A lawsuit filed Aug. 10 asks the Michigan Court of Claims to force Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to call for a special election to fill a vacant state Senate seat after demands have mounted for her to hold a vote in the swing district previously held by a Democrat that encompasses the Tri-Cities of Bay City, Midland and Saginaw.

The lawsuit — brought by voters who live in the area represented by the vacant 35th Michigan Senate district seat — argues that Whitmer must call for a special election under the Michigan Constitution and asks the court to order her to do so. U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, D-Bay City, previously held the seat, but she won her bid to fill Michigan's 8th Congressional District in the Nov. 2024 election and was sworn in to her new office on Jan. 3, 2025.

The roughly

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