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Dayna Polehanki
2023 - Present
2027
2
Dayna Polehanki (Democratic Party) is a member of the Michigan State Senate, representing District 5. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.
Polehanki (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Michigan State Senate to represent District 5. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Biography
Dayna Polehanki lives in Livonia, Michigan. Polehanki earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Central Michigan University and a master’s degree in teaching from Marygrove College.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Polehanki was assigned to the following committees:
- Economic and Small Business Development Committee
- Education and Career Readiness Committee, Chair
- Energy and Technology Committee (decommissioned)
- Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee
- Senate Oversight Committee
- Senate Regulatory Reform Committee, Majority Vice Chair
2021-2022
Polehanki was assigned to the following committees:
- Senate Agriculture Committee (decommissioned), Minority vice-chair
- Education and Career Readiness Committee, Minority vice-chair
- Senate Regulatory Reform Committee
2019-2020
Polehanki was assigned to the following committees:
- Education and Career Readiness Committee, Minority Vice Chair
- Senate Agriculture Committee (decommissioned)
- Senate Regulatory Reform Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2022
See also: Michigan State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Michigan State Senate District 5
Incumbent Dayna Polehanki defeated Emily Bauman in the general election for Michigan State Senate District 5 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dayna Polehanki (D) | 61.1 | 64,455 |
 | Emily Bauman (R)  | 38.9 | 41,091 | |
| Total votes: 105,546 | |||
| = 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 5
Incumbent Dayna Polehanki defeated Velma Overman in the Democratic primary for Michigan State Senate District 5 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dayna Polehanki | 74.0 | 19,822 |
| Velma Overman | 26.0 | 6,954 | ||
| Total votes: 26,776 | |||
| = 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 5
Emily Bauman defeated Leonard Scott Jr. and Jody Rice-White in the Republican primary for Michigan State Senate District 5 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Emily Bauman | 42.0 | 6,909 |
 | Leonard Scott Jr. | 33.1 | 5,442 | |
 | Jody Rice-White | 24.9 | 4,106 | |
| Total votes: 16,457 | |||
| = 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 finance
2018
- See also: Michigan State Senate elections, 2018
General election
Dayna Polehanki defeated Laura Cox and Joseph LeBlanc in the general election for Michigan State Senate District 7 on November 6, 2018.
General election
General election for Michigan State Senate District 7
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dayna Polehanki (D) | 50.6 | 69,434 |
 | Laura Cox (R) | 47.3 | 65,001 | |
| Joseph LeBlanc (L) | 2.1 | 2,892 | ||
| Total votes: 137,327 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Dayna Polehanki defeated Ghulam Qadir in the Democratic primary for Michigan State Senate District 7 on August 7, 2018.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Michigan State Senate District 7
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dayna Polehanki | 73.5 | 27,826 |
| Ghulam Qadir | 26.5 | 10,016 | ||
| Total votes: 37,842 | |||
| = 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
Laura Cox advanced from the Republican primary for Michigan State Senate District 7 on August 7, 2018.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Michigan State Senate District 7
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Laura Cox | 100.0 | 29,094 |
| Total votes: 29,094 | |||
| = 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
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Dayna Polehanki did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Dayna Polehanki participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on August 23, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Dayna Polehanki's responses follow below.[2]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | Education, Environment, Health Care[3][4] | ” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | As a classroom teacher of 16 years and my district's 2018 Teacher of the Year, I have seen first hand the bad hand that has been dealt to students and teachers over the past eight years of failed leadership in Lansing. We must turn this ship around. To start, we must remove Betsy DeVos's failed for-profit motive and heed the call of bipartisan school funding studies and increase per-pupil funding to our PK-12 schools. Once elected to the state senate, I will be not just the voice--but the ROAR--for students and teachers in Michigan.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[4]
|
” |
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Michigan scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 10 to December 23.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 11 to November 14.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 12 to December 28.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 13 to December 31.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 8 to December 31.
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2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 9 through December 31.
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See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate Michigan State Senate District 5 |
Officeholder Michigan State Senate District 5 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Michigan Senate Democrats, "Bio - Senator Dayna Polehanki," accessed May 6, 2023
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Dayna Polehanki's responses," August 23, 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Betty Jean Alexander (D) |
Michigan State Senate District 5 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by Patrick Colbeck (R) |
Michigan State Senate District 7 2019-2023 |
Succeeded by Jeremy Moss (D) |
