Mike Harris (Michigan politician)

Mike Harris is an American politician in the Republican Party serving as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives. His former district, the 43rd, represented areas covering Lake Angelus, Clarkston, Independence Township, and part of Waterford Township. He was elected in a special election in May 2022. In the November 2022 election, he won 59% of the vote. In the 2022 Michigan House of Representatives election, he was redistricted to the 52nd district.

Early life and career

After living in California as a child, Harris moved to Michigan, where he eventually attended Mott Community College. He has worked as a police officer. Harris owns and operates Paladin Training and Consulting, a firearms-training company.

Political positions

Harris has been critical of Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer. After the governor gave a speech highlighting her administration’s support for law enforcement as well as “criminal justice reforms [that] have helped hundreds of thousands of Michiganders who served their time secure jobs and housing with a clean slate,” Harris accused Whitmer of failing to oppose “a radical, backward agenda from her own party.” Harris currently serves as Michigan’s House Republican Whip under House Minority leader Matt Hall.

Without explanation, Harris voted against a House resolution that recognized libraries as “cultural institutions at the heart of every Michigan community and campus” and librarians as the “heartbeat of every library.”

Harris is a supporter of same-sex marriage. However, on March 8, 2023, Harris voted against House Bill 4003, which would end discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in the state of Michigan; the bill passed despite his vote against it.

An opponent of firearm restrictions and red flag laws, Harris claimed that “mental illness” is one of “the root causes of gun violence” and offered no evidence to support this claim, nor clarification regarding what form of mental illness he was referring to. In fact, there is no evidence of a significant link between mental illness and gun violence.

Harris co-sponsored a bill to replace a statue of Lewis Cass with a statue of Coleman Young because Cass, as explained in the text of the bill, “played a prominent role in the implementation of President Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, was a proponent of allowing states and territories to permit slavery, and enslaved at least one person himself.”