Elizabeth Ferszt

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Elizabeth Ferszt

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 2, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Michigan, 1983

Graduate

University of South Carolina, 1986

Ph.D

Wayne State University, 2006

Personal

Birthplace

Detroit, Mich.

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Lecturer/Adjunct faculty

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Twitter

Elizabeth Ferszt (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Michigan's 5th Congressional District. She lost as a write-in in the Republican primary on August 2, 2022.

Ferszt completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2022

See also: Michigan's 5th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Michigan District 5

Incumbent Tim Walberg defeated Bart Goldberg, Norman Peterson, and Ezra Scott in the general election for U.S. House Michigan District 5 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tim Walberg (R)	62.4	198,020
		Bart Goldberg (D)	35.0	110,946
	Submit photo	Norman Peterson (L)	1.6	5,129
		Ezra Scott (U.S. Taxpayers Party)	1.0	3,162

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 317,257
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Ethan Hobson (U.S. Taxpayers Party)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 5

Bart Goldberg advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Michigan District 5 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bart Goldberg	100.0	39,971

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 39,971
= 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 U.S. House Michigan District 5

Incumbent Tim Walberg defeated Sherry O'Donnell, Elizabeth Ferszt, and Bryan Trouten in the Republican primary for U.S. House Michigan District 5 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tim Walberg	67.1	67,582
		Sherry O'Donnell	32.7	32,886
		Elizabeth Ferszt (Write-in)	0.1	66
		Bryan Trouten (Write-in)	0.0	31
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	97

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 100,662
= 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.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 5

Norman Peterson advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Michigan District 5 on July 10, 2022.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Norman Peterson (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= 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.

U.S. Taxpayers Party convention

U.S. Taxpayers Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 5

Ezra Scott advanced from the U.S. Taxpayers Party convention for U.S. House Michigan District 5 on July 23, 2022.

		Candidate
✔		Ezra Scott (U.S. Taxpayers Party)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= 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

Elizabeth Ferszt completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ferszt's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Hello, my name is Elizabeth Ferszt and I am running for Michigan 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives, in the Republican Primary in August 2022, (ending what happens with redistricting). I am Michigan native, but have lived in worked in several other states, including South Carolina, where I attended the University of South Carolina for graduate school, and Arizona, where I taught for 5 years as an Instructor at ASU. My educational background also includes a B.A. degree from U Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Ph.D. from Wayne State U. in Detroit. I am the independent parent of three adult children ages 35, 31, and 27. I currently am employed by University of Michigan as Lecturer I, and Jackson College as adjunct faculty in CEP/MDOC program, and Lead Faculty in First-Year Seminar. I am running for the Michigan 7th because the current representative does not reflect the values of the 7th, as he voted to object to electors from the State of Arizona, and would have voted similarly to object to lawful electors from Pennsylvania, and even Michigan. He believes/d in the conspiracy theory that the 'election was stolen'; he must be replaced.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I am an Austin Blair Republican: an originalist who believes that the current GOP needs to recenter itself on 1854 foundational value of Abolition.
• The GOP had one platform when it was founded: anti-slavery. In today's world, being anti-slavery means being anti-structural and systemic racism.
• The GOP authored the 13th (abolishes slavery); the 14th (birth-right citizenship), and the 15th (voting rights based solely on citizenship) amendments; this makes the GOP the original party of voting rights

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I believe in:

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM
Restorative justice
Sustainable re-entry program like HomeBoy/Girl Industries in LA
Priority access to COVID 19 vaccines for all MDOC inmates
Increased access to HS, GED, and Higher Ed
Remove barriers to post incarceration employment
US Census: are inmates counted in Census for District 7? Sadly, yes, about 3500 are counted as ‘residents’ in this county by virtue of being housed at Cooper, Parnall, and Cotton; this leads to inflated representation numbers in our district;
Prison gerrymandering

Abolish cash bail (for pre-trial jail sentences)

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to Austin Blair, the Governor of Michigan during the Civil War (1860-1864). When President Abe Lincoln asked the Gov. to recruit 10,000 troops to serve in the Union, Austin Blair responded, making him the Commander of the (real) Michigan Militia; his statue was the first

allowed and placed on the state house grounds at the capital in Lansing. On the back of the pedestal, it
reads (in part):

“All the blood and carnage of this terrible war, all the heart-rending casualties of battle, and the
sad bereavements occasioned by them, have the same cause: SLAVERY, the greatest, vilest
criminal of the world; it must perish.” (1863)

Let’s think about the context: in 1863, the North was kind of losing the war; the South had prevailed at ---
2nd Bull Run, Richmond, and Chancellorsville, but then there was Gettysburg, in July 1863, the 3-day battle
that turned the war (see the book Killer Angels for full narrative of this awful fight).

This is the real and true Republican party: the party that demanded the erasure of “the greatest, vilest
criminal of the world: Slavery.”

I am an Austin Blair Republican.

And that is why my first action if elected to Congress will be to engage with my colleagues ‘across the
aisle’ to support HB 40, a bill every year presented by the late Rep. John Conyers (D) from Detroit, that
only seeks to research the causes of current racial inequality, namely slavery, and after that Jim Crow,
Lynching, Segregation, the Great Migration, and still segregation, discrimination, and systemic racism.

https://elizabethferszt.wordpress.com/2021/01/19/lets-talk-about-austin-blair/

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The core responsibilities of a U.S. House Representative are to reflect the values of the district, not the party; this involves listening to constituents, it also involves keeping informed on current national and global issues (reading!); core responsibilities are also to collaborate with other law makers, to be present at floor debates and votes, and to faithfully uphold the Constitution of the United States.

What is your favorite book? Why?

My favorite recent book in 'There There' (2018) by Native-American writer Tommy Orange. I assigned this book in my UM classes this semester, and students loved it; it's a transformative, but also very narrative novel about 12 main characters whose life experiences and trauma converge on a Powwow in Oakland, CA. Read this book! You won't be able to put it down, and it will stuck with you for days.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Like many single parents, I struggled with money; being a single parent means having a single income; over the years in raising my three children largely by myself, we were on public assistance in the form of WIC, Food Stamps (EBT, SNAP); my children all received Pell Grants when they enrolled in college; I have had to work two (sometimes 3) jobs to make ends meet. I know what it is like to go without and to sacrifice for the greater good of parenting.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

The U.S. House of Representatives is the people's house; it runs on 2-year terms; it is meant to be ephemeral, and not a permanent job; we all should think about taking turns to work there, not make it a career.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

No, previous experience in government or politics might be helpful in campaign logistics, but not in pure legislating. In fact, it might actually be a hinderance in that the same rigid ideas are presented, instead newer, more transformative policy. Unfortunately, incumbency is usually privileged over challengers. But it doesn't have to be this way.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Addressing structural racism. This affects EVERY aspect of our lives as Americans, and not just binary racism (black/white); it effects who gets to live where, what colleges and schools one attends, access to healthcare, job opportunities, and general quality of life; see my piece "Why Racism is Everybody's Problem":

"It used to be that those who played no part in historical slavery, either directly or indirectly, by their ancestry or lineage, could wash their hands of this most egregious of all American sins. . . "

https://elizabethferszt.wordpress.com/2017/08/20/why-racism-is-everybodys-problem/

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Is there a committee for the End of Structural Racism? Is there a committee for Criminal Justice reform? Seriously though, I would like to be on an committee that does work on education, as that is my background.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Yes.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

John Lewis.

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

I have not started full campaigning yet as real candidate, (due to redistricting time lines), but I'm sure I will hear some great stories.

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

The House holds the 'purse-strings' -- yes, I agree and understand this Constitutional mandate. My role would be to carefully read any fiscal policy and budget proposals, including for acts of war, and make sure that the language of that bill or policy conforms to the extant revenue raising powers held by the House (and not by the Senate or the Executive branch).

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

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Government

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External links

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Candidate

U.S. House Michigan District 5

Website

Twitter

Footnotes

[show]

Michigan's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Gary Peters (D)

Elissa Slotkin (D)

Representatives

District 1

Jack Bergman (R)

District 2

John Moolenaar (R)

District 3

Hillary Scholten (D)

District 4

Bill Huizenga (R)

District 5

Tim Walberg (R)

District 6

Debbie Dingell (D)

District 7

Tom Barrett (R)

District 8

Kristen Rivet (D)

District 9

Lisa McClain (R)

District 10

John James (R)

District 11

Haley Stevens (D)

District 12

Rashida Tlaib (D)

District 13

Shri Thanedar (D)

Democratic Party (8)

Republican Party (7)