Michigan State Senate District 33 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Michigan, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Michigan State Senate District 33 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

• Click here to see candidates and election results.
• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Michigan State Senate District 33

Incumbent Rick Outman defeated Mark Bignell and Joseph Gillotte in the general election for Michigan State Senate District 33 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rick Outman (R)	66.2	77,239
		Mark Bignell (D)	31.7	36,915
	Submit photo	Joseph Gillotte (L)	2.1	2,438

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 116,592
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

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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.

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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?

Mark Bignell (D)

Restoring & preserving reproductive freedom.

Reforming education with policies inspired by successful historical models.

Reforming campaign finance regulations to remove the undue influence of money on Michigan politics.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Mark Bignell (D)

The first area I am passionate about is special education policy, as it relates to testing and identification of services needed for students, school IEP compliance, student support structures, post secondary education support structures and post education support networks. Too many children pass through our education system and ultimately are set up for failure, because their learning disabilities go untested, undiagnosed and unaided.

Next, I am very interested in improving labor policy, living wages and career development. I would work to ensure that those who wish to seek professional development in preparation to a career, can obtain that education and training to fulfill that calling. There are many professions in Michigan, which see shortages of qualified people year after year. Without filling these positions, we ultimately hurt ourselves in Michigan, by accepting less services and lost economic potential. This is especially important, in education, as Michigan struggles to fill many teaching positions, support positions and administrative positions.

Finally, I am passionate and humbled by the scale of the housing crisis in Michigan. As someone that has survived homelessness, I know firsthand the first step to helping the homeless is to house them. Then and only then is it possible to address the causes that underpinned that homelessness. Oftentimes, families are driven out of housing, because of the sheer lack of affordable housing in the area.

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

Mark Bignell (D)

I look up to my father Wilber Bignell. I try to follow his example everyday. He was the type of man who took care of his family, helped his neighbors, stood up for what was righteous, and sacrificed for those he loved. In Stanton Michigan, while people were struggling, he issued store credit for food and essentials to the local community. Although the unpaid balances forced his store to close, he knew it was right to help the community. He never put his own needs before those of his family. As children, we always had new school clothes, hot meals, and a roof over our heads. Looking back, I see a man who ensured this, with limited wages & 2 jobs, by sacrificing his own comforts. I look up to him, not just as his first born son, but as an example of what a good man should be.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Mark Bignell (D)

The most important traits a representative can possess are empathy, compassion, understanding, and humility. Without empathy; you will struggle to relate to those you represent. Without compassion; you will struggle to care about those you represent. Without understanding; you will struggle to see the root causes of problems and their solutions will always evade you. Without humility; you will fail to see, understand, & accept your own failings—leading to stunted personal/professional growth.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Mark Bignell (D)

In my personal life, I hold myself to the principles and life of integrity from my father. I value, scholarship, independence, liberty and my duty to care for my family and the people around me. My faith guides me through my life's moral dilemmas. I operate under a system of faith in action and opposition to all forms of oppression. These are my guiding principles I live by, in accordance with the United Methodist Church. My core values include: integrity, fidelity, professionalism, accountability and scholarship in the pursuit of excellence and execution of my own duties (regardless of the tasks or assignments of the moment).

My personal professional code of conduct includes the following pledge in addition to all oaths of office.

I pledge: if elected to focus on the priorities of the people first; and will not forsake that trust for any measure of comfort or expedience. I will facilitate meaningful dialogue with constituents, to fulfill this pledge and will do everything in my power to faithfully represent the people's interests in a higher form of true statesmanship.

What legacy would you like to leave?

Mark Bignell (D)

The legacy I wish to leave, in the wake of my stewardship is a truly reformed Michigan government that is more transparent and accountable to the people. By embodying that level of statesmanship, I believe the accomplishments I would leave behind in Lansing could inspire other legislators to choose dialogue as a means of resolving Michigan's problems. A government which discloses very little and brandishes it's authority for a vested few; accomplishes very little for the majority it represents. It's my wish to re-empower the people when I'm elected and foster a renewed sense of professional statesmanship.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Mark Bignell (D)

April 20th, 1999; I was 20 years old and attending Journalism Class at Ionia Community Education's Alternative Education program. The teacher wheeled in the TV Cart and turned on the news. The massacre unfolded in our eyes with each new update. As the calls for action each day following it fell on apparently deaf ears in DC, it was incredibly apparent who those politicians held in allegiance and it was not the common people or the common good.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Mark Bignell (D)

My first job was at Ionia McDonald's and it lasted 5 years.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Mark Bignell (D)

The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks. I purchased my copy of this book, at Robin's Booklist in downtown Greenville (when it was still in business). I wanted a fantasy book that was not recently converted into a series of feature length films. I shown the owner a few different books and asked for her opinion on the titles. She immediately said I would enjoy The Sword of Shannara far more than the other books. So, I purchased it and read it straight through over the course of several days. The owner of Robin's Booklist was right and I immediately returned to buy the prequel and several sequels. I found the story of a talisman that could dispel the empowering factor behind a creature composed of lies to be enticing at the time. A sword that could obliterate lies, with the truth is the embodiment of "if it can be destroyed by the truth, then it deserves to be destroyed by the truth."

Life is seldom that simple and the truth needs people that believe it when they see it, in order to be empowered.

I think it's up to us to promote truth and ensure justice prevails.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Mark Bignell (D)

That happened this last weekend on August 20th. It was a song by Thirty Seconds To Mars and it is one of my all time favorite songs, "Walk On Water."

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

Mark Bignell (D)

For years I have struggled to reconcile my own experience growing up in Michigan's education system, with the experience my own children are now navigating. For many years, I could sense for some reason I was considered different by my peers and I couldn't understand how or why. However, I did feel like an outsider all throughout that time in school. It was only recently that I had a breakthrough while advocating for my children's education needs, that I learned of the increased likelihood that I am on the spectrum. Because I am familiar with the condition and doctors suggested I seek a screening, I took the information and saw the many immediate parallels with my own childhood experiences. I found this to be a freeing experience, which gave me the how and why I was always lacking. I also learned through this experience, how difficult it is to find, schedule and arrange payment for an adult screening. I do not want to speculate what my life may have been like, had screening and services occurred in my childhood, although I will use those experiences to advocate for solid public policy that ensures others are not forced through similar experiences.

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Mark Bignell (D)

Michigan's greatest challenges over this decade revolve around the failed domestic policies of the last 40+ years. Thanks to the Supreme Court's fallacious ruling overturning the Roe V. Wade decision, all unenumerated rights stemming from the acknowledged privacy rights surrounding Roe are now in danger of also being overturned. Due to this; the Antiquated law from 1931 ACT 328 has come into potential enforcement. If State Court rulings and stays do not remain in effect, then Act 328 of 1931 CHAPTER III Penal Code Sections 750.14 (a felony) and 750.15 (a misdemeanor) may come into effect. I support a total repeal of these Penal Code Sections via abolishing ACT 328 of 1931, in order to restore women's freedoms over their bodily autonomy and self determination.

Next, I support reforming Michigan's education system, by reforming the school funding formulas in our state to allocate funds based on needs, over a arbitrary head count; instituting a moratorium on standardized testing (returns class instruction time to teachers, for subject lessons, instead of focusing their attention on preparing for a test); instituting an oversight committee for special education compliance of Charter Schools; improving district funding models, so districts can focus on smaller class sizes; improving funding for the school lunch/breakfast program, institute feeless breakfasts & lunches; and adopting a moratorium on homework, in order to return family time to the family. As a legislator, I will prioritize facilitating a commission on fixing our state’s broken and underfunded education system. It must be composed of teachers, administrators, disability advocates and education professionals; which will be invited to Lansing to lead the dialogue.

Finally, I will work to reform campaign finance, improve government accountability and I will introduce new more stringent anticorruption laws.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Mark Bignell (D)

I think it's crucial to develop relationships across all partisan boundaries, in order to remind ourselves of the differing perspectives of the people we represent. It's my core belief we are all people first and we should see ourselves as all belonging to the tribe of humanity first. This is a spirit of unity and camaraderie that I believe has been lacking in Lansing for decades. In restoring it, I believe we can restore responsive representation in Lansing and a renewed sense of common purpose.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

Mark Bignell (D)

I prefer the non-partisan independent redistricting commission, favoring redistricting based solely on simple natural district boundaries and focused on keeping districts sensibly sized and closely contested (favoring no one party).

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Mark Bignell (D)

I think it's crucially important for everyone to be capable of compromise, in order to ensure the needs of the people are met and that solid domestic policy is enacted. For too long, hyper-partisan demagogues have hurled convenient excuses and whipped up discontent, when the ire of public scrutiny gazes towards them. Scapegoat Politics are nothing more than presenting a distraction and an excuse for one's own personal failings as a leader. Finally, holding party loyalty above the duties to the public is a failing of leadership of the highest caliber. From a worldly perspective, individuals that ignore the people's needs and choose to focus on party or their own wants and needs, are politely referred to as incompetent despots. To conclude, compromise is the natural state of a well matured adult, who seeks to problem solve and respects the viewpoints of their fellow peerage. This is typically fostered naturally as relationships are developed in the legislature, which is difficult in Michigan, due to tight term limits, which ensure the most experience in Lansing resides with lobbyists and special interests. However, it is imperative that these relationships begin anew and that compromise ceases to be a word associated with weakness. It only becomes undesirable, when the compromise itself ignores the duty to fulfill the needs of the people and the duties of the office.

See also

More about these elections:

• Michigan State Senate elections, 2022

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