like socialism. My district has a lot of successful executives, small business owners, people with high amounts of wealth, and they're fine paying taxes to help out their fellow citizens, but they don't agree with the seizure of wealth and some of these more radical policies that are being proposed. So I think their biggest weakness is identity and extreme positions on the issues. The 54th House district, as you said, I mean, it is obviously on the more fluent side of things with higher income levels. How do the residents here react to flock cameras and today's debate surrounding government surveillance? Do they embrace it as an extra security measurement or despise it because of the big brother dynamics? It's definitely a lot more of the latter. I've only heard in terms of people bringing up flock opposition to it, although I will qualify that with the fact that I'm sure most people don't know what flock is. It's a very online thing, but it is absolutely an activating issue. I think for several constituencies, it's a cross ideological issue. You have people on the left and on the right who do not like the flock cameras. So when you look at the technology, I don't think people necessarily have an issue with just the idea of an automatic license plate reader. Some people might, but we've had those around for a while. When you look at the drone pilot that's being used, some people are probably more skeptical of that. I generally stand with Sheriff Booshard on this issue. I think we need to be cautious, but I think there's no doubt that using technology and using drones can help people. It can help keep our officers safe. It can help prevent victims of crimes, especially if you look at active criminal incidents of fleeing vehicles. We had a car jacking an orient that was solved much more quickly because of flock cameras and searching for missing persons. So that is the potential benefits of flock cameras. I think people would potentially be okay with those benefits. The problem is there is a complete lack of transparency, especially with how Oakland County put it through. So when you look at first of all, the storing of all this footage, these cameras automatically record what's going past them and it's automatically held for 30 days. A lot of people don't like that and I don't like that either. I don't like the idea that you haven't committed a crime and yet you're essentially being surveilled. I have a problem with that. I also have a potential problem with the access. It is up to whoever is administering the flock cameras to determine who has outside access because the sheriff's department can share it with other police departments in the state or even other agencies in other states. So do I trust Sheriff Booshard to handle that? Yes, I do. But as much as we would like Sheriff Booshard to live for the next four billion years, I don't think he will. So at some point we're going to have a new Oakland County sheriff. So I think we need to look seriously at what that agreement is, who is allowed to access this, who's an outside party and who is not. I think the bigger issue with transparency, though, is how these cameras were put into Oakland County in the first place. There was a massive public outcry. There were people at these meetings protesting literally until 12 a.m. And then when they wanted to push this vote through the chair of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, Dave Woodward, he gavilled in, quickly did a voice vote, gavilled out. People were absolutely furious and it's this lack of transparency that I think is the biggest reason for breaking trust. So when you look at these flock cameras and how they're implemented in Oakland County, I think it highlights a difference between my opponent. My opponent in this race has been working on Oakland County boards directly with Dave Woodward for years. She is publicly and proudly promoting his endorsement of her. I would not stand with Dave Woodward on this topic. I would stand with Sheriff Bouchard on this topic. Now it's time for my final question. Going back to the, to the type of people that live in this district as we said, you know, higher, higher income levels more affluent. I'm going to ask a question about property taxes because with that being said, I'm sure you're, you know, the residents here, they want to get their bang for their buck when it comes to property taxes, they want nice streets, they want clean amenities, they want very effective police and fire. So what in your opinion, what is the smart way to do property tax reductions and a way that does not negatively impact public resources for a community? Well, that's a very prescient question because property taxes are absolutely one of the most common things to come up at the doors. When I was knocking in the Republican primary, of course, from Republicans, I heard a lot about property taxes because a lot of Republicans don't like taxes in general, but this is not just a Republican thing. We had, for instance, in Oakland County, Democrat turnout, far surpassed Republican turnout, but a county-wide intermediate school district millage was actually voted down. So a significant number of Democrats voted against that property tax millage. So in terms of residential property for the property taxes, one of the main things we can do is cut the state property tax, the six mills on top of the 18 mills that municipalities are allowed to levy. So that fund, those property taxes at the state level that goes to the edge. So I know some people have concerns about that. Michigan has declining enrollment, and I don't think we've seen an improvement in constantly increasing spending on our education. It's mainly going to administration. It's not making its way to the classroom. In fact, if you look at some recent studies that have come out, Michigan teachers and real dollars are actually paid at a lower rate than they were 30 years ago. So I think people are fed up with this idea that we consistently have to spend more and more of money to fund things and fund our schools. They're more focused on what you said, which is the bang for the buck. So I think we would be able to phase out the state property tax on top of the local property taxes without having a negative effect to education. I think a bigger structural reform we can do is reform when millage elections are held. What a lot of these municipalities or groups trying to put through the millages will do is they will hold them in and off your election in an election where there's low turnout, like February or May even. And what happens then is, okay, the group who wants to get this passed, they can just spend to activate a small constituency and basically no one else comes out to vote. I think if a tax increase is supposed to be democratically decided, then it should be decided in an election that most voters are aware of. So I would support restricting millage elections to being held in only November. In terms of property taxes, though, I'm more focused on the business side because when it comes to the residential side, there are changes that need to be made. But when you look at the Michigan Constitution, the only types of taxes that townships can levy are property taxes. So if we try to do some radical thing where we prevented townships from raising property tax, townships would either be entirely reliant on the state, which I don't think anyone wants, or we would have to pass a constitutional amendment allowing them to levy some sort of other tax. And I don't think people are crazy about the idea of townships levying an income tax or a sales tax. So I think more thought needs to be made before doing something like that. I think we can almost experiment, though, on the business side, because when you look at property taxes for businesses, the fact that we tax the value of the property, I think it's a big, disincentive for industries with hard capital, particularly manufacturing. So when you make an improvement to a site, if the capital is immovable, you can't move it out. It's always going to be adding to that to the property value of that property. It's the same with capital that's long lived, play specific, and incremental. And all of those things apply to manufacturing. So I would be interested in seeing if on the commercial and industrial side, we could switch over to more of a land value based system, instead of a property based system. That would incentivize people to not have these vacant lots that could be producing economic activity, and they would not disincentivize people from adding hard capital, which is going to increase our manufacturing output. Everybody, that is Roman Gasky, a candidate, the Republican candidate, running to replace outgoing Republican representative, Donnie Steele, in Michigan's 54th State House District. Again, that includes Oakland County communities like Auburn Hills, Boring Township, and both Bloomfield Hills and Bloomfield Township. Roman, thank you so much for taking the time out of your week to join us on the MERS Monday podcast. We are recording this Friday morning, September 4th. I'm looking out my window, has the rain stopped yet? Are we kind of slowing down? In Oakland County, it's stopping right now, but I'm actually at my parent's house, because my apartment is completely out of power as this place of hundreds of thousands of people. So I'll be watching DTE closely. We got to make sure that the powers getting back on. A lot of people are not happy with the power service that they get, and that's another thing I'm going to be looking into when I get to Lansing. Thank you so much, Roman. Okay, so now the rain stopped. I guess I have to let you go to go knock on some doors now. All right, well, thanks so much for having me. Talk to you soon, bye-bye. Bye-bye. And that is going to do it for our Labor Day edition of the MERS Monday podcast, and oh my goodness, what a summer that summer 2026 has been. I am extremely grateful for the podcast episodes I've been able to do this summer, the content I've been able to create, the source building, and the stories that I was able to cover and the more that will take place as we now are entering the fall here in Michigan politics and policy. Now it is time to thank the individuals that made this episode truly even possible. First off, thank you very much to Rashida Harrison, the Democratic nominee who had a surprise victory in Michigan's 28th Senate District, covering East Lansing, Meridian, Township, St. John's, and other Clinton, Ingham, and Shiawasi county communities. Furthermore, thank you very much to Roman Gasky, the 23-year-old Republican in the 54th House District, which is one of Oakland County's political battlegrounds. And thank you very, very much, and I cannot emphasize this enough. I am so grateful to you all the listeners who truly took the time out of your day to tune into this content. It means so much to me. And of course, thank you very much to Mark Bayshore, of Mark Bayshore Audio Out and Ochemist. They are responsible for the final productions in putting all of this audio together week after week. Until next time, I am your host of MERS Monday, Samantha Shriver. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]