Michigan Senate

Michigan Senate
Type
Type	Upper House
Leadership
President of the Senate	John D. Cherry (D) since January 1, 2003
President Pro Tem	Randy Richardville (R) since November 7, 2006
Minority Leader	Mike Prusi (D) since November 12, 2008
Structure
Seats	38
Political groups	Republican Party Democratic Party
Elections
Last election	November 4, 2008
Meeting place
Senate Chamber, Michigan State Capitol, Lansing, MI, U.S.
Website
Michigan State Senate

The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. The Senate consists of 38 members, who are elected from constituencies having approximately 212,400 to 263,500 residents.

Senators are elected at the same time as the governor and serve four-year terms concurrent with the governor of Michigan's term of office. Senate and gubernatorial elections are always held two years after the election for president of the United States. Terms for senators begin on January 1 following the November general election. Senators who have not served more than half of a four-year term are eligible for two full terms of eight years.

Title

Members of the Senate are commonly referred to as senators. Because this shadows the terminology used to describe members of Congress, constituents and news media, using the Associated Press guidelines for journalist, often refer to members as state senator to avoid confusion with their federal counterparts. Technically, members are not senators and should be referred to as a member of the Legislature (abbreviated to ML) or a member of the Senate (abbreviated to MS). This is the same as a member of the United States Senate, who is entitled to use member of Congress (abbreviated to MC) as a post-nominal title.

As elected officials, members of the House of Representatives also receive the courtesy title of the Honorable (abbreviated to Hon. or Hon'ble) for life.

Billie S. Farnum Senate Office Building, Downtown Lansing

Composition of the Senate

As of November 2009, Republicans hold a majority with 22 seats, and Democrats hold 16 seats.

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total
	Template:American politics/party colors/Republican|	Template:American politics/party colors/Democratic|
	Republican	Democratic		Vacant
End of previous legislature	21	17	38	0
Begin	21	16	37	1
November 10, 2009	22		38	0
Latest voting share	57.9%	42.1%

Leadership Information

Michigan Senate Officers

• President: John D. Cherry
• President Pro Tempore: Randy Richardville
• Assistant President Pro Tempore: Alan Sanborn
• Associate President Pro Tempore: James A. Barcia

Senate Majority Leadership

The Republican Caucus, with 22 members, currently holds the majority.

• Majority Leader: Mike Bishop
• Assistant Majority Leader: Michelle McManus
• Majority Floor Leader: Alan Cropsey
• Assistant Majority Floor Leader: Cameron S. Brown
• Majority Cockus Chairperson: Nancy Cassis
• Assistant Majority Caucus Chairperson: Mark Jansen
• Majority Whip: Jason Allen
• Assistant Majority Whip: Roger Kahn

Senate Minority Leadership

The Democratic Caucus, with 16 members, is currently in the minority.

• Minority Leader: Mike Prusi
• Assistant Minority Leader: Tupac Hunter
• Minority Floor Leader: Buzz Thomas
• Assistant Minority Floor Leader: Glenn S. Anderson
• Minority Caucus Chair: Gilda Z. Jacobs
• Assistant Minority Caucus Chair: John Gleason
• Minority Whip: Raymond E. Basham
• Assistant Minority Whip: Dennis Olshove

Members of the Michigan Senate

District	Senator	Party	Residence	Eligible for re-election in 2010?
1	Hansen Clarke	Democratic	Detroit	No
2	Martha G. Scott	Democratic	Highland Park	No
3	Irma Clark-Coleman	Democratic	Detroit	No
4	Samuel Buzz Thomas III	Democratic	Detroit	No
5	Tupac Hunter	Democratic	Detroit	Yes
6	Glenn S. Anderson	Democratic	Westland	Yes
7	Bruce Patterson	Republican	Canton	No
8	Raymond E. Basham	Democratic	Taylor	No
9	Dennis Olshove	Democratic	Warren	No
10	Michael Switalski	Democratic	Roseville	No
11	Alan Sanborn	Republican	Richmond	No
12	Mike Bishop	Republican	Rochester	No
13	John Pappageorge	Republican	Troy	Yes
14	Gilda Jacobs	Democratic	Huntington Woods	No
15	Nancy Cassis	Republican	Novi	No
16	Cameron S. Brown	Republican	Fawn River Township	No
17	Randy Richardville	Republican	Monroe	Yes
18	Liz Brater	Democratic	Ann Arbor	No
19	Mike Nofs	Republican	Battle Creek	Yes
20	Thomas M. George	Republican	Kalamazoo	No
21	Ron Jelinek	Republican	Three Oaks	No
22	Valde Garcia	Republican	Howell	No
23	Gretchen Whitmer	Democratic	East Lansing	Yes
24	Patricia L. Birkholz	Republican	Saugatuck Township	No
25	Judson Gilbert II	Republican	Algonac	No
26	Deborah Cherry	Democratic	Burton	No
27	John Gleason	Democratic	Flushing	Yes
28	Mark Jansen	Republican	Gaines Township	Yes
29	Bill Hardiman	Republican	Kentwood	No
30	Wayne Kuipers	Republican	Holland	No
31	Jim Barcia	Democratic	Bay City	No
32	Roger Kahn	Republican	Saginaw Township	Yes
33	Alan L. Cropsey	Republican	DeWitt	No
34	Gerald VanWoerkom	Republican	Muskegon	No
35	Michelle McManus	Republican	Leland	No
36	Tony Stamas	Republican	Midland	No
37	Jason Allen	Republican	Traverse City	No
38	Mike Prusi	Democratic	Ishpeming	No

See also

• Michigan House of Representatives
• Michigan Legislature

External links

• Michigan Senate
• Democratic Party Caucus, Michigan Senate
• Republican Party Caucus, Michigan Senate