Tate takes stock of Democratic legislative achievements, seeks compromise where possible

(Michigan Advance) From Spartan Stadium to the speaker’s podium, Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) told the Michigan Advance during last month’s Mackinac Policy Conference that teamwork and compromise have served him well.

As elected officials and changemakers in the state converged on Mackinac Island in late May the Advance sat down with Tate to talk about his second year as House speaker as Democrats finish up the last months of the legislative session, the first bicameral Democrat- led legislature in nearly 40 years.

Being in leadership has been a challenge and a responsibility that Democrats have stepped up to, Tate said, adding that there’s several lessons that have carried him through to this moment from his time as Captain of the Michigan State University’s football team, competing in the NFL and his service in Afghanistan as a U.S. Marine.

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But in the last year and a half, the legislature has seen about 400 bills become law, Tate points out. Under Democratic leadership, Michigan has seen LGBTQ+ protections be added to the state’s civil rights laws, a nearly 100-year-old abortion ban be wiped from state law and several gun control bills become law. ..............(more)

https://michiganadvance.com/2024/06/12/tate-takes-stock-of-democratic-legislative-achievements-seeks-compromise-where-possible/