Zachary Shinabargar
Zachary Shinabargar (Democratic Party) is running for election to the Michigan House of Representatives to represent District 39. Shinabargar declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on August 4, 2026.
Shinabargar completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Zachary Shinabargar graduated from Lawton High School. Shinabargar earned an associate degree from Kalamazoo Valley Community College in 2017 and a bachelor's degree from Southern New Hampshire University in 2023. [1]
Elections
2026
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on August 4, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 39
Zachary Shinabargar (D) is running in the Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 39 on August 4, 2026.
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Endorsements
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Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Zachary Shinabargar completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Shinabargar's responses.
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After high school, I went on to get an Associate of Arts from Kalamazoo Valley Community College. After spending some time abroad, I returned to Michigan and started work at a local library. When covid hit, I took the extra time to go back to school and get my Bachelor of Science in Information Technology by doing online courses from Southern New Hampshire University.
It was around this time that I joined Lawton's Downtown Development Authority because I wanted to give back to the community that raised me. I helped out where I could while still working part-time.- Healthcare is a human right. Every American deserves healthcare, regardless of ability to pay. I will fight for universal, single-payer healthcare so that everybody has the care that they need without having to go bankrupt. I fully support Rep Rheingans' MiCare bill, which provides guaranteed health coverage for ALL Michiganders with no out-of-pocket costs. That's no copay, no deductibles, and no premiums. A vast majority of people will pay LESS than they currently do for better quality care. This would also free up bargaining power for unions.
- Raise the minimum wage. Nowhere in the United States can you afford the minimum cost-of-living while working full-time on minimum wage. If you work full-time, you should not be living in poverty. Period. As prices increase and productivity skyrockets, wages have not kept up. That means you're effectively getting a pay cut. I will fight every day to increase the minimum wage to at least $20/hr so that everyone can thrive in Michigan. Studies have shown that raising the minimum wage does not significantly raise inflation while providing much-needed relief to working class families. This also includes fearlessly supporting unions, who not only raise the quality of life of their members, but raise the standards for non-union employees.
- Everybody deserves housing that is truly affordable. Despite having more empty houses than we do unhoused people, finding affordable housing is getting exponentially more difficult in America. We can decrease the cost of housing by building more public and social housing, rezoning commercial areas for mixed use, cutting red tape, and moving to housing-first policies. We also need to move towards decommodifying housing by making it illegal for corporations like Blackrock to buy housing, which they usually leave empty as an investment. But part of housing is having an attractive place to live, so I will fight to fund modern infrastructure for our crumbling small towns and cities.
In addition, I am frustrated with these disastrous data centers. Not only do data center provide very few jobs, they are being increasing used to displace workers with AI slop. They guzzle millions of gallons of clean drinking water every day and cause energy prices to skyrocket. They pollute our beautiful, natural state.
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Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 6, 2026
