GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — In her first term, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has been busy.
She’s expanded the state’s civil rights protections to the LGBTQ community under the Elliot Larsen Act, won an $800 million settlement with opioid manufacturers on behalf of citizens, and racked up numerous court victories stifling the ability of robo-callers to scam people. She also was party to the lawsuit that upheld the Affordable Care Act and strengthened the state’s penalties for elder abusers, but Nessel says she still has a lot more to do.
Namely, securing abortion access in the state regardless of what happens with Proposal 3 next week.
“This is literally a matter of life or death for residents in our state, and that’s not an exaggeration,” she said. “Pregnant women should be able to make their own decisions.”
Even before voters use their voice at the ballot box, Nessel has been clear that abortion rights are her top priority for a potential second term. She’s been involved in battles over it in state courts, including a victory this summer barring county prosecutors from enforcing a dormant 1931 law that bans abortion in Michigan.
If reelected, Nessel said she wouldn’t enforce the 1931 law, which bans abortion in all cases including rape, incest, and to save the life of a pregnant mother, and makes performing the procedure a four-year felony.
“No, I will not put women or their medical providers in jail or prison for exercising what’s been a right for half a century in this country,” said Nessel. “To say ‘well, I guess if this person has to die, they’ve got to die because there are politicians in Lansing or there are politicians in Washington D.C. that are OK with that happening.’ What I will say is this, I’m not OK with that happening.”
Nessel sees her opponent as a threat to Michigan citizens, pointing to a massive gap in funding between the two. Throughout the race, Nessel has vastly out-fundraised GOP candidate and longtime Portage lawyer Matthew DePerno.
“I guess I’m not surprised that many donors have shunned Matthew DePerno, I think they can see that he’s a very dangerous person who should be nowhere near the Department of Attorney General,” said Nessel. “The less you know about him, the more you would like him. But if you learn these things about him, I think you’re not going to want to vote for him.”
In ideology, DePerno and Nessel couldn’t be more different.
They differ entirely on abortion stance and have deeply differing outlooks on the 2020 election.
DePerno still admittedly believes there were issues with the vote in 2020 and is currently under investigation by a special prosecutor, accused of being part of a group that illegally seized voting tabulators from local clerks after the 2020 election, took them back to hotel rooms or Air BnB rentals, and ran tests on the machines in an attempt to identify irregularities.
Nessel, in her capacity as attorney general, was originally investigating the case but asked for a special prosecutor once it led to DePerno to avoid a conflict of interest. That investigation is still ongoing.
“It’s not appropriate for me to be involved in the investigation and we did the ethically appropriate thing, which was to request that the Prosecuting Attorney’s Coordinating Council reassign this matter so that it went to somebody that did not have a conflict of interest,” said Nessel, on recusing herself from the investigation.
Nessel worries that someone with a deep mistrust of the electoral system might be dangerous in a position to influence it.
“Maintaining Michigan as a democracy, it’s not something that we’ve had to worry about before,” she said. “And we want to make sure that we have people in elected office that understand and appreciate that, again, whoever gets the most votes should be the winner in our elections. And that’s it, plain and simple.”
WATCH our full interview with Nessel:
To learn more about Attorney General Dana Nessel’s campaign, click here.
The midterm elections will take place on Tuesday, November 8th. Polls are open in Michigan from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m.
