Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey
Gary Mitchell
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Gary Mitchell (Republican Party) ran for election to the Michigan House of Representatives to represent District 42. He lost in the Republican primary on August 2, 2022.
Mitchell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Gary Mitchell was born in Detroit, Michigan. He received a bachelor's degree from Wayne State University in 1977 and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987. Mitchell's professional experience includes working as a real estate consultant and being a physical chemist and materials scientist for the Dow Chemical Company. He has been affiliated with the First Baptist Church of Kalamazoo, the Founders Freedom Forum, and the Kalamazoo Republican Party.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Michigan House of Representatives District 42
Incumbent Matt Hall defeated Justin Mendoza in the general election for Michigan House of Representatives District 42 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Matt Hall (R) | 55.0 | 24,092 |
 | Justin Mendoza (D)  | 45.0 | 19,719 | |
| Total votes: 43,811 | |||
| = 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
Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 42
Justin Mendoza advanced from the Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 42 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Justin Mendoza | 100.0 | 7,154 |
| Total votes: 7,154 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 42
Incumbent Matt Hall defeated Gary Mitchell in the Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 42 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matt Hall | 71.2 | 8,356 |
 | Gary Mitchell | 28.8 | 3,374 | |
| Total votes: 11,730 | |||
| = 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
2020
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Michigan House of Representatives District 60
Julie Rogers defeated Gary Mitchell and Stephanie Moore in the general election for Michigan House of Representatives District 60 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Julie Rogers (D) | 71.4 | 30,037 |
| Gary Mitchell (R) | 23.9 | 10,043 | |
| Stephanie Moore (D) (Write-in) | 4.7 | 1,980 | ||
| Total votes: 42,060 | |||
| = 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
Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 60
Julie Rogers defeated Stephanie Moore in the Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 60 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Julie Rogers | 51.5 | 7,176 |
| Stephanie Moore | 48.5 | 6,760 | ||
| Total votes: 13,936 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 60
Gary Mitchell advanced from the Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 60 on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Gary Mitchell | 100.0 | 3,029 |
| Total votes: 3,029 | |||
| = 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
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Gary Mitchell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mitchell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I am Dr. Gary Mitchell, I am a Christian, America first, constitutional conservative endorsed by the Michigan Trump Republicans. I am prolife, pro-second amendment and pro-parental rights and advocate of shrinking government. I earned my BS in Chemistry at Wayne State University in Detroit while working as a boilermaker. Then, spent 4 years at the General Motors Research Lab where I studied catalytic converter chemistry. I attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin and earned a doctorate in physical chemistry. At the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, MI I lead a global group of researchers who performed materials analysis projects for new and existing Dow products. I also interfaced with several National Labs.
After retiring I suddenly had time to contemplate what was going on in our country. When the Tea Party elected a large group of legislators with clear mandates which they immediately ignored, I started wondering why this was happening. It struck me that though we thought we had elected them, they were not working for us. Either we actually had not elected them, but the election system was rigged, or someone was paying them more than their government salaries.
- We need free and fair elections. Legislators must be discerning and courageous, not ignorant and cowardly. The state legislature has plenary power over elections. This power is not shared with the governor and when it is delegated and the delegatee does not do an adequate job, the legislature has the power and responsibility to claw back the responsibility and make it right.
- The public school system in Michigan has been infiltrated and largely destroyed. We need to prepare children for success by eliminating divisive social programs and start teaching the basics with tried and trued methods.
- Michigan has become unattractive to employers as witnessed by Ford motor company building their new plant in Tennessee and Stellantis and Samsung building their new battery in Indiana. Michigan electric utility prices are sky high and taxes and regulations are equally unattractive. We need to reduce taxes across all industries and rethink the sustainable energy policies that increase the cost of electricity so much in Michigan.
Here are three important areas of public policy that I find interesting and of need of reform. 1. Education. Both K-12 and university education in Michigan have fallen off the rails, indoctrinating students and poor teaching methods. 2. Energy. The use of wind mills and solar cell farms to provide sustainable energy is a very bad attempt to placte the anti global warming crowd. Neither method is sustainable or economic. Both methods are actually quite negative in the environmental area and drive up the cost of electricity in Michigan and thus discourage new industry building in Michigan. 3. Environmental protection. This area is very important for all of us, but it needs to be accomplished in such a way to not add unnecessary and unuseful burdens on citizens or industry. This is an area where one needs to be very careful about the advent of un anticipated negative consequences.
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.
2020
Gary Mitchell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mitchell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I graduated from Troy HS (Troy, MI), earned a BS Chemistry from Wayne State University (Detroit), worked 4 years for General Motors Research, Warren, MI. Earned a PhD in Physical Chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin, then worked for the Dow Chemical Company in Midland, Michigan 24 years. At Dow I lead a group of analysts who analyzed surfaces of new and current Dow products and worked with National and academic labs to make the most advanced technology available to Dow. I have 2 grown children. I now have a Realtor license and enjoy finding homes for homeless people.
I support term limits for State and federal legislatures. I fully support the US constitution and that of Michigan, I support the right to bear arms, but not to kill babies. USA is one of the least racist countries in the world, but this does not mean that there is not racism here. We need to eliminate it. I do not feel the police are systemically racists other than in the Democrat cities. I believe in being frugal with the people's money.
- We need to fix the budget deficit created by the Governor's response to the Pandemic without raising taxes.
- Fix the roads without raising taxes.
- Improve Michigan schools: teach American History and government.
Featured local question By Talent gap, I am assuming you are referring to the complaints of some employers that they can not find employees with the required expertise in the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) fields. as opposed to the Michigan versus Ohio State football teams.
I have noticed a general trend in this country since the time when my children were young, of convincing kids that only nerds took science and math classes and nerds were not cool. I think this attitude was fostered by TV shows and so forth. If we can think of ways to convince children instead that it is cool to be a scientist or an engineer, that would help alleviate this problem eventually. As far as a more immediate fix to this problem, Companies who need such employees must get onto campus to tell their story and convince students to take the courses that would lead to the skills needed. I believe the colleges and universities (and even high schools) are more than willing to offer the needed course work.
I have noticed a general trend in this country since the time when my children were young, of convincing kids that only nerds took science and math classes and nerds were not cool. I think this attitude was fostered by TV shows and so forth. If we can think of ways to convince children instead that it is cool to be a scientist or an engineer, that would help alleviate this problem eventually. As far as a more immediate fix to this problem, Companies who need such employees must get onto campus to tell their story and convince students to take the courses that would lead to the skills needed. I believe the colleges and universities (and even high schools) are more than willing to offer the needed course work.
Featured local question The states biggest responsibilities are security, infrastructure and schools.
Featured local question This is problematic. The Governor just this week has vetoed laws that would have protected whistle blowers from retaliation. I think the only hope for this issue is to get a veto proof majority of republicans in the legislature. As I understand it the FOIA laws in MI also favor the Government, both the executive and the legislative branches. That is unacceptable.
Featured local question We need to take tax hikes off the table. The people have had too much hit on their finances already due to the pandemic. I am sure we can find places to cut the budget without permanently harming the people.
Featured local question The best long term approach is to upscale the quality of roads built in the state. There is plenty of research telling us what construction techniques lead to roads that last longer. The higher quality construction costs more, but I believe when the cost is averaged over the lifetime the higher quality construction can be less expensive.I think we should put together a program to upgrade a certain number of miles of roadway per year until all the states roads are enhanced.
Meanwhile the legislature has had plans for several years to cover the costs of road repair using the current state funds and including future growth in tax receipts due to growth.
Meanwhile the legislature has had plans for several years to cover the costs of road repair using the current state funds and including future growth in tax receipts due to growth.
Featured local question The USA is the only country in the world which was founded on the basis that all citizens are sovereign individuals and are endowed with rights from the creator. In order for a republic such as ours to thrive and be healthy for all citizens requires that those citizens understand the government and why it is special and can take part in making it work. I have been appalled with how little American History is known by some college students let alone High school students. They may not know who Lincoln was or what party he was a member of, or what war happened on his watch, etc. One way to help would be if Michigan required all students to pass the USA Citizenship test.
And there are other issues including reading ability and math competence that must be addressed by other means.
And there are other issues including reading ability and math competence that must be addressed by other means.
I am passionate about holding down the cost of government. Every dollar that the government spends is a dollar less for the people. Every increase in government size and responsibility, is a decrease in the freedom of the people. This is especially apparent this year because the governor has declared a never ending state of emergency, usurped the peoples freedoms, drove, probably thousands of businesses to bankruptcy and has done huge damage to the state budget as well.
The greatest President ever was George Washington. He was instrumental in breaking the colonies away from King George. Then he was asked to be King of America. He said no.
A good place to start is the declaration of Independence written to King George by the Americans in 1776. The second paragraph starts out thus: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. ... "
I am a scientist and a problem solver. When I am presented with a problem i like to get to the bottom of it, the root cause and try to fix it.
I would love that I can help the state do some things better with less expense and thereby help the people. I would love to fix the problem with some citizen's view of the police.
I was in 5th grade on safety patrol and helping younger kids cross the street to go home from school when my mother drove up and told me President Kennedy had been shot.
My first job was as a paper boy. I grew up in Royal Oak and delivered the Daily Tribune, Then the Free Press and then the Detroit News. I must have delivered papers for ~3-4 years. When I was 16 I bought a car and got a job busing tables at a fancy restaurant on Woodward avenue. Then I got a job sweeping floors at a small factory in Madison Heights. When I graduated High School I joined the Boilermakers Union and started working for my father. This job involved crawling into the firebox of boilers with a Oxy-acetylene torch to cut out the tubes that passed the heat into the water. Then we would replace them with new tubes and seal them to each end of the boiler. I continued as a boilermaker until I graduated from College, at which point I got a call from a physicist at GM Research Laboratory, and I was hired to help with research to understand how catalytic converters worked and could be improved. I wanted to be a scientist since I was 12 years old. After working at GM for 4 years, I went to graduate school and obtained my PhD and afterwards was hired by Dow Chemical. Dow used to say they "let you do great things." In my case I believe they did let me. My team built the ~ 3rd scanning X-ray microscope in the world and it was considered to be the best for several years. With this instrument I helped Dow save and make millions of dollars and had fun doing it.
This varies a lot over time. Lately I have been reading Plutarch "Lives" "The Rise and Fall of Athens" and Thucydides and Victor Davis Hansons books about the Peloponnesian war. When you read about these events that happened 2400 years ago, you begin to realize there really is very little new under the sun. Ancient Greek polotics were much the same as what we see happening today in the USA and around the world. One of Barrack Obama's favorite lines was something like: we are now in the 21st century and we do not operate this way. How wrong he is.
I do not want to be fictional. I want to be real and do real things.
月亮代表我的心, "Yueliang Daibiao Wo De Xin": The moon represents my heart" Sorry, currently studying Chinese language.
The representatives to the house are much more numerous and thus have smaller districts. They can be considered more local in their representation. Since the terms are only two years, this also requires that hey be more concerned and responsive to their constituents needs and wants. Conversely the Senate has a little more time between elections, so the electorate can forget the things that a senator does at the beginning of his term.
It makes it easier to be corrupt. They will have been able to learn how to do things without getting caught. You will get to know all of the best lobbyists -- those who have the most money to spend and how to part them from the money.
In a little less cynical view, It takes time to learn how to interact with other legislators to get them to care about the legislation that you and your constituents care about. Most legislators, no doubt become more productive with time in office. However, productivity can be a positive or negative thing for a legislator depending on the legislation he is producing. When all the legislators are pretty fresh, I am guessing there will be more honest discussion to discover the best way forward. As some get more experience and learn the tricks of interacting, these parties can take advantage of others.
In a little less cynical view, It takes time to learn how to interact with other legislators to get them to care about the legislation that you and your constituents care about. Most legislators, no doubt become more productive with time in office. However, productivity can be a positive or negative thing for a legislator depending on the legislation he is producing. When all the legislators are pretty fresh, I am guessing there will be more honest discussion to discover the best way forward. As some get more experience and learn the tricks of interacting, these parties can take advantage of others.
The governor is supposed to be the administrator and is in charge of enforcing laws. The legislature is in charge of making laws when necessary. New laws are actually, generally unneeded. It would good for the legislature to spend some time repealing obsolete laws.
The relationship between the Governor and the legislature should be cordial. The governor should make use of the legislature for their expertise as to what may be needed in local constituencies. In the case of the Pandemic, the Governor refused to consult with the legislature as if she knew better than anyone else in the state. Now we see how much that was wrong.
The relationship between the Governor and the legislature should be cordial. The governor should make use of the legislature for their expertise as to what may be needed in local constituencies. In the case of the Pandemic, the Governor refused to consult with the legislature as if she knew better than anyone else in the state. Now we see how much that was wrong.
Yes it is beneficial to build good relations with other legislators. In order for the legislature to work, the members must debate and in order to build consensus on issues, we need trust.
Not really. I have never coveted power or government office. I am just running for this office, because I see I am needed here to help the people.
This story pertains to a friend of mine not in my district. My friend is a black man with a PhD in Chemistry and a good job at the second largest chemical company in the world. He told me one night he was out for a stroll in his neighborhood when a policeman stopped him to ask him what he was doing. Apparently he was walking around black. OK so this was 20 years ago. I hope it does not happen like that in that neighborhood anymore, and I hope it does not happen like that in my present neighborhood of Kalamazoo.
Fixing these sort of issues is not a matter of laws, though, it is maybe a matter of familiarity. That is the police need to be familiar with the citizens and understand that they are sovereign and the people need to get to know and be able to trust the police. Let's think of ways to make this happen.
Fixing these sort of issues is not a matter of laws, though, it is maybe a matter of familiarity. That is the police need to be familiar with the citizens and understand that they are sovereign and the people need to get to know and be able to trust the police. Let's think of ways to make this happen.
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
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 9, 2020
Current members of the Michigan House of Representatives
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Matt Hall
Minority Leader:Ranjeev Puri
Representatives
District 1
Tyrone Carter (D)
District 2
Tullio Liberati (D)
District 3
Alabas Farhat (D)
District 4
Karen Whitsett (D)
District 5
Regina Weiss (D)
District 6
Natalie Price (D)
District 7
District 8
Helena Scott (D)
District 9
Joseph Tate (D)
District 10
Veronica Paiz (D)
District 11
Donavan McKinney (D)
District 12
Kimberly Edwards (D)
District 13
Mai Xiong (D)
District 14
Mike McFall (D)
District 15
Erin Byrnes (D)
District 16
Stephanie Young (D)
District 17
Laurie Pohutsky (D)
District 18
Jason Hoskins (D)
District 19
District 20
Noah Arbit (D)
District 21
Kelly Breen (D)
District 22
Matt Koleszar (D)
District 23
Jason Morgan (D)
District 24
Ranjeev Puri (D)
District 25
Peter Herzberg (D)
District 26
Dylan Wegela (D)
District 27
Rylee Linting (R)
District 28
Jamie Thompson (R)
District 29
James DeSana (R)
District 30
William Bruck (R)
District 31
Reggie Miller (D)
District 32
Jimmie Wilson (D)
District 33
Morgan Foreman (D)
District 34
District 35
Jennifer Wortz (R)
District 36
Steve Carra (R)
District 37
Brad Paquette (R)
District 38
Joey Andrews (D)
District 39
Pauline Wendzel (R)
District 40
Matt Longjohn (D)
District 41
Julie Rogers (D)
District 42
Matt Hall (R)
District 43
Rachelle Smit (R)
District 44
Steve Frisbie (R)
District 45
Sarah Lightner (R)
District 46
Kathy Schmaltz (R)
District 47
Carrie Rheingans (D)
District 48
Jennifer Conlin (D)
District 49
Ann Bollin (R)
District 50
Jason Woolford (R)
District 51
Matt Maddock (R)
District 52
Mike Harris (R)
District 53
Brenda Carter (D)
District 54
Donni Steele (R)
District 55
Mark Tisdel (R)
District 56
Sharon MacDonell (D)
District 57
Thomas Kuhn (R)
District 58
Ron Robinson (R)
District 59
Douglas Wozniak (R)
District 60
Joseph Aragona (R)
District 61
Denise Mentzer (D)
District 62
District 63
Jay DeBoyer (R)
District 64
Joseph Pavlov (R)
District 65
Jaime Greene (R)
District 66
Josh Schriver (R)
District 67
Phil Green (R)
District 68
David Martin (R)
District 69
Jasper Martus (D)
District 70
Cynthia Neeley (D)
District 71
Brian BeGole (R)
District 72
Mike Mueller (R)
District 73
Julie Brixie (D)
District 74
Kara Hope (D)
District 75
District 76
Angela Witwer (D)
District 77
Emily Dievendorf (D)
District 78
Gina Johnsen (R)
District 79
Angela Rigas (R)
District 80
Phil Skaggs (D)
District 81
Stephen Wooden (D)
District 82
Kristian Grant (D)
District 83
John Fitzgerald (D)
District 84
Carol Glanville (D)
District 85
Bradley Slagh (R)
District 86
Nancy De Boer (R)
District 87
William Snyder (D)
District 88
Greg VanWoerkom (R)
District 89
Luke Meerman (R)
District 90
Bryan Posthumus (R)
District 91
Pat Outman (R)
District 92
Jerry Neyer (R)
District 93
Tim Kelly (R)
District 94
Amos O'Neal (D)
District 95
Bill Schuette (R)
District 96
Timothy Beson (R)
District 97
Matthew Bierlein (R)
District 98
District 99
Mike Hoadley (R)
District 100
Tom Kunse (R)
District 101
Joseph Fox (R)
District 102
Curt VanderWall (R)
District 103
Betsy Coffia (D)
District 104
John Roth (R)
District 105
Ken Borton (R)
District 106
Cameron Cavitt (R)
District 107
Parker Fairbairn (R)
District 108
David Prestin (R)
District 109
Karl Bohnak (R)
District 110
Republican Party (58)
Democratic Party (52)
