Mallory McMorrow

Last updated

Ray Wert
​
(m. 2017)​
Mallory McMorrow
Mallory McMorrow (cropped).jpg
McMorrow in 2023
Michigan Senate Majority Whip
Assumed office
January 1, 2023
Children1
Education University of Notre Dame (BA)

Mallory Ann McMorrow (born August 23, 1986) is an American politician who has served in the Michigan Senate since January 2019. [1] She became senate majority whip on January 1, 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents the 8th district; before that, she represented 13th district from 2019 to 2023, the district included Berkley, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Clawson, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak, and Troy, Michigan. Prior to running for the Michigan Senate, McMorrow worked in industrial design.

Contents

Early life and education

McMorrow was born in the Whitehouse section of Readington Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Hunterdon Central Regional High School. [2] She was raised Catholic and her family was active in their local parish. [3] McMorrow sang in her church choir, and her mother taught Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes. [3] However, her parents divorced, and their priest called her mother "disappointing" and said she was "not living up to the Church's expectations" as he had not seen her in church. McMorrow said that on Sundays, she and her mother volunteered at local soup kitchens outside of the diocese. [4]

McMorrow received a Bachelor of Arts in industrial design from the University of Notre Dame in 2008. [5] During her junior year at Notre Dame, she won a public design contest for the 2018 version of the Mazda3. She also finished in second in a contest to design the logo for the Indiana Toll Road. [6] [7] After graduation, McMorrow worked for design firms in New York and Los Angeles, as well as for Mattel and Gawker, before moving to Michigan. [6] [7]

Political career

McMorrow participated in the 2017 Women's March in Detroit, and began writing postcards to Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Secretary of Education, challenging positions of the Trump administration. She applied to Emerge America's Michigan chapter, which provides training to political candidates. [7]

In 2018, McMorrow ran for the Michigan Senate, seeking to represent Michigan's 13th Senate district. She was unopposed in the Democratic Party's primary election, and faced incumbent Republican senator Marty Knollenberg in the general election. [8] McMorrow defeated Knollenberg, receiving 52 percent of the vote, with 73,138 votes to Knollenberg's 67,798. [1] [9] Michigan Senate Democrats chose McMorrow to serve as the assistant minority floor leader. [10]

McMorrow supports expanding investment in renewable energy practices and funding clean water initiatives in her district. She supports LGBT rights, renewable energy initiatives, and gun control. [11]

In January 2020, McMorrow, lobbyist Melissa Osborn and Michigan Advance reporter Allison Donahue accused Republican state Senator Peter Lucido of sexual harassment. [12] McMorrow stated that Lucido touched her lower back and upper buttocks in November 2018, shortly after she was elected to the state senate, and made comments during a training session that suggested she won her election because of her appearance. [12]

In June 2021, McMorrow introduced Senate Resolution 57, the third time it had been introduced, which proposed to declare June as Gun Violence Awareness Month. [11] The resolution was not adopted by the senate, instead being referred to the State Government Operations Committee. [11] She also introduced Senate Resolution 58, which asked the United States Congress to authorize the installation of electric vehicle charging stations at rest areas along the Interstate Highway System and allow charging station providers to charge a fee for public use of the stations. [11] Also that month, she co-sponsored the reintroduction of Senate Resolution 60, introduced by Senator Jeremy Moss, which proposed declaring June as Pride Month in Michigan. The resolution was adopted. [13]

In April 2022, Republican State Senator Lana Theis claimed in a campaign fundraising email that McMorrow wanted to "groom and sexualize kindergartners." [14] [15] On April 19, 2022, McMorrow took to the senate floor to defend herself against Theis' accusations, stating:

"I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme. Because you can't claim that you are targeting marginalized kids in the name of 'parental rights' if another parent is standing up to say no. You say, 'She's a groomer. She supports pedophilia. She wants children to believe that they were responsible for slavery and to feel bad about themselves because they're white.' I am a straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slavery or redlining or systemic racism somehow means that children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense. No child alive today is responsible for slavery. No one in this room is responsible for slavery. But each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history... we are not responsible for the past. We also cannot change the past. We can't pretend that it didn't happen, or deny people their very right to exist." [14]

Neither Theis nor the Michigan Republican Party apologized for the false accusations, and Theis did not respond to McMorrow's speech on the senate floor. [14] McMorrow's speech, which she uploaded to social media platforms, received over one million views just a few hours after it was posted. [14] As of May 26, 2022, the video of McMorrow's speech has more than 15 million views on Twitter alone. [16]

During redistricting following the 2020 United States census, prior to the 2022 elections, Michigan's independent redistricting commission merged McMorrow's district with the district represented by fellow Democrat Marshall Bullock. [17] In the primary election held August 2, 2022, McMorrow defeated Bullock for the Democratic Party's nomination for the 8th District. [18] McMorrow defeated Republican Brandon Ronald Simpson in the November general election. [19] On November 17, 2022, McMorrow announced that she would serve as senate majority whip in 102nd senate session.

Electoral history

2018 Michigan Senate, 13th district, Democratic Party primary election [20]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Mallory McMorrow Unopposed
Total votes35,222 100.0
2018 Michigan Senate, 13th district, general election [21]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Mallory McMorrow 73,138 51.9
Republican Marty Knollenberg 67,79848.1
Total votes140,936 100.0
Democratic gain from Republican
2022 Michigan Senate, 8th district, Democratic Party primary election [22]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Mallory McMorrow 32,738 68.45
Democratic Marshall Bullock 15,09331.55
Total votes47,831 100.00
2022 Michigan Senate, 8th district, general election [23]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Mallory McMorrow 94,809 78.94
Republican Brandon Ronald Simpson25,29021.06
Total votes120,099 100.00
Democratic hold

Personal life

McMorrow married Ray Wert, the former head of Gawker's content sales department and editor of the weblog Jalopnik. The wedding was held in June 2017 in the Eastern Market district of Detroit. [24] They have a daughter named Noa, who was born in January 2021, and live in Royal Oak, Michigan. [25] Wert is Jewish; McMorrow is a practicing Christian but does not identify with any denomination. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 Allmen, Philip (November 7, 2018). "For state Senate 13th District, it's McMorrow for the win". Hometown Life. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Class of 2004: Hunterdon Central Regional High School", Courier News ,June 28, 2004. Accessed January 29, 2023, via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 Woodward, Alex (April 20, 2022). "Michigan Democrat blasts GOP 'groomer' slurs in powerful speech". The Independent. New York. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Jenkins, Jack (April 23, 2022). "State Sen. Mallory McMorrow on reclaiming faith from those using it as 'a weapon to hate people'". Religion News. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  5. ↑ Zukas, Michael. "Senator Mallory McMorrow". Michigan State Senate. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Alumna Builds Design Career Based on Creativity, Communication, Collaboration // Latest News // College of Arts and Letters". University of Notre Dame. October 9, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 Wren, Adam (July 1, 2022). "The Michigan Democrat Who Could Solve Her Party's Identity Crisis". Politico. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  8. ↑ Donnelly, Francis X. (October 15, 2018). "Oakland County becomes epicenter of fight to control Michigan House". Detroit News. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  9. ↑ Pohl, Scott (December 24, 2018). "From Auto Designer To MI Senator: Mallory McMorrow". WKAR. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  10. ↑ Zukas, Michael (January 3, 2019). "Senator Jim Ananich / Senate Democratic Leadership Positions Announced". Michigan Senate Democrats. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Zukas, Michael (June 7, 2021). "Senator Mallory McMorrow / Senate District 13 Update". Michigan Senate Democrats. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  12. 1 2 Budryk, Zack (January 26, 2020). "Three women accuse Michigan state lawmaker of sexual harassment". The Hill. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  13. ↑ Mauger, Craig (June 3, 2021). "Republican-controlled Michigan Senate recognizes LGBTQ Pride Month". Detroit News. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Boucher, Dave (April 19, 2022). "Michigan Sen. Mallory McMorrow blasts colleague Lana Theis on Senate floor in viral speech". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  15. ↑ Rogulski, Ken; Mathews, Jessica (April 20, 2022). "Local Lawmaker Blasted For Invocation, Email". WHMI. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
  16. ↑ Mallory McMorrow [@MalloryMcMorrow] (April 19, 2022). "Senator Lana Theis accused me by name of grooming and sexualizing children in an attempt to marginalize me for standing up against her marginalizing the LGBTQ community...in a fundraising email, for herself. Hate wins when people like me stand by and let it happen. I won't" (Tweet). Retrieved May 26, 2022– via Twitter.
  17. ↑ Melinn, Kyle (February 3, 2022). "State Senate likely to be less Black under new maps". Lansing City Pulse. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  18. ↑ Boucher, Dave (August 3, 2022). "Mallory McMorrow cruises to victory in metro Detroit state senate primary". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Oakland County State Senate: Webber leads Kuppa in 9th District".
  20. ↑ 2018 Michigan Election Results. State of Michigan. September 24, 2018.
  21. ↑ "2018 Michigan Election Results". November 7, 2018.
  22. ↑ 2022 Michigan Election Results. State of Michigan. November 10, 2022.
  23. ↑ "2022 Michigan Election Results". November 10, 2022.
  24. ↑ McMorrow, Mallory; Wert, Ray (June 24, 2021). "McMorrow and Wert: Raising kids or having a career doesn't have to be a binary choice for women. Here's how to change that". Crain's Detroit Business. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  25. ↑ Stamm, Alan (February 19, 2021). "This new mom, a Royal Oak state senator, sees workplace policies from both sides now". Deadline Detroit. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
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