Jeff Irwin

Jeff Irwin

Democratic Party

Michigan State Senate District 15

Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

2

Predecessor

Jim Runestad

Prior offices

Washtenaw County Commissioner

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Michigan House of Representatives District 53

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Michigan State Senate District 18

Successor: Thomas Albert

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Report an officeholder change

Compensation

Base salary

$71,685/year

Per diem

No per diem is paid. Legislators receive an expense allowance of $10,800/year for session and interim.

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Michigan

Personal

Birthplace

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Campaign website

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Jeff Irwin (Democratic Party) is a member of the Michigan State Senate, representing District 15. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Irwin (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Michigan State Senate to represent District 15. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Irwin is a former Democratic member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing District 53 from 2011 to 2017. Irwin did not seek re-election to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2016 due to term limits.

Irwin served as a Washtenaw County commissioner from 1999 to 2010.

Biography

Jeff Irwin was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Irwin earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan. He served on the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners.

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

Irwin was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Judiciary and Public Safety Committee (decommissioned)
• Finance Committee
• Health Policy and Human Services, Chair

2021-2022

Irwin was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Judiciary and Public Safety Committee (decommissioned)
• Senate Oversight Committee, Minority vice-chair
• Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (decommissioned)

2019-2020

Irwin was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Senate Oversight Committee
• Judiciary and Public Safety Committee (decommissioned)

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Irwin served on the following committees:

Michigan committee assignments, 2015
• Appropriations
• Elections
• Judiciary, Minority Vice Chair

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Irwin served on the following committees:

Michigan committee assignments, 2012
• Judiciary

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Irwin served on the following committees:

Michigan committee assignments, 2011
• Energy and Technology
• Judiciary

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 15

Incumbent Jeff Irwin defeated Scott Price in the general election for Michigan State Senate District 15 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeff Irwin (D)	74.1	89,399
	Submit photo	Scott Price (R)	25.9	31,172

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 120,571
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Michigan State Senate District 15

Incumbent Jeff Irwin advanced from the Democratic primary for Michigan State Senate District 15 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeff Irwin	100.0	37,230

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 37,230
= 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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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Michigan State Senate District 15

Scott Price defeated Wyckham Seelig in the Republican primary for Michigan State Senate District 15 on August 2, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Scott Price	72.0	8,253
	Submit photo	Wyckham Seelig	28.0	3,213

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,466
= 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Reid Scott (R)

2018

See also: Michigan State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for Michigan State Senate District 18

Jeff Irwin defeated Martin Church and Thomas Repasky in the general election for Michigan State Senate District 18 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeff Irwin (D)	76.6	96,891
		Martin Church (R)	21.0	26,620
	Submit photo	Thomas Repasky (Working Class Party)	2.3	2,954

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 126,465 (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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Michigan State Senate District 18

Jeff Irwin defeated Michelle Deatrick, Anuja Rajendra, and Matthew Miller in the Democratic primary for Michigan State Senate District 18 on August 7, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeff Irwin	35.6	19,875
		Michelle Deatrick	35.2	19,634
	Submit photo	Anuja Rajendra	26.3	14,673
	Submit photo	Matthew Miller	2.9	1,597

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 55,779
= 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 18

Martin Church advanced from the Republican primary for Michigan State Senate District 18 on August 7, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Martin Church	100.0	9,770

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 9,770
= 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.

2016

See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for the Michigan House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on August 2, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was April 19, 2016. Incumbent Jeff Irwin (D) did not seek re-election because of term-limits.

Yousef Rabhi defeated Samuel Bissell and Joseph Stevens in the Michigan House of Representatives District 53 general election.

Michigan House of Representatives, District 53 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Yousef Rabhi	80.40%	35,502
	Republican	Samuel Bissell	16.25%	7,176
	Green	Joseph Stevens	3.34%	1,476
Total Votes				44,154
Source: Michigan Secretary of State

Yousef Rabhi defeated Steven Kwasny in the Michigan House of Representatives District 53 Democratic primary.

Michigan House of Representatives, District 53 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Yousef Rabhi	85.52%	7,237
	Democratic	Steven Kwasny	14.48%	1,225
Total Votes				8,462

Samuel Bissell ran unopposed in the Michigan House of Representatives District 53 Republican primary.

Michigan House of Representatives, District 53 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Republican	Samuel Bissell  (unopposed)

2014

See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for the Michigan House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election was held on August 5, 2014, and a general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was April 22, 2014. Incumbent Jeff Irwin was unopposed in the Democratic primary. John Spisak was unopposed in the Republican primary. Irwin defeated Spisak in the general election.

Michigan House of Representatives, District 53 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jeff Irwin Incumbent	82.3%	21,004
	Republican	John Spisak	17.7%	4,504
Total Votes				25,508

2012

See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2012

Irwin won re-election in the 2012 election for Michigan House of Representatives District 53. He ran unopposed in the August 7 Democratic primary and defeated John Spisak (R) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.

Michigan House of Representatives, District 53, General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jeff Irwin Incumbent	80.9%	32,576
	Republican	John Spisak	19.1%	7,672
Total Votes				40,248

Michigan House of Representatives, District 53 Democratic Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jeff Irwin Incumbent	88.4%	5,542
Thomas Partridge	11.6%	725
Total Votes		6,267

2010

See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2010

Irwin won election to the District 53 seat in 2010. He defeated Ned Staebler in the August 3 Democratic primary. He defeated Chase Ingersoll (R) in the general election on November 2, 2010.

Michigan House of Representatives, District 53 General election (2010)
Candidates		Votes
Jeff Irwin (D)		23,440
Chase Ingersoll (R)		5,692

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jeff Irwin did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2012

Irwin's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

Environment

• Excerpt: "If elected, I will propose energy saving measures that will reduce pollution and save money. I will fight to give citizens the right to know what is in the products we buy; and I will hold polluters accountable, making them clean up their act with a combination of incentives for pollution prevention and penalties for poisoning our air and water."

Education

• Excerpt: "I believe that this is the main reason why Ann Arbor has weathered our current economic climate better than our neighbors. Ann Arbor is an education community and smart people are a competitive advantage that we would be wise to cultivate."

Economy

• Excerpt: "Finally, we all make a difference in our local economy every day. Each dollar we spend is like a vote and when we buy locally [1] it’s like voting for Ann Arbor to be more economically vibrant."

Human Rights

• Excerpt: "I am committed to the continuing struggle for human rights. I am proud to be part of a community that shares these values and I believe that Ann Arbor has an opportunity and an obligation to represent these concerns aggressively in Lansing."

Campaign finance summary

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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.

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Jeff Irwin campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2022	Michigan State Senate District 15	Won general	$152,435	$0
2018	Michigan State Senate District 18	Won general	$199,819	N/A**
2014	Michigan House of Representatives, District 53	Won	$47,126	N/A**
2012	Michigan State House, District 53	Won	$29,067	N/A**
2010	Michigan State House, District 53	Won	$64,088	N/A**
Grand total			$492,535	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Michigan

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].

In 2024, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 10 to December 23. Michigan AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on labor issues. Michigan Chamber Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. Michigan Farm Bureau Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to agriculture. Michigan League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].
In 2023, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 11 to November 14. Michigan AFL-CIO Advocates Legislators are scored on labor issues. Michigan League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2022

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show].

In 2022, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 12 to December 28. Clean Water Action & Sierra Club Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. Michigan AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on labor issues. Michigan Chamber Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. Michigan Farm Bureau Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to agriculture. Michigan League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. MIRS: Senate and House Legislators are scored on a number of bills selected by the editor of MIRS, a state capitol newsletter. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.

2021

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show].

In 2021, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 13 to December 31. Clean Water Action & Sierra Club Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. Michigan AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on labor issues. Michigan Farm Bureau Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to agriculture. Michigan League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. MIRS: Senate and House Legislators are scored on a number of bills selected by the editor of MIRS, a state capitol newsletter. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2020

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show].

In 2020, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 8 to December 31. Clean Water Action & Sierra Club Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. Michigan AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on labor issues. Michigan Farm Bureau Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to agriculture. Michigan League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].

In 2019, the Michigan State Legislature was in session from January 9 through December 31. Clean Water Action & Sierra Club Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. Michigan AFL-CIO Legislators are scored on labor issues. Michigan Farm Bureau Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to agriculture. Michigan League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

Tea Party Scorecard

The Independent Tea Party Patriots, a Michigan Tea Party group, grades the votes of this and every other Michigan legislator on “core tea party issues” in a regularly-updated scorecard. 100% is considered an ideal rating.

January 2011 - March 2012

Jeff Irwin received a 12% rating on the January 2011 - March 2012 Tea Party Scorecard.

See also

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Candidate

Michigan State Senate District 15

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Michigan State Senate District 15

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Jim Runestad (R)	Michigan State Senate District 15 2023-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	Michigan State Senate District 18 2019-2023	Succeeded by Thomas Albert (R)
Preceded by -	Michigan House of Representatives District 53 2011-2017	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	Washtenaw County Commissioner 1999-2010	Succeeded by -

[show]

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

Veronica Klinefelt (D)

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)