Rashida Harrison

Rashida Harrison earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 2012. Harrison's career experience includes working as an assistant professor.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a scholar, educator, solo mother, and community organizer who has spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of racial justice, public policy, and care. I hold a PhD in African American and African Studies from Michigan State University, where I have taught social policy and theory for over a decade at James Madison College. I am also a trained doula and the founder of Conduit Collective, a Black-led equity consulting practice.

I did not come to this race through party machinery or political ambition. I was recruited by students, organizers, and neighbors who wanted someone who understood their lives; the cost of childcare, the weight of medical debt, the impossibility of making a living wage in a district where a single parent needs nearly $77,000 a year just to meet basic needs. I know those stakes personally. I am running because the people of Senate District 28 deserve a state senator who is accountable to them, not to corporate donors, not to special interests, but to the working families, the often marginalized rural communities, and the students and young people who make this district home. I am running not because the system invited me in. But because the people did.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Reproductive Freedom and Maternal Health are both personal and political. As a mother, a lifelong reproductive justice advocate, a trained doula, I understand that reproductive freedom is bodily autonomy, and it is an issue around survival. As a trained doula and lifelong advocate for maternal health as well as the health of all birthing people. I will not only fight to restore and protect reproductive rights in Michigan, but to expand access to prenatal and postpartum care, and ensure that every person in this district and Michigan, regardless of income, zip code, or insurance status can make their own healthcare decisions with dignity and full support.Working families in District 28 are doing everything right and still coming up short. A single parent with one child in Michigan needs nearly $77,000 a year for basic necessities, yet district median household income falls well below that threshold. I am committed to raising wages, expanding access to affordable childcare and housing, and holding corporations accountable when they profit from poverty. Economic equity is not a talking point. It is the floor beneath everything else.Too many decisions that shape daily life in our district are made without community input and protected from community challenge. From state preemption laws that block local solutions on housing and labor, to a campaign finance system that rewards corporate alignment over accountability to constituents. The structure itself needs changing. I will bring transparency, community-centered governance, and a commitment to power that answers to people, not profit.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am most passionate about reproductive justice and maternal health, economic equity and safety for all working families, housing access and tenant protections, and structural accountability in state governance. These are not abstract concerns for me, they are the conditions I live in, the issues I have taught, researched, and organized around for nearly two decades. I am particularly committed to centering the voices of historically marginalized women and femmes, working parents, rural communities, and those historically shut out of policy decisions that directly shape their lives.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

I have been endorsed by Carol Siemon, Former Ingham County prosecutor, Detroit Action, American People's Compact, as well as members of East Lansing's Human Rights commission in Karen Hoene, as well as former East Lansing Education Board Chair, Kath Edsall.