Progress Michigan

Progress Michigan engages in advocacy activity through social media and online communications, issuing news releases and comments for mainstream media outlets. ³ It opposes Republican candidates and officeholders, Republican-led initiatives, and conservative- or libertarian-leaning organizations. ⁴

History and People

Progress Michigan was established in 2007 as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit advocacy organization to promote left-of-center policies and advocate for Democratic Party candidates and priorities in Michigan. ⁵

It was founded by Daniel Farough, who worked as its executive director from 2007 to 2009. ⁶ Prior to Progress Michigan, Farough was the political director for the Sierra Club’s Mackinac (Michigan) chapter. ⁶ After leaving Progress Michigan, Farough became chief of staff and campaign manager for U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and ran the 2010 Congressional campaign and 2020 Senate campaigns of U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI). ⁶ He operates a political consulting firm in Lansing, Michigan. ⁶

The longest-tenured executive director of Progress Michigan was Lonnie Scott, who worked in that role from 2013 to 2022. ⁷ Scott was also the executive director of ProgressNow, the national parent organization of Progress Michigan. He previously worked as state director for Enroll America, a group that focused on enrolling people into Obamacare-compliant health care programs. ⁸

Scott was succeeded as executive director Sam Inglot, who had been Progress Michigan’s deputy director and communications manager. ⁷

Progress Michigan’s managing director is Denzel McCampbell, who had previously served as communications director for U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). ⁷

Progress Michigan’s board chair is Patrick Schuh, the Michigan State Director of America Votes. The other board members are Steven Pontoni, the executive director of the Michigan Association for Justice and former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party Progressive Caucus; ⁹ Bob Allison, the deputy director of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters; ¹⁰ Doug Pratt, the public affairs director the Michigan Education Association; ¹¹ and Jennifer Root, the executive director of SEIU-Michigan. ¹²

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit arm of Progress Michigan called Progress Michigan Education (now doing business as Engage Michigan) formed in 2007. ¹³ Both Progress Michigan and Progress Michigan Education have shared services, facilities and equipment and paid employees, including executive directors serving simultaneous roles with both organizations. ^{13 14}

Funding

Progress Michigan, Progress Michigan Education/Engage Michigan and the Progress Michigan Political Action Fund receive significant funding from organized labor groups including the National Education Association (NEA), ¹⁵ American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), ¹⁶ and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). ¹⁷ Other funders include the Detroit Federation of Teachers, ¹⁸ the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, ¹⁹ Tides Foundation, ²⁰ Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, ²¹ The Heartland Fund, ²² and Proteus Fund. ²³

Progress Michigan Education (Engage Michigan) has received substantial funding from the Ford Foundation. ²⁴ Between 2010 and 2017, the Ford Foundation gave $1,730,500 to Engage Michigan, and Ford Foundation grants of $400,000 in 2014 and 2016 constituted nearly 74 percent of each year’s reported revenue. ¹³ The Foundation awarded another $400,000 in 2017, $300,000 in 2018, $400,000 in 2019, $100,000 in 2020, $400,000 in 2021, and $200,000 in 2023. ²⁴

State Victory Action

State Victory Action is a Super PAC created and seeded by Democratic mega-donors George Soros, Tom Steyer, and Donald Sussman, with strong connections to the left-of-center donor collective Democracy Alliance and labor unions including AFSCME, the National Education Association and the SEIU. ^{25 26 27}

Since State Victory Action’s founding in 2018, the Progress Michigan Political Action Fund has received more money than any other recipient from the SuperPAC: $4.51 million, with $3.1 million of that amount coming in summer 2022. ²⁷

In Michigan’s November elections that year, Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) was re-elected and the Democratic Party narrowly retained control of the state legislature, while voters approved Democrat-sponsored ballot measures promoted by Progress Michigan that created a right to abortion and contraception in the state constitution and loosened voting regulations. ^{28 29}

Funding Transparency

Progress Michigan has criticized Republican politicians and right-of-center organizations such as the Mackinac Center for Public Policy for what it characterized as insufficient transparency about their donors, but Progress Michigan has itself been criticized for a similar lack of transparency by Michigan political commentator Tim Skubick. ^{30 31}

Advocacy

Progress Michigan engages in issue advocacy campaigns to promote what it describes as “uncompromised progressive politics” and Democratic Party candidates in Michigan, while attacking Republican Party candidates and officeholders, Republican-led initiatives and conservative/libertarian organizations. ³

Progress Michigan opposed Michigan’s Right to Work law that was enacted in 2012 and repealed 2023. ^{32 33} It has supported policies such as abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ³⁴ making it a crime to store or leave a gun where it could be accessed by a minor, ³⁵ eliminating Michigan’s Medicaid work requirements, ³⁶ “transgender-friendly” drivers licenses, ³⁷ and making Election Day a paid holiday. ³⁸

One frequent target of Progress Michigan is the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank focusing on state policy. ³⁹ In 2013, Progress Michigan produced a report titled, “Mackinac Center Exposed: Who’s Running Michigan?” accusing the Center of having ties to the national American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Michigan Republican Party, and libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch. ³⁰ A subsequent investigation by the Washington Free Beacon alleged that Progress Michigan had plagiarized portions of the report; Progress Michigan revised the report by adding citations for the disputed material to left-wing magazine Mother Jones. ⁴⁰