Who is Betty Jean Alexander?

[Lowell]

A minor political shockwave from Tuesday was the upset win of political unknown Betty Jean Alexander who upset incumbent State Sen. David Knezek, get this, without a website, Facebook campaign page or any signs and has everybody scratching their heads. What happened?

It wasn't eve close. She won by 9 points. For those of you who don't know the gerrymandered Michigan 5th Senate District [I didn't] here it is in yellow. If I were still a Political Science Grad student, I would be diving into this mystery with both feet to figure out how things like this happen.



A second State Senate upset occurred in Warren, although the winning candidate was known and ran a traditional campaign.

"The loss wasn't the only surprise in Tuesday's election. State Rep. Patrick Green, a Warren Democrat, was expected to be a shoo-in for re-election, but Lori Stone, a Warren Democrat and teacher, upended the incumbent by a 4,585 to 4,110 margin. She only raised $2,650 for the race, compared with Green, who raised more than $48,000 this election cycle and ended the campaign with $21,654 in his campaign bank. It was a rematch of the 2016 race, when Green got 50 percent of the vote to 30 percent for Stone with two other Democrats splitting the remainder.


https://www.freep.com/story/news/pol...ate/940582002/

[Bham1982]

I can see some logic for the surprise win:

-Probably no MI senate district has shifted as dramatically from white to black in recent years. The incumbent is white and his replacement is black. Race/ethnicity still matters.

-Betty Jean Alexander is heavily involved in DPS schools. Teachers and educational professionals tend to vote in very high numbers.

-Low turnout can do wacky things, and more working class, transitional districts tend to have lower turnout.

Still a bit surprising, but not shocking. The Joe Crowley loss in NYC was shocking. The future Speaker of the House was trounced by a newbie Socialist who came out of nowhere.

[Zads07]

What continues to baffle me is how Betty Jean Alexander ran her campaign. There's no online presence, no information on what her platform is, she gives no interviews and has a former politician as her spokesperson.

This all seems very fishy to me as Lamar Lemmons wanted Knezek out of office, but he didn't run himself so he found someone to run against him.

I find this all very fishy, not that it's not legit because the voters made their choice, but that doesn't make me question this any less, in fact I question it more and want more answers as to what her platform is and what she plans to do.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Plus the fact she didn't spend one dime, on political advertising is remarkable in itself, as well as having gone through tough personal issues in her past.

[jcole]

It would appear that she had considerable backing from Mr. Lemmons

“She did not spend a dime,” said former Detroit School Board President Lamar Lemmons, who recruited Alexander to run because of his own frustration with Knezek on education policy.Instead, Alexander campaigned though a “grassroots” telephone network by engaging other African-American women, Lemmons said.
Alexander was not available for an interview but is expected to hold a press conference later this week.

The 53-year-old is a single mother with two children who works in an administrative job, Lemmons said. She grew up with Lemmons’ wife, Georgia Lemmons, who considers her a sister.

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...zek/937688002/

[Bham1982]

Teachers vote. You don't mess with educators.

[Zads07]

Teachers vote. You don't mess with educators.

But Knezek was a supporter of public education, which is why this is so confusing.

[Bham1982]

But Knezek was a supporter of public education, which is why this is so confusing.

Not according to the Detroit School Board President. Obviously he had disagreements with school leadership in Detroit and it probably cost him the election.

[Jason]

The thing with local level elections is there's sooooooooo many candidates covering so many small areas, that it's very easy for wacky stuff to happen. There's too many candidates for the media to cover them all, there's too many candidates for the average voter to properly research them all, and there's so many positions that the average quality of the candidates is not very high. And that's not even counting primaries, which have the same issues but multiplied.

Unless you live in Detroit or Warren or a handful of other cities, the average citizen has no clue who their elected officials are or what they're doing, and have no good way of evaluating their performance.

[preserve]

I don't know how Trump got elected either.

[DeLemur]

This victory, showed an uninformed electorate picking one name over the other. Betty Jean Alexander was better looking to the majority black population than David Knezek. No one knows who their State Senator is and they voted accordingly. Knezek didn't run much of a campaign either.

Looking at the last primary, there was a reason Lamar Lemmons jumped on this race. Knezek took advantage of a split vote with 3 other competitors getting 4k, 5k and 6k votes and he 8k. This time around he gets 15K and she 18k. Welcome Betty Jean Alexander to Lansing.

By all accounts this lady is as regular and unfocused on civic leadership as your average joe. Lamar Lemmons is a lot of things, but this is cunning. He'll be Chief of Staff at 75K a year for her.

[swingline]

Although Sen. Knezek was generally well-regarded as a hard-working legislator, he clearly did not maintain enough visibility in too many areas of his district. The sad reality is that voters unfamiliar with names on a ballot are still going to vote for that office and as a last resort they will cast their vote for a "name" that "sounds" good to them. Names that sound good to most voters are the ones that they identify with culturally or racially. An unknown candidate named Jamal or Abdul is not going to get a lot of votes in a white precinct over an unknown candidate named Mark. Knezek is an ethnic Caucasian name. An unknown "white" name in a black precinct is going to lose to an unknown African-American sounding name. This election was a powerful lesson for down-ballot incumbents in diverse districts. Incumbency is a big advantage but identity politics can be even more overwhelming in minor races.

[Honky Tonk]

I don't know how Trump got elected either.

Colluding with the Russians.

[mikeinmotown]

On Stephen Henderson's radio show they asked the same question "Who is Betty Jean Alexander". The guest was a reporter from Fox News who lives in the district and is the President of the neighborhood association and she said no one knew who she was nor did she ever attend any meetings. The thought is she doesn't even live in the district. They said when she ran for the school board she used Lamar Lemmons home address as hers. I guess his address had 3 other candidates registered at his home. Something is very fishy here and it smells like Lamar.

[Honky Tonk]

Meet the winner...

https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits...-little-effort

[9606 Prest]

Despite the efforts of Lamar Lemmons, the questionable background, lack of education & prior lack of political activity of his shell candidate - Betty Jean Alexander cannot be hidden for long. I will be voting against her in November!!!

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Colluding with the Russians.

In a nutshell.

[Honky Tonk]

In a nutshell.

Simple answers for simple minds.

[Bham1982]

Simple answers for simple minds.

As opposed to the truly cerebral, deliberative, nuanced musings of the lying, racist, traitorous Dotard: "MAGA, Build a Wall, Lock her Up"...

Not sure why people are excoriating voters for electing Alexander. If she's unknown, as claimed, that how can people be so sure she isn't a good candidate?

[Honky Tonk]

As opposed to the truly cerebral, deliberative, nuanced musings of the lying, racist, traitorous Dotard: "MAGA, Build a Wall, Lock her Up"...

Not sure why people are excoriating voters for electing Alexander. If she's unknown, as claimed, that how can people be so sure she isn't a good candidate?

__________

[Towne Cluber]

Not sure why people are excoriating voters for electing Alexander. If she's unknown, as claimed, that how can people be so sure she isn't a good candidate?

Please disperse—nothing to see here...

[Bham1982]

Please disperse—nothing to see here...

Well, yeah, there's always the "I choose to put my head in the sand and ignore reality" option. Works for many these days.

[Towne Cluber]

Well, yeah, there's always the "I choose to put my head in the sand and ignore reality" option. Works for many these days.

You usually exaggerate things so it’s surprising to see you completely downplay the matter of Ms. Alexander.

[Bham1982]

You usually exaggerate things so it’s surprising to see you completely downplay the matter of Ms. Alexander.

What, specifically, is your issue with "the matter of Ms. Alexander"?

[Towne Cluber]

What, specifically, is your issue with "the matter of Ms. Alexander"?

Take your pick:

-She doesn't actually live in the district [[used Lemmons's address).
-She's virtually unknown among residents of the district.
-Despite their claims, she isn't actually Lamar Lemmon's sister-in-law.
-She's 52 years old and just now started making $15/hr within the past 12 months.
-She doesn't have her own transportation to Lansing.
-She didn't campaign for the office.
-She is, in reality, a straw candidate for Lamar Lemmons.
-She has a personal bankruptcy on her record.
-She has been sued several times for various debts.
-She has a conviction for fraud on her record.
-She has acknowledged that she doesn't really know the issues.

Why, specifically, do you think that none of this is a big deal?