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Stephen Wooden
Stephen Wooden (Democratic Party) is a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing District 81. He assumed office on January 1, 2025. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.
Wooden (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Michigan House of Representatives to represent District 81. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Wooden completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Stephen Wooden was born in Austin, Texas. Wooden's career experience includes working as a nonprofit professional. He earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in 2013. Wooden has been affiliated with the Creston Neighborhood Association.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Michigan House of Representatives District 81
Stephen Wooden defeated Jordan Youngquist in the general election for Michigan House of Representatives District 81 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Stephen Wooden (D)  | 55.7 | 30,666 |
| Jordan Youngquist (R) | 44.3 | 24,375 | ||
| Total votes: 55,041 | |||
| = 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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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 81
Stephen Wooden advanced from the Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 81 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Stephen Wooden | 100.0 | 10,476 |
| Total votes: 10,476 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Rachel Hood (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 81
Jordan Youngquist advanced from the Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 81 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Jordan Youngquist | 100.0 | 7,899 | |
| Total votes: 7,899 | |||
| = 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
Wooden received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Wooden's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Stephen Wooden completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wooden's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Stephen was elected to the Kent County Commission in 2018. For the last six years, he's been working across the aisle to get big things done. He's working with Democrats and Republicans to build more starter homes, improve mental health services and expand broadband. Most notably, he led efforts to create Kent County's $58.3 million affordable housing revolving loan fund. He's also pushed back against attempts to let extremists takeover Kent County, defending the county's health department and public library system.
For the last decade, Stephen has been helping everyday Michiganders save on the energy and housing costs. Most notably, he spent the last seven hears working for one of the region's largest housing nonprofits - Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids. Having personally helped build or renovate nearly 1000 residences in West Michigan, he knows the pitfalls that have made it harder to build more housing that everyday people can afford and he's ready to tackle this crisis head on.
Stephen lives in the Creston neighborhood with his wife and young son.- I want to bring the same problem-solving focus I've used on the Kent County Commission and serving our community in the nonprofit sector to the state house so we can tackle the high cost of housing, childcare and prescription drugs.
- As a parent of a young child, I am personally vested in our state's future and want to ensure it's one where everyone can succeed. That's why I want to support creating world-class public schools, from pre-school to post-secondary education. It's why I want to protect our environment and accelerate necessary action on climate change.
- I'm running for state house to lower costs and build a better future. I'm also running for another simple reason: I don't like bullies. That's who the far-right are. They're a bunch of bullies who are trying to force us into their mold. That's why I will always stand up to their attempts to deny access to reproductive healthcare like abortion, birth control and IVF. It's why I will defend the right to vote and the right to have your vote counted.
Expanding childcare that's reliable, high-quality and affordable.
Strengthening public schools and job training by broadening access to Pre-K, higher education and job training.
Protect our environment and climate by holding polluters accountable and shifting more towards reliable, clean energy.
Defending reproductive freedom with access to abortion care, birth control and fertility treatments like IVF.
They also must be principled but not an ideologue. We have seen in places like Ottawa County what happens when ideology governs every decision. Principled leadership also understands the intricacies of governing and a curiosity to find solutions that work that may not fit perfectly within someone's more narrow political lens.
Helping craft a budget that invests in crucial services and grows the economy.
Many memories from that day have faded, but two things remain clear. First, seeing the decisions made by those with power affect them the least and those without power the most. Second, I witnessed a city so vast and diverse come together to support one another in their time of need.
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.
Scorecards
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.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Michigan House of Representatives District 81 |
Officeholder Michigan House of Representatives District 81 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 5, 2024
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Rachel Hood (D) |
Michigan House of Representatives District 81 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
