LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – When two Democratic state representatives in the Michigan House decided to run for Mayor in their respective cities, the Michigan Democrats lost their grip on power in the state.

Why “shared” government is a thing.

The victories in November for former state Rep. Lori Stone (D-Warren) and Kevin Coleman (D-Westland) ended up leaving two vacant seats in the chamber and resulted in a power split between 54 Republicans and 54 Democrats.

MORE NEWS: Big Cuts at Big Lots, But Michigan Keeps Five Stores

Democrats weren’t interested in a formal “shared power” agreement at the time and from the looks of things, they’re not very interested in an informal sharing arrangement either.

With the Democrats used to being in the driver’s seat, instead of trying to work across the aisle in the new year, they did what they have done in the past and rushed a vote on an amended bill which failed without Republican support. Having only given the Republicans a few hours before the vote to read the amendment, it was no surprise that the final vote failed 52-52.

Leader Hall reminds the speaker how many votes are needed to pass a bill.

House Republican Leader Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) issued the following statement afterwards that was directed towards Democratic House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) saying, “Mr. Speaker, it takes 55 votes to pass a bill.”

That means if it’s a Democrat-supported bill, they need at least one Republican to sign on. Conversely, if it’s a Republican-supported bill, they would need to flip at least one Democrat.

But as Wednesday illustrated, Republican votes for Democrat bills will be hard to come by when, according to Hall, the Democrats reject bipartisan conversation, rush amendments and hold votes before even asking Republicans if they support the final bill.

Bipartisan agreement is the key to get things done.

 Even though House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) had told reporters earlier that Democrats were looking to continue their work from 2023 and pointed to chances for the parties to work together, Hall said that what the Democrats on Wednesday was “not the recipe for getting the people’s work done.”

MORE NEWS: Sterilized Politician Has History of Far Left Stances

Hall went on to say, “As Republicans and Democrats represent the people of Michigan and share power in the House of Representatives, we have a unique opportunity to collaborate and tackle the huge challenges facing our state.”

Without bipartisan support, bills are stalled and gridlock takes hold.

 The state representative continued, “We should strategize on how to grow our economy, permanently fund road repairs, and help ensure kids are learning to read. But Democrats clearly aren’t interested in having conversations about how to share power or what major policy goals we can pursue together.”

Instead of actually sharing power and collaborating through the spring, It appears that gridlock will be the order of the day until a special general election decides who will fill the House vacancies on April 16th.

Formal shared power not on the agenda.

Rep. Hall’s press release explained how the Democrats are not interested in any kind of formal shared power arrangement to happen. It said, “Democrats on Wednesday also referred Hall’s House Resolution 171 to the unproductive Government Operations Committee, which would require the House of Representatives to approve a power-sharing agreement anytime the House has an equal number of Democrats and Republicans at any time during the 102nd Legislature.”

The press released added, “Democrats did not allow Hall to formally introduce the resolution before they ended the legislative session last November – the earliest adjournment in 55 years. The resolution was formally read into session last week, but Democrats did not take any action on the resolution or allow Hall to speak to his proposal.”

House speaker says Democrats are still in control.

House Speaker Tate has let it be known that regardless of the 52-52 split in the house the Democrats are in “control.” The House rules that were passed by the Democrats when they took control of the chamber in January of 2023 say that there would need to be 55 elected Democrats and 55 elected Republicans for a power-sharing agreement to be necessitated instead of just an even number on both sides.

The rules package also allows the Democrats to retain “the gavel” meaning control of the legislative agenda and rules of the chamber. It also allows the Democrats to keep their majorities in House committees which allows them to move legislation through the committees which it looks likely that they will do as they wait for their full voting power to be restored.