Ali Sledz, the Libertarian Party nominee in an upcoming special state Senate election in Michigan, has been excluded from a planned candidate forum at Saginaw Valley State University. According to an email shared by the Libertarian Party of Michigan, this prompted two local chapters of the League of Women Voters to withdraw their sponsorship of the event.
Michigan will hold a special election on May 5 to fill a vacancy in its 35th Senate District. The seat has been vacant since the start of 2025, when former state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet left the Legislature to represent Michigan’s 8th congressional district in Congress.
Primary elections were held earlier this month, with Democrats nominating Chedrick Greene and Republicans nominating Jason Tunney. The Libertarian Party of Michigan is also fielding a candidate in the race, having nominated Sledz at a special convention in January. All three candidates are set to appear on the general election ballot.
Ahead of the general election, Saginaw Valley State University is hosting a public forum on March 24 in conjunction with the SVSU College Democrats and College Republicans. The forum will be moderated by Chad Livengood of The Detroit News and Zoe Clark of Michigan Public Radio. It is intended to give voters an opportunity to engage directly with the candidates in a Q&A setting.
However, the state party announced in a February 25 statement that Sledz had learned she would not be invited to participate in the forum, which will instead feature only Greene and Tunney. An online event registration form also explicitly states that the forum will include only the two nominees.
The party equated the exclusion of Sledz to collision between the University and the other organizers, including “a Republican SVSU Professor, Democratic Whitmer Appointee, the League of Women Voters [and] Tax-Funded NPR/Michigan Public,” going so far as to describe the latter organization as a “communications cabal” due to its coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s the same people doing the same things, year after year,” Sledz herself said in the statement. “They never learn, never change, and are never held accountable for the results. That’s what got me to run.”
In the same statement, the party said it plans to publish a series of press releases throughout the coming month from supporters of the Sledz campaign, documenting alleged conflicts of interest and other issues involving staff at Saginaw Valley State University, as well as individuals affiliated with the Democratic and Republican parties involved in the special election.
Sledz further addressed her exclusion on TikTok, calling her treatment a typical experience for Libertarian candidates and exploring some of the issues motivating her campaign. In separate written remarks later shared online by the Libertarian Party of Michigan, she further argued that the forum would be excluding the only female candidate in the race and the only candidate under the age of 50, which she dismissed as “unacceptable,” urging voters across party lines to speak out.
Soon after its first statement, the Libertarian Party of Michigan issued a second on February 26, saying it had obtained an email from the League of Women Voters of Michigan addressed to a member of the state party. In the message, Judy Florian, the organization’s vice president of voter service, wrote that both the League of Women Voters of the Saginaw Area and the League of Women Voters of the Midland Area had withdrawn their sponsorship of the forum.
“The League will not serve as a sponsor for any event that does not include all qualified candidates,” Florian wrote. “We strongly believe that every candidate should have the opportunity to participate.”
As of this article, the forum is expected to continue with only the two candidates. Independent Political Report reached out to the League of Women Voters of Michigan, who authenticated the email sent to Morgan, and directed that any questions about the forum be sent to Saginaw Valley State University.
The League confirmed with IPR its email that both chapters withdrew support.
If the debate sponsors don’t have any objective criteria to decide whom to invite, they are breaking the law.