Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Russ Cleary
Russ Cleary (Republican Party) ran for election to the Michigan House of Representatives to represent District 61. He lost in the Republican primary on August 6, 2024.
Cleary completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Russ Cleary was born in Michigan. He graduated from Paul K. Cousino High School. He attended Macomb Community College and earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in 2021. His career experience includes working as a case manager.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Michigan House of Representatives District 61
Incumbent Denise Mentzer defeated Robert Wojtowicz in the general election for Michigan House of Representatives District 61 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Denise Mentzer (D)  | 50.7 | 25,449 |
| Robert Wojtowicz (R) | 49.3 | 24,728 | ||
| Total votes: 50,177 | |||
| = 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 61
Incumbent Denise Mentzer advanced from the Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 61 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Denise Mentzer | 100.0 | 7,930 |
| Total votes: 7,930 | |||
| = 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 61
Robert Wojtowicz defeated Russ Cleary and John Grossenbacher in the Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 61 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Robert Wojtowicz | 45.3 | 2,845 | |
 | Russ Cleary | 39.8 | 2,496 | |
 | John Grossenbacher | 14.9 | 938 | |
| Total votes: 6,279 | |||
| = 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
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Cleary in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released April 13, 2024 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Russ Cleary completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cleary's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
When I entered college at Michigan State University, I served as the Chair of the Michigan State College Republicans. During my tenure, I significantly grew our membership base, held countless events, and ensured that I did the job I was elected to do in a hostile environment.
Following my tenure as Chairman, I earned a position in the State Senate, serving the West side of the State in Senator Jon Bumstead's office. While in that role and office, I had a range of various responsibilities. One of the significant projects and responsibilities that I spearheaded included research on our environment and specifically what negatively impacted our hunting population. Afterwards, I served in the Office of State Representative Shane Hernandez. Representative Hernandez covered a majority of the thumb and also Chaired the Appropriations Committee. There, I acquired a knowledge of our state's budget and learned the importance of developing a shrewd budget to cut costs to everyday Michiganians.
From those experiences, I later managed a vital portion of the field and volunteer operations for Michigan Republicans during the 2022 Michigan Midterm elections. Thereafter, I became the Political Director for John James' successful Congressional campaign. This later led into being a dedicated caseworker for the Congressman's district office, serving constituents everyday across Macomb County.- Throughout my professional career, it has been my job to serve constituents through state and federal casework. It has been my job to cut through the red tape and make life easier on you. This is especially why I am running. I want to reinstate the focus of serving our constituents through casework to help represent each and every one of you. We need a State Representative who will get their hands dirty in our bloated government and I am here to prove you that I am that candidate.
- As the years progress, we see our education system failing on many different layers. We must prioritize revamping and supporting our state's education system through a variety of processes. I believe we need to place a stronger emphasis on our vocational and apprenticeship programs, especially in a county like Macomb. Our local economy is supported by manufacturing and defense, we must ensure that our students know they have a strong option in vocational and apprenticeship programs.
- We must invest and protect our manufacturing industries in the State of Michigan. Like previously mentioned, Macomb County is a pioneer for manufacturing, being the Arsenal of Democracy. Investing in local development, supporting pro-business policies, and advancing these priorities will certainly increase jobs in our county and I intend to make this a focus.
Empty Chair is about our incredible heroes that have served in the military defending our freedoms. The song is a reminder that our freedoms are not free. The empty chair is a symbol for those that are still serving in our military as well as those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.
Ultimately, our biggest challenge I see is that we are moving down the list of locations that young families want to relocate to. Rather, we are losing young families to states like Florida, Utah, and others. We must flip that around and make Michigan a destination state, rather than a relocation state.
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.
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.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Michigan House of Representatives District 61 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 21, 2024
