2019 in Michigan

Events from the year 2019 in Michigan.

Office holders

State office holders

Gretchen Whitmer

• Governor of Michigan: Gretchen Whitmer (Democratic)
• Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Garlin Gilchrist (Democratic)
• Michigan Attorney General: Dana Nessel (Democratic)
• Michigan Secretary of State: Jocelyn Benson (Democratic)
• Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives: Lee Chatfield (Republican)
• Majority Leader of the Michigan Senate: Arlan Meekhof (Republican)
• Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court: Bridget Mary McCormack

Mayors of major cities

Mike Duggan

• Mayor of Detroit: Mike Duggan (Democrat)
• Mayor of Grand Rapids: Rosalynn Bliss

Federal office holders

Debbie Stabenow

Gary Peters

• U.S. Senator from Michigan: Debbie Stabenow (Democrat)
• U.S. Senator from Michigan: Gary Peters (Democrat)
• House District 1: Jack Bergman (Republican)
• House District 2: Bill Huizenga (Republican)
• House District 3: Justin Amash (Republican)
• House District 4: John Moolenaar (Republican)
• House District 5: Dan Kildee (Democrat)
• House District 6: Fred Upton (Republican)
• House District 7: Tim Walberg (Republican)
• House District 8: Elissa Slotkin (Democrat)
• House District 9: Andy Levin (Democrat)
• House District 10: Paul Mitchell (Republican)
• House District 11: Haley Stevens (Democrat)
• House District 12: Debbie Dingell (Democrat)
• House District 13: Rashida Tlaib (Democrat)
• House District 14: Brenda Lawrence (Democrat)

Population

In the 2010 United States Census, Michigan was recorded as having a population of 9,883,640 persons, ranking as the eighth most populous state in the country. By 2018, the state's population was estimated at 9,995,915, and the state had become the 10th most populous state.

The state's largest cities, having populations of at least 75,000 based on 2016 estimates, were as follows:

2018 Rank	City	County	2010 Pop.	2018 Pop.	Change 2010-18
1	Detroit	Wayne	713,777	672,662	−5.7%
2	Grand Rapids	Kent	188,040	200,217	6.5%
3	Warren	Macomb	134,056	134,587	0.4%
4	Sterling Heights	Macomb	129,699	132,964	2.5%
5	Ann Arbor	Washtenaw	113,934	121,890	7.0%
6	Lansing	Ingham	114,297	118,427	3.6%
7	Flint	Genesee	102,434	95,943	−6.3%
8	Dearborn	Wayne	98,153	94,333	−3.9%
9	Livonia	Wayne	96,942	93,971	−3.1%
10	Troy	Oakland	80,980	84,272	4.1%
11	Westland	Wayne	84,094	81,720	−2.8%
12	Farmington Hills	Oakland	79,740	81,093	1.7%
13	Kalamazoo	Kalamazoo	74,262	76,545	3.1%
14	Wyoming	Kent	72,125	75,820	5.1%

Sports

Baseball

• 2019 Detroit Tigers season – Under manager Ron Gardenhire, the Tigers compiled a 47–114 record, the worst record in Major League Baseball. The team's statistical leaders included Harold Castro with a .291 batting average, Brandon Dixon with 15 home runs, Miguel Cabrera with 59 RBIs, Buck Farmer with a 3.72 earned run average, and Matthew Boyd with 238 strikeouts and nine wins.

American football

• 2019 Detroit Lions season
• 2019 Michigan Wolverines football team
• 2019 Michigan State Spartans football team
• 2019 Western Michigan Broncos football team
• 2019 Eastern Michigan Eagles football team
• 2019 Central Michigan Chippewas football team

Basketball

• 2018–19 Detroit Pistons season – Under head coach Dwane Casey, the Pistons compiled a 41–41 record. The team's statistical leaders included Blake Griffin with 402 assists and 1,841 points and Andre Drummond with 1,232 rebounds.
• 2018–19 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team – Under head coach John Beilein, the Wolverines compiled a 30–7 and were ranked No. 8 in the final AP poll.
• 2018–19 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team – Under head coach Tom Izzo, the Spartans compiled a 32–7 record, were ranked No. 5 in the AP poll, and advanced to the Final Four.
• 2018–19 Michigan Wolverines women's basketball team – Under head coach Kim Barnes Arico, the Wolverines compiled a 22–12 record.
• 2018–19 Michigan State Spartans women's basketball team – Under head coach Suzy Merchant, the Spartans compiled a 21–12 record.

Ice hockey

• 2018–19 Detroit Red Wings season – Under head coach Jeff Blashill, the Wings compiled a 32–40–10 record.
• 2018–19 Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey season – Under head coach Mel Pearson, the Wolverines compiled a 13–16–7 record.

Chronology of events

January

• January 1 - Democrat Gretchen Whitmer was sworn in as the 49th Governor of Michigan on the Capitol grounds in Lansing
• January 3 - Democrat Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress, and three other new members of the House from Michigan (Andy Levin, Elissa Slotkin, and Haley Stevens) were sworn in. Tlaib drew national attention with her public call to "impeach the mother****er" in reference to President Trump.
• January 6 - An Arab-American family of five from Northville, Michigan, was killed by a wrong-way driver on I-75
• January 7 - Uber driver Jason Dalton pled guilty to six counts of first-degree murder in the 2016 Kalamazoo shootings.
• January 9 - Fiat Chrysler agreed to pay $650 million to settle claims that it cheated on emissions tests.
• January 12 - The 60th anniversary of Motown Records was celebrated in Detroit.
• January 15 - Ford and Volkswagen announce a new business alliance.
• January 16 - Hours before the board was schedule to meet to consider firing him, John Engler resigned as interim president of Michigan State University. He was criticized for his handling of the university's response to the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal.
• January 30 - A U.S. Department of Education report on the Nassar sex abuse scandal was highly critical of Michigan State University's handling of reports of sexual abuse.

February

• February 21 - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced an investigation into George Perles' resignation from the Michigan State University Board of Trustees and the decision to waive a debt owed by Perles to the university.
• February 26 - Fiat Chrysler announced plans to convert Detroit's Mack Avenue engine factor into a new assembly plant for its Jeep division, as part of a $4.5 billion investment in southeastern Michigan. The plant was touted as the city's first new auto assembly plant in a generation.

March

• March 31 - The 2018–19 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team defeated No. 1 seed Duke, 68-67 in the Elite Eight round of the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. The Spartans advanced to the Final Four but lost to Texas Tech in the National Semifinals on April 6.

September

• September 2 - Gov. Gretchen Whitmer led 20,000 to 30,000 persons in the 62nd annual Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk.
• September 5 - The U.S. Department of Education imposed a record $4.5 million fine against Michigan State University for its mishandling of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case.
• September 15 - The UAW declared a nationwide strike against General Motors, aka the 2019 General Motors strike. It was first nationwide strike by the UAW since 2007. Two days later, GM stopped paying health insurance premiums for striking workers.

Deaths

• January 6 – Robert L. Kahn, expert on organizational theory and former head of University of Michigan Survey Research Center, at age 100 in Burlington, Vermont
• February 7 – John Dingell, U.S. Congressman (1955–2015), at age 92 in Dearborn, Michigan
• February 20 – William Broomfield, U.S. Congressman (1957–1993), at age 96 in Kensington, Maryland
• March 4 – Ted Lindsay, NHL player (1944–65) and Red Wings (1944–57), inducted Hockey Hall of Fame, at age 93 in Oakland, Michigan
• April 2 – Don Williamson, Mayor of Flint (2003–09), at age 85
• April 28 – Damon Keith, U.S. Court of Appeals judge (1977–2019), at age 96 in Detroit
• May 2 – Red Kelly, NHL player (1947–67) and Red Wings (1947–60), inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame, at age 91 in Toronto
• July 2 – Lee Iacocca, automotive executive with Ford (1946–78) and Chrysler (1978–92), at age 94 in Los Angeles
• July 3 – Arte Johnson, comic actor and Michigan native, at age 90 in Los Angeles
• July 6 – Gus Stager, University of Michigan swimming coach (1955–82), 4x team national champion, at age 96
• July 20 – R. James Harvey, U.S. Congressman and (1961–1974), U.S. District Court judge (1973–2019), at age 97 in Naples, Florida
• August 3 – L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County prosecutor (1976–1992) and executive (1993–2019), at age 80 in Independence Township, Michigan
• September 21 – Napoleon Chagnon, anthropologist and expert on Amazon tribes, at age 81 in Traverse City, Michigan
• October 18 – William Milliken, Governor of Michigan (1969–1983), at age 97 in Traverse City, Michigan