Michigan Matters: A bombastic 2024 ushers in more of the same in the new year
(CBS DETROIT) — With a historic election in the books and dominating things in 2024, the roundtable of Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett, Detroit City Councilman Coleman Young II and Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel appears on CBS Detroit's Michigan Matters to talk about the year that was and offer a preview on what's ahead.
The three also talked about their own political futures and prospects of running for other jobs, including mayor of Detroit in 2025 (Young) and governor of Michigan in 2026 (Barnett and Hackel).
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan stunned folks when he announced he would not seek re-election and leave the Democratic Party to run for governor as an independent. The field keeps growing as former Republican Attorney General Mike Cox also just announced he formed a committee to look at running for governor.
Young offered strong words about Duggan's decision and his thoughts about the state of the Democratic Party.
Young talked about the Renaissance Center — which is in the middle of a conversation about what happens next — rehabbing it for other use, as Bedrock and General Motors are interested in doing, or tearing it down if they do not secure state funding to help their plan. Young's late father, Mayor Coleman A. Young, worked with Henry Ford II, A. Alfred Taubman and Max M. Fisher to bring the structure to life in the late 1970s.
Barnett, a Republican who runs a city that is considered purple as it has voted Democratic and Republican, talked about Biden's final White House Christmas Party, which he attended last week along with his two sons.
Hackel discussed the impact of the federal government on things like homeland security and defense spending, which is vital to his county as it houses Selfridge Air National Guard Base and has numerous defense contractors.
Hackel talked about the incoming Trump administration and what it could mean for Macomb County and offered words about it that might surprise some.
(Watch Michigan Matters at its new time: 5:30 a.m. Sundays on CBS Detroit, 9:30 a.m. Sundays on Detroit 50 WKBD.)
(Carol Cain is the 13-time Emmy-winning senior producer and host of Michigan)
