Politics & Government
Candidate Seeks Michigan State Senate - from Wyoming
Journalist Hawke Fracassa says he'll give up his newspaper job in Wyoming if he wins Michigan legislative campaign.
Longtime journalist and newspaper editor in Cody, WY has been running for Michigan’s state Senate District 9 since July and says he will serve if elected next month.
“I came out here to make money,” Hawke Fracassa, the Republican candidate in the south Macomb County district told the MIRS News Service, according to a post on political writer Chad Selweski’s blog.
“If I win the election, I will obviously accept the nomination (sic),” he reportedly said, “but what are you going to do, not eat?”
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Fracassa is seeking to unseat incumbent Democrat Steve Bieda, the favorite to win the Nov. 4 general election in a district that is about 63 percent Democrat.
The original MIRS post is behind a paywall, but Selweski summarized the situation:
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Francassa owns a home in Warren and said he will leave Wyoming, where he’s an editor at the twice-weekly Cody Enterprise newspaper, and return to Michigan.
On his public Facebook page, Fracassa describes himself as “the people’s candidate” and “a Republican who wants to help everyday people solve their real-world problems.”
“Nobody else is helping you,” he wrote, adding in all-caps, “I WILL.”
In recent posts, he writes of his “double life” and his underdog status in the heavily Democratic district. Fracassa touts some key endorsements from a retired coach of the Detroit Pistons, a couple of rivals who beat him in some previous elections, and a pair of mayoral candidates.
“I am a dark-horse,” Fracassa admitted, “but not a joke.”
“... If I lose the election – I win,” he wrote. “I still get to work at a newspaper that appreciates me.”
He also noted that “it’s a hoot to talk to people who think they’ve uncovered a secret, only to find out they’re the last to know.”
Michigan’s 9th state Senate District includes Warren, Center Line, Fraser, Eastpointe, Roseville and southern Clinton Township.
Fracassa has worked as a journalist in the Detroit area since 1977, according to a story in the Cody Enterprise introducing him to the community. It did not mention his legislative candidacy. According to Selweski, Fracassa said the editor gig at Cody is a “temporary assignment” until the Nov. 4 election.
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