Mike McGuinness, an OU graduate and Oakland County Democratic Party  Chairman, OCDP, will be appearing on the Nov. 2 ballot after securing the democratic nomination as a write-in in the August primary. McGuinness received over the necessary vote amount of 113 in the District 5 Oakland Commissioner’s race during the recent primary election.

McGuinness attended OU from 2002 to 2010. He was a prevalent member in Oakland’s Student Congress serving as student president, vice president and Student Activities Funding Board Chair. The experience was a “direct benefit to my current activities,” McGuinness said.

“The relationships built in college are formative and last beyond your time on campus,” McGuinness said.

We started organizing a “coordinated and formal” campaign when the original democratic nominee withdrew from the race after May 11, the deadline for candidate registration, McGuinness said. Even though McGuinness is the youngest individual to hold the OCDP chairmanship at 26 years old, he secured 272 votes altogether, winning the democratic nomination.

McGuinness’s platforms include fighting desolate property, creating jobs and repairing roads.

“We have a lot of abandoned or neglected properties,” McGuinness said. “We need to create an Oakland County Land Bank to rehabilitate foreclosed properties.”

McGuinness urged putting more emphasis on supporting small businesses as one way to create jobs in Oakland County.

“We want it [Oakland County products] to be homegrown,” McGuinness said.

Additionally, he said there must also be greater access to loans.

“Right now, small businesses cannot get access to credit,” McGuinness said.

McGuinness’s opponent is John Scott, District 5 County Commissioner. Scott has held the position for the past eight years. Apart from his duties as county commissioner, Scott is also a sales engineer for a Royal Oak based company.

“I would like to continue the good things I am doing,” Scot saidt. “I am proud of my record and activities in the community.”

“I was not surprised when Mike pulled together a write-in victory on August 2,” Scott said. “…He did a great job and he had a very good presence at the polls.”

Scott’s platforms include balancing a budget without raising taxes, creating jobs and tapping into Federal grant money when possible.

We need to “keep doing what we’re doing,” Scott said.

McGuinness, however, has insisted that he is a “new voice fighting for reform.”

The general election takes place Nov. 2.

For more information on the candidates, see the OCDP website at www.ocdp.org and the Oakland County Board of Commissioners website at http://www.oakgov.com/boc/.