The Moment with Brad LaPlante

Joanna Whaley spent years as an evangelical megachurch pastor and 15 years in conversion therapy before coming out as transgender. Now she's the Democratic nominee for the Michigan House in Downriver's 2nd District. She talks about her faith, why she thinks Democrats need a better answer to the religious right, and why, as a single parent of three, she says she won't take corporate money.

The pollster whose final survey showed the widest lead for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary said the industry’s double-digit miss can be attributed to the ease of taking a poll online versus actually showing up to vote. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCK...

Sarah Anthony chairs the Michigan Senate Appropriations Committee, which makes her one of the most powerful people in the state. But she doesn't want to get absorbed by the system. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCKMpQaiNw5iVA357 For transcripts and more, visit wlns.com/originals/...

As young people start to shift away from Trump, Michigan's GOP youth chair Krish Mathrani discusses what he thinks Trump's wins are, and why — in his words — Republicans can keep the House in November. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCKMpQaiNw5iVA357 For transcripts and more, visi...

Mallory McMorrow joined Brad LaPlante in Royal Oak to talk about the Senate race and 'broken' outside spending that reshaped the primary. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCKMpQaiNw5iVA357 For transcripts and more, visit wlns.com/originals/moment

Today we're sitting down with Liz Nass to discuss the August primary elections. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCKMpQaiNw5iVA357 For transcripts and more, visit wlns.com/originals/moment

Pro-Israel groups have spent more than $30 million in Michigan's Senate primary in favor of Haley Stevens, but the ads aren't about Israel or foreign policy. Bernie Sanders' former policy adviser says it's an "admission" of where public opinion is at on the U.S.-Israel relationship amid the war in Gaza. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube:...

Rima Mohammad speaks about foreign policy in Israel and the U.S. Senate race in Michigan. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCKMpQaiNw5iVA357 For transcripts and more, visit wlns.com/originals/moment

This weekend, the United States marks 250 years — and the birthday itself has become a fight, with dueling celebrations and competing claims about how the country's story should be told. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCKMpQaiNw5iVA357 For transcripts and more, visit wlns.com/orig...

Hey there, it’s Brad. We’re off this week. So I’m sharing an interview from the past week with Demetri Morgan. I had not originally planned to release this in full, so please excuse the poor audio.

Sheffield speaks about Frederick Douglass and Dr. King, about fatherhood and power, about whether the Black church still has the force to organize a generation drifting away and about why he believes — as King did — in an “innate goodness” in people, even now. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS3...

Michigan State University trustee Rema Vassar won't sign the new ethics code. She explains why. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCKMpQaiNw5iVA357 For transcripts and more, visit wlns.com/originals/moment

The East Lansing Democrat died on a hill pushing for an Epstein investigation. Now she’s paying the price. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCKMpQaiNw5iVA357 For transcripts and more, visit wlns.com/originals/moment

Brad here. We're off this week, but please enjoy this episode of The Moment: our interview with Tom Leonard. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqgS30Rc4L7OvWFdZCKMpQaiNw5iVA357 For transcripts and more, visit wlns.com/originals/moment

A Michigan bill would make it easier for wrongfully convicted people to win state compensation. This week, Wayne County exonerees Roderic Pippen and Eric Anderson, WMU-Cooley Innocence Project's Dr. Marla Mitchell-Cichon, and bill sponsor Sen. Staphanie Chang about what the fix would — and wouldn't — change. Thoughts? Email me at blaplante@wlns.com Watch our show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.co...

Aric Nesbitt was first elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2011. He served as state Lottery commissioner in the final years of Gov. Rick Snyder’s term. He ran for state Senate in 2018 and won, eventually rising to Senate Minority Leader. Now, Nesbitt is running for governor.

Will Lawrence grew up in East Lansing watching soccer fields give way to subdivisions. He spent years trying to stop that kind of development, or at least redirect it, as co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate organization that helped push the Green New Deal into mainstream Democratic politics. Now, he’s running for Congress in Michigan’s 7th District, a seat Tom Barrett flipped...

Tom Leonard joins the Moment after he's dropped out of the governor's race.

Attorney General Dana Nessel is suing Eli Lily for alleged price gouging in Michigan. A bill in the Michigan House would eliminate Nessel's legal theory for her lawsuit and change how the state can sue businesses.

Curtis Hertel's job, as chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, is to put Democrats in the best position to win elections. But the party is railing against former Democrat Mike Duggan. Republicans say he's "100% a Democrat," but Hertel says he is running a campaign fueled by the GOP. Duggan, meanwhile, says he's running a campaign for those sick of both parties.

Matt Maasdam, a Democratic candidate in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, says the Trump administration’s war in Iran is a personal litmus test. He traces the war back through his 20-year Navy career, his deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and his tenure as the military aide who carried the nuclear codes for former President Barack Obama.

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow says she wants Democrats to deliver results for the people who elected them.

Michigan Senate Republican Jim Runestad, now in his second year as chair of the state GOP, is using his role to sharpen criticism of Democrats on immigration enforcement and the 2026 gubernatorial race.

Barely more than a week ago, a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, was attacked. In the aftermath, elected leaders are posting Islamophobic tweets, and antisemitism is still a concern.

Michigan state Rep. Alabas Farhat (D-Dearborn) says his district doesn't want war with Iran.