The Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) will elect one (1) Chair and two (2) Vice-Chairs at the February 22nd, 2025 Convention.
Candidates for State Party Chair and Vice-Chairs must file to run with the MDP by January 23rd, 2025 per MDP Bylaws:
MDP Bylaws 2.15
All party members seeking election to high-level office within the MDP shall be required to file their candidacy with the MDP at least 30 days in advance of the election. Requirements for filing shall include: Name, address, phone number, email address, and other contact information. The MDP shall be required to promptly publish all information required for filing on its website. “High-level office” within the MDP shall be defined, for the purposes of this section, to include the following positions: DNC member, MDP Chair, MDP Vice-Chair, MDP Treasurer, MDP Secretary, and Chair and Vice-Chair for all congressional district organization.
To run in the Michigan Solidarity Coalition Primary, you must join the MSC and fill out the candidate information form by January 19th, 2025.
The two (2) Vice-Chairs to be elected by the State Convention must be of a different race and gender than the Chair.
MDP Bylaws 7.1.1
Election of Officers: The Spring State Convention in each odd-numbered year shall elect a Chairperson and two (2) Vice-Chairpersons of the State Central Committee: one (1) each of a different gender and race.
Candidates for MDP Chair
Al Williams
Al Williams Jr. is a true son of Detroit.
He grew up in the district on Fairfield and went to Gesu Catholic School and U of D High School and Academy. His parents, Alfred and Sondra Williams, were educators who encouraged both their children to go to historically black colleges. Al graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta with a degree in political science. His sister Staci graduated from Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C.
After graduating, Al embarked on a 20-year journey of political and community organizing in the African-American community. He founded Vote Smart Detroit, a voter registration and education program aimed at Detroit Public School students. Al also co-founded and became chairman of the Midtown Democrats, a group of politically active young leaders that energized the Wayne State Campus and Democrats across southeastern Michigan. He helped coordinate massive student-powered efforts throughout the country, including organizing over 900 students in support of victims affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Al was the first of 1,100 applicants selected to participate in the first Obama Organizing Fellows Program and led the winning team as the campaign manager in the program.
Williams has worked for state legislators in Georgia, New Jersey and Michigan, and helped move policies impacting urban communities around insurance redlining, healthcare policies, public education, and the environment. Al worked as a legislative aide to the Wayne County Commission, where he was influential in advocating for the continued funding of the Michigan State Fair Grounds and to restore revenue sharing to Detroit.
Al Williams fights for Detroit. When Michigan’s economic crisis deepened, he worked as an organizer side-by-side with community members and many non-profit organizations to fight foreclosures throughout Detroit and the state. As a result, then-Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans suspended foreclosure sales, saving hundreds of Detroiters from losing their homes.
Al went to work for the Detroit NAACP as a political organizer where he advocated on issues ranging from green and climate equity, education and voting rights. In 2012, he was the statewide Campaign Manager for the successful “No on Proposal 1” campaign to end the dictatorship of emergency managers in Michigan. Al and his team of over 3,000 volunteers won that campaign in the streets, but we lost the fight in the legislature.
In 2013 Al went to the Michigan Democratic Party as the Statewide Membership Director, where he successfully doubled membership in less than two years. He also served as a chief of staff to the Democratic Chair of Appropriations in the State House.
Living his message of public service, Al continues to write policy and serve as a campaign consultant for highly qualified office-seekers throughout the country.
As your state representative for the 3rd District, Al Williams will fight every day to make life better in the district throughout the city of Detroit and the State of Michigan.
Mark Ludwig
Mark was born and raised in Michigan. His youth was spent assisting his parents during the early days of the environmental movement, studying Great Lakes water birds affected by industrial pollution. He settled in Allegan County’s Clyde Township in 2005 with his wife Kim. In 2010 they adopted their daughter from Ethiopia. Mark served on the Fennville Public School Board, Clyde Township Planning Commission and currently serves as Chair of the Allegan Conservation District Board of Directors. He was the founding Vice Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Rural Caucus and currently chairs that body. He is in his third term on the MDP State Central Committee. He ran for State House and Drain Commissioner in recent years. Mark was honored to chair the 2024 Nominating Convention Resolutions Committee. Mark graduated from Michigan State with a degree in Environmental Issues and has a Short Course Degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in Grass Based Dairy farming.