Two Republicans are running to break the Democratic stranglehold on the University of Michigan Board of Regents this November — a race that could determine whether the state's flagship university remains a one-party institution or starts answering to the taxpayers who fund it.
Democrats currently hold a commanding 6-2 majority on the board. Republicans Lena Epstein, a co-owner of Vesco Oil Corporation who ran in 2024, and Bloomfield Township Treasurer Michael Schostak are mounting the challenge. Incumbent Republican Regents Sarah Hubbard and Carl Meyers sit isolated as the board's only GOP voices.
The Democratic ticket is Paul Brown, a venture capitalist seeking his second term, and Dearborn attorney Amir Makled. But Makled carries baggage that should disqualify him in any serious vetting — though the establishment press has worked overtime to bury it.
Makled won the Democratic nomination after incumbent Regent Jordan Acker was exposed for allegedly sending sexual messages about a Democratic strategist. But Makled himself was caught deleting social media posts, including one that called Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah a "martyr" and another reposting Candace Owens calling Israelis "demons," according to a Detroit News report. Hezbollah's military wing is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
When pressed by an MLive reporter, Makled refused to condemn Hezbollah. "I will continue to talk critically of the policies of the Israeli Defense Forces and of the state of Israel," Makled said. "But I'm not playing a condemnation game of Hezbollah, because I believe that's a trap designed to put Arab Americans on the defense simply for existing."
A candidate for public office — governing a major American university — won't condemn a U.S.-designated terrorist group, and frames that refusal as defense of Arab Americans. That's not dissent. That's disqualification.
MLive framed the race as Republicans merely seeking to "chip away" at the majority — minimizing what's actually at stake: whether a public institution governed by an 8-person board should be dominated 6-2 by one party while a regent candidate refuses to denounce terrorists.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate Kyle Maas is running on a platform that speaks directly to what conservative voters actually care about: refocusing curricula on "practical skills required in the job market," loosening gun restrictions on campus, and protecting free speech "on campus without bias against conservative/Christian voices." Libertarian Andrew Chadderdon also filed but didn't respond to the voter guide questionnaire.
The question isn't whether Epstein and Schostak can win — it's whether Republican voters will finally show up for the down-ballot races that actually control the institutions shaping the next generation. Universities don't drift left by accident. They drift left because conservatives cede the boards that govern them.
