Sharon MacDonell
Sharon MacDonell (Democratic Party) is a member of theMichigan House of Representatives, representingDistrict 56. She assumed office on January 1, 2023. Her current term ends on January 1, 2027.
MacDonell (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to theMichigan House of Representatives to representDistrict 56. She won in the general election onNovember 5, 2024.
Biography
Sharon MacDonell was born in Bethpage, New York, and lives in Troy, Michigan.[1][2] MacDonell graduated from John Glenn High School in 1980.[3] She earned a B.A. in history from the University of Michigan in 1984. MacDonell's career experience includes working as an advertising and video manager with Lawrence Technological University, a freelance writer with Metro Parent Publishing, and a freelance producer.[2][3] She co-founded Troy Indivisible and served as the chair and co-chair of the Troy Democratic Club.[2]
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Committee assignments
2025-2026
MacDonell was assigned to the following committees:
2023-2024
MacDonell was assigned to the following committees:
- Communications and Technology Committee
- Families, Children, and Seniors Committee
- Education Committee
- Transportation and Infrastructure Committee,Majority Vice Chair
Elections
2024
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Michigan House of Representatives District 56
IncumbentSharon MacDonell defeatedDave Kniffen in the general election for Michigan House of Representatives District 56 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Sharon MacDonell (D) | 57.2 | 29,111 |
 | Dave Kniffen (R) | 42.8 | 21,790 | |
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 50,901 | ||
 = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 56
IncumbentSharon MacDonell advanced from the Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 56 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sharon MacDonell | 100.0 | 8,959 |
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 8,959 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 56
Dave Kniffen advanced from the Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 56 on August 6, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dave Kniffen | 100.0 | 4,613 |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 4,613 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
2022
See also: Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Michigan House of Representatives District 56
Sharon MacDonell defeatedMark Gunn in the general election for Michigan House of Representatives District 56 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sharon MacDonell (D) | 57.9 | 24,630 |
 | Mark Gunn (R) | 42.1 | 17,887 | |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 42,517 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 56
Sharon MacDonell defeatedCyndi Peltonen in the Democratic primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 56 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sharon MacDonell | 58.9 | 6,901 |
 | Cyndi Peltonen | 41.1 | 4,821 | |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 11,722 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 56
Mark Gunn advanced from the Republican primary for Michigan House of Representatives District 56 on August 2, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mark Gunn | 100.0 | 6,628 |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 6,628 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Ken Roberts (R)
Campaign finance
Endorsements
To view MacDonell's endorsements in the 2022 election, pleaseclick here.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Sharon MacDonell did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Sharon MacDonell completedBallotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by MacDonell's responses.
Expand all |Collapse all
House District 56 is very special to us. My husband and I met in Royal Oak, we adopted our daughters when we lived in Clawson, and our girls grew up in Troy.
We have always enjoyed using all the wonderful resources here. But after the recession hit in 2008, something crazy almost happened. The city decided to close our public library to save money. I just couldn’t let that happen. I started a blog, ‘Keep Troy Strong’ to bring people together to save the library. And that’s exactly what we did. Since then, I’ve been committed to protecting our community from bad policies and unethical officials.
I have a degree in History from the University of Michigan. Over my career, I’ve worked as a video producer, journalist, and marketer—my job is to collect facts, uncover the truth, and tell people’s stories. And I promise you—I will bring YOUR story to Lansing.
In Lansing, I will fight to better fund public education, defend our voting rights, codify women’s reproductive freedoms, and improve our infrastructure.- Public Education - Education is the foundation of everything we do in our lives, yet Michigan has been underfunding our public schools for years. Thirty years ago, Michigan was among the top 10 best states for education. Today we are down in the bottom third of the nation. I was pleased to see that the state budget for FY 2023 included more funds for mental health services in our schools. In the future, we need to fix funding for special education. There is supposed to be dedicated funding for special education in the state budget, but there never has been, meaning school districts must pay for special ed services out of the regular budget, creating a drain on resources for our students, teachers, and schools.
- Reproductive Freedom - I believe that women deserve the right to decide what happens with their own bodies as well as their own pregnancies. In Lansing, I will do everything in my power to protect girls’ and women’s reproductive rights. My daughters are 19 and 21. They are full citizens deserving of full rights in this state and in this country. You can BET I will fight for their freedoms.
- Roads & Infrastructure - Our infrastructure in Michigan has been neglected for decades. And although the budgeting has improved under Gov. Whitmer, we need to invest even more in the future to bring it up to the level of other states. We must invest in innovative technologies and longer-lasting materials that are environmentally sustainable. I work at Lawrence Tech where our Civil Engineering Dept has developed new materials for bridges that will help them last twice as long as conventionally built bridges. It’s time we commit to longer-term solutions, rather than continuing to endlessly patch our roads.
I have been endorsed by Planned Parenthood, the AFL-CIO, the Detroit News, AFSCME Council 25, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), MI List, Downtown Newsmagazine, and LGBT Detroit Mobilization. I have also earned Moms Demand Action’s Gun Sense Distinction.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.
| Year | Office | Status | Contributions | Expenditures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Michigan House of Representatives District 56 | Won general | $184,278 | $0 |
| 2022 | Michigan House of Representatives District 56 | Won general | $55,029 | $0 |
| Grand total | $239,307 | $0 | ||
| Sources:OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). | ||||
Scorecards
Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Michigan scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, theMichigan State Legislature was in session from January 10 to December 23.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, theMichigan State Legislature was in session from January 11 to November 14.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
Candidate Michigan House of Representatives District 56 | Officeholder Michigan House of Representatives District 56 | Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 11, 2022
- ↑2.02.12.2Michigan House Democrats, "Meet Rep. MacDonell," accessed May 3, 2023
- ↑3.03.1LinkedIn, "Sharon MacDonell," accessed May 3, 2023
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by TC Clements (R) | Michigan House of Representatives District 56 2023-Present | Succeeded by - |
- 2022 challenger
- 2022 general election (winner)
- 2022 primary (winner)
- 2024 general election (winner)
- 2024 incumbent
- 2024 primary (winner)
- Current member, Michigan House of Representatives
- Current state legislative member
- Current state representative
- Democratic Party
- Michigan
- Michigan House of Representatives candidate, 2022
- Michigan House of Representatives candidate, 2024
- State House candidate, 2022
- State House candidate, 2024
- State house candidates
