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Chad McNamara
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Chad McNamara (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the Michigan State Senate to represent District 17. He lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Elections
2018
- See also: Michigan State Senate elections, 2018
General election
General election for Michigan State Senate District 17
Incumbent Dale Zorn defeated Bill LaVoy and Chad McNamara in the general election for Michigan State Senate District 17 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dale Zorn (R) | 57.8 | 57,771 |
 | Bill LaVoy (D)  | 39.2 | 39,196 | |
 | Chad McNamara (L) | 2.9 | 2,903 | |
| Total votes: 99,870 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Michigan State Senate District 17
Bill LaVoy advanced from the Democratic primary for Michigan State Senate District 17 on August 7, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Bill LaVoy | 100.0 | 17,003 |
| Total votes: 17,003 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Michigan State Senate District 17
Incumbent Dale Zorn advanced from the Republican primary for Michigan State Senate District 17 on August 7, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dale Zorn | 100.0 | 21,629 |
| Total votes: 21,629 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Libertarian primary election
Libertarian primary for Michigan State Senate District 17
Chad McNamara advanced from the Libertarian primary for Michigan State Senate District 17 on August 7, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Chad McNamara | 100.0 | 145 |
| Total votes: 145 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Chad McNamara participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on April 2, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Chad McNamara's responses follow below.[1]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | 1) Enhancing privacy protections that actively prevent government interference in telecommunications. 2) Securing our energy future for clean, renewable and affordable energy. |
” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | First, I believe in economic liberty. This means a strong belief in property ownership, truly free markets as opposed to corporatism, open competition and strong individual work ethic. Second, I believe in an agenda that protects our privacy in a way that ends unduly burdensome government interference in our personal business. Third, for the sake of a strong pluralistic democracy and thriving economy for generations to come, I believe we must strive for multicultural acceptance at home and abroad. Last but not least, while our democratic experiment in the United States has worked, it is time that we take a step forward in strengthening what we already have in place. The political process must be opened up to independent candidates and minor parties. Currently, their voice is stifled, and almost always excluded from the debate. Michigan's current election and campaign finance laws are unduly burdensome, a byproduct of Republicans and Democrats actively creating a two-party system to prevent outside competition. This leads to the misconstrued idea that voting for a party other than the two major parties is a wasted vote. This is an unhealthy sign for our republic, and nothing short of alarming. All Michigan election laws that currently stifle meaningful competition must be repealed. We must modernize voter registration and fight efforts to limit voter registration and voting. Moreover, I plan on introducing no-reason absentee voting and early voting in Michigan. Last but not least, we must end gerrymandering and make redistricting politically neutral and nonpartisan.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[3]
|
” |
Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Chad McNamara answered the following:
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?
| “ | My father, Jeff, has always been a role model for me for as long as I can remember. He has never been someone to lecture my brother and I. Instead, he puts in long days of hard work at his job and makes an honest living doing so. He's not a talker. He's a doer. Anyone can say the right words, but to actually walk the walk and do a superb job in everything you do in life is a tall task, and he succeeds greatly at it. It's that kind of life that I want to lead when I start a family of my own. And it's that kind of leadership that I plan on exemplifying in public office.[3] | ” |
| “ | Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. I subscribe to the Austrian school of economic thought. This is not very well known in the United States as we operate under Keynesian economic thought. I read this book while I was in high school, and once you read something that clicks to you and makes complete sense, it's incredible hard to ignore it. Even if you disagree with Austrian economic thought, the book is laid-out well, easy to understand and is incredibly rational.[3] | ” |
| “ | My three P's: Patience, persistence and persuasion.[3] | ” |
| “ | Michigan has been labeled the comeback state, and for good reason. After the ""lost decade"" made us economically-irrelevant, we seem to finally have our footing back. Our biggest cities Detroit and Grand Rapids are finally booming and becoming what they are capable of. We have achieved tax and regulatory reform to free-up our economy. However, we know all too well of the boom and bust cycles that occur, a byproduct of Keynesian economic thought. The biggest challenge for Michigan will be continuing our comeback, as there is still so much work to do. It is an incredible tall task to continue the momentum of economic growth over a sustained period of time. All layers of government, private sectors included, must stay vigilant and not get comfortable with favorable economic conditions. We are on the right track to true economic prosperity, but only if we are committed to it for the long haul.[3] | ” |
| “ | I take a very minimalist approach on this issue. The job of the Michigan House and Senate is to introduce, pass and fail pieces of legislation. When those pieces are approved, the governor acts as a check on the legislature, in that he or she can sign the legislation into law and veto it. From there, it is the legislature's decision to override this veto to act as a reverse-check on the governor. Because these are two separate branches of government, I am very skeptical of a government where one branch is too close to another branch, resulting in a situation where the integrity of one or both branches are compromised. Ideally, I'd like to see as much of a separation as possible between these two branches, but still maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect for the sake of a functioning government.[3] | ” |
| “ | First and foremost, I'm not running for State Senate because I need 37 more friends. I'm not in the business, nor have I ever been, of compromising on my core beliefs to trade ""yes"" votes for the sake of increasing the chance for my legislation to pass. However, this isn't so cut and dry. Politics is very much like the business world, and building professional relationships grounded in trust and mutual respect is a must for a fully-functioning legislature. I will vote ""yes"" and ""no"" whenever it is appropriate. I will seek compromise with other legislators whenever it is appropriate. How do I measure what is appropriate? If and when it benefits the voters who will have elected me.[3] | ” |
| “ | This is actually one of my campaign's major pillars in terms of democratic reforms in Michigan. I favor making redistricting politically neutral and nonpartisan. The current process used in Michigan and across the country is used only to perpetuate the two-party system and making sure the party in power retains that power. And ultimately that's what separates me from any other candidate, is that ""power"" doesn't interest me. Only with true competition and fair and honest elections do we become the republic that we know we can become.[3] | ” |
| “ | Because energy reforms is a pillar of my campaign, my first committee choice will be Energy and Technology. Second, for anyone reading this or who has visited my website, electoral reform is very important to me so I also want to be placed on the Elections and Government Reform committee.[3] | ” |
| “ | At this point, my only interest is serving the people of Michigan to the best of my ability. They deserve my full and undivided attention, and focusing on national politics takes my attention off of them.[3] | ” |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Chad McNamara's responses," April 2, 2018
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
Current members of the Michigan State Senate
Senators
District 1
Erika Geiss (D)
District 2
Sylvia Santana (D)
District 3
Stephanie Chang (D)
District 4
Darrin Camilleri (D)
District 5
Dayna Polehanki (D)
District 6
Mary Cavanagh (D)
District 7
Jeremy Moss (D)
District 8
Mallory McMorrow (D)
District 9
Michael Webber (R)
District 10
Paul Wojno (D)
District 11
District 12
Kevin Hertel (D)
District 13
Rosemary Bayer (D)
District 14
Sue Shink (D)
District 15
Jeff Irwin (D)
District 16
Joseph Bellino (R)
District 17
Jonathan Lindsey (R)
District 18
Thomas Albert (R)
District 19
Sean McCann (D)
District 20
Aric Nesbitt (R)
District 21
Sarah Anthony (D)
District 22
Lana Theis (R)
District 23
Jim Runestad (R)
District 24
Ruth Johnson (R)
District 25
Dan Lauwers (R)
District 26
Kevin Daley (R)
District 27
John Cherry (D)
District 28
Sam Singh (D)
District 29
Winnie Brinks (D)
District 30
Mark Huizenga (R)
District 31
Roger Victory (R)
District 32
Jon Bumstead (R)
District 33
Rick Outman (R)
District 34
Roger Hauck (R)
District 35
Vacant
District 36
Michele Hoitenga (R)
District 37
John Damoose (R)
District 38
Ed McBroom (R)
Democratic Party (19)
Republican Party (18)
Vacancies (1)
