A Democratic union president is challenging a Republican state senator in Michigan's 18th District — another test of whether organized labor's political apparatus can unseat Republicans who challenge government spending.
Anthony Pennock, a local union president and special education teacher from Battle Creek, is running against state Sen. Thomas Albert, a former Marine seeking his second term. Both candidates ran unopposed in their primaries. The race puts a labor leader — whose organization funnels workers' dues into Democratic politics — against a fiscal conservative who says Michigan's schools have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
Albert, 41, told MLive that roughly 25% of school funding goes into the pension system for legacy debt. He says reforms he championed will pay off that debt within eight years. He wants to reduce chronic absenteeism, restore the Read by Grade 3 law, tie teacher performance reviews to student proficiency, support school of choice, and return to phonics-based literacy instruction.
Pennock, 37, frames the problem differently. He told MLive that Michigan's education system has faced "resilient constant inconsistency from Lansing" and an "over-reliance on standardized testing." He says an "educator exodus" is underway and wants inflationary funding increases for schools — more money, year over year. Pennock holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Grand Canyon University and says his "unique blend of executive training and frontline labor experience perfectly fits District 18."
The divide is familiar: one candidate says the system needs reform and discipline; the other says it needs more money. What makes the race notable is Pennock's role as a union president. Organized labor has become the Democratic Party's turnout and fundraising machine, using mandatory dues from rank-and-file workers to elect politicians who then vote for the spending programs unions demand. Michigan repealed its right-to-work law in 2023, meaning public-sector workers can once again be compelled to fund the very politics that may not represent them.
Down in Texas, a similar dynamic plays in reverse. The Dallas Morning News editorial board recommended Democratic incumbent Mihaela Plesa over Republican challenger George Flint in Texas House District 70. Plesa, vice chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, voted against school choice vouchers in 2025 — a position the Morning News conceded it disagrees with but ultimately glossed over. The paper praised her "collaborative relationships with Republicans" and her work on nuclear energy legislation. Flint, a 78-year-old former judge and past chair of the Collin County Republican Party, proposed reducing "the cost of government itself" but offered few specifics on affordability, the Morning News reported.
Two races, two states, one pattern: establishment outlets either boost the Democrat or bury the Republican's fiscal arguments. In Michigan, MLive partnered with the League of Women Voters for its voter guide — a format that presents both candidates evenly but strips out the structural context of union political spending entirely.
Albert previously served three terms in the state House and worked as an investor in the Michigan Department of Treasury. District 18 spans Barry County and portions of Allegan, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, Kent and Ionia counties.
The question for voters is whether Michigan's pension-burdened school system needs more revenue or more reform — and whether the union president promising the former is the independent voice he claims to be or the latest pipeline from workers' paychecks to Democratic campaign coffers.
