Despite heavy local investment, intense campaigning at the top of the ticket has sucked most of the air out of the state House candidates’ room, said Adrienne Pickett, a Democratic consultant and founder of The Guerrilla Politic, a Detroit-based agency. focused primarily on electing progressive women to state and local office.

“It’s very hard for some of these down-ballot candidates to really get through because of the noise,” Pickett said, adding that state legislative campaigns are being “drowned” by media buys for presidential and congressional candidates in competitive districts .

In such a crowded environment, that means Whitmer and other surrogates are focusing on supporting the entire ticket, with the hope that that success extends to state House candidates, she continued: “Every little bit helps.”

Snyder, who recently completed a campaign bus tour of a dozen competitive districts, said part of his motivation to return to politics came from seeing Democrats reject or abandon actions he undertaken in office to put Michigan on a more competitive economic path.

“Michigan is in decline again, and the decline is accelerating,” the former governor said. “There are a lot of factors, but one of the biggest contributors is what’s going on in Lansing.”

He is optimistic about the prospect of changing the House because the Republican candidates have “good, solid records” and are on a positive agenda to improve education and economic outcomes, Snyder said.

Snyder — who endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020 — has focused exclusively on campaigning for state House candidates and has no influence on the presidential contest, a stark contrast to Whitmer.

“Just talking about anything at the top is going to make people lose focus on the House races,” he told Bridge. “This is our backyard. This is our house. We can have a much bigger impact.”

Czuba, the pollster, said if Harris wins Michigan by at least two points and Democrats make significant gains in Oakland County, an area with several competitive races that continues to lean Democratic, House Democrats have a chance to keep their majority.