RESOURCES:
Eli Savit for Attorney General
TRANSCRIPTION:
Caroline MacGregor: You are listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Caroline McGregor, and today we are talking about Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit. He is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 Michigan Attorney General election. And Prosecutors Savit beat out Oakland County Prosecutor Karen MacDonald for the chance to succeed Dana Nestle, the state's current AG, who also happens to be a Jewish Democrat. Prosecutor Savitt has served in his current role since 2021. He previously served as senior legal counsel in the office of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and also as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Born in Ann Arbor, Savit is also a lecturer at the University of Michigan Law School. And first of all, welcome, Prosecutor Savit!
Eli Savit: Thank you! Thank you so much for having me!
Caroline MacGregor: So, you beat out another county prosecutor for the chance to succeed Dana Nestle, the state's current AG. She's not able to file for re-election due to term limits and you will be running against Republican Attorney General nominee Doug Lloyd. First of all, tell me why you're running and why you are the better candidate than Doug Lloyd?
Eli Savit: Yeah, absolutely! So, you know, fundamentally I am running because I have spent my career trying to work for the public interest, trying to work for people, even when people are being taken advantage of by the most powerful of interests. That is what I bring to the table and that fundamentally is what the attorney general's role is. The attorney general is the people's lawyer, and the attorney general who must step up when, for example, corporate polluters are contaminating our air and our water. When corporations are price gouging consumers or engaging in deceptive marketing practices, when workers are being taken advantage of on the job and all of that is what I bring to the table. I'm currently the County Prosecutor here in Washtenaw. Of course, my competition, Doug Lloyd, he is a County Prosecutor as well. We both bring the criminal experience. But I'm the only candidate in this race. Who has stood up for civil rights and voting rights. You know, I've been a cooperating attorney with the ACLU. I'm the only one who has been a practicing environmental lawyer. I've had been part of teams that have litigated PFAS lawsuits, including teams that secured the largest single site recovery in American history. I started the only worker and consumer protection unit in a prosecutor's office in the state of Michigan, where, you know, we focus on things like wage theft to end price gouging and deceptive marketing practices. And I was extraordinarily proud to win the Michigan Bar's Consumer Advocacy Award. Just this past year for our work in Washtenaw County and then the other thing you don't have to say is this we are facing really almost daily threats to our liberties to our rights coming out of Washington D.C., I've already been standing up to this administration's attempts to deprive Michigan of much needed resources their attempts to undermine our rights on the very basis of our Listen, ship. My competition isn't doing that. My competition has not done any environmental work, consumer work, worker protection work. So at a time when people are really struggling and are facing threats from so many directions, I think I'm the right candidate for this moment to stand up for the people of the state of Michigan.
Caroline MacGregor: OK, now you've said that you've stated that you will be a fearless advocate for justice, fairness and opportunity for all. As you know, federal law enforcement officials recently filed a new legal challenge to Washington or county's policies that basically prevent US immigration and customs enforcement from detaining immigrants in county owned buildings and prohibit the sharing of information that could lead to detentions according to this lawsuit. Where do we stand with this and what are your thoughts about protecting immigrants in the local community as well as the state?
Eli Savit: Immigrants are a part of the fabric of our community. And what I have said over and over again, including during the Biden administration, is that we at county government and at state government levels, we need to be focused on doing our job. And the policy of ours that is being challenged in this lawsuit by the Trump DOJ is a policy that I've had in place since 2021 under the Biden Administration. And what it says effectively is look, we're focused on prosecuting state level crimes. We're focused ensuring the safety of our community. We're not getting involved in any optional collaboration with ICE, which indeed is optional under the U.S. Constitution. And I wanna just emphasize how important that is for public safety. We have seen, even in Washtenaw County, where we have policies across the board limiting collaboration with ICE. We have seen an increase in non-citizen victims of crime failing to show up to court to testify against the people who harmed them. And that makes it much more difficult, if not impossible, for us to prosecute those cases because without the victim to testify, cases often must get dismissed. And I just want to put a fine point on that. That means that people are more afraid of their government than they are of a person who may have caused them very real physical harm. That's an unacceptable situation for community safety's sake to be in. So yes, I think we should, to the extent permissible by law, be declining to collaborate with ICE. We should be doing our job. We should focus on local public safety. And I'm going to stick by that.
Caroline MacGregor: You've stated that despite what some in your party may view as your exclusively left-leaning policies that you are prepared to enter the general election in a manner that appeals to a wide spectrum of voters. Tell me about this.
Eli Savit: Yeah. So, you know, I try to avoid being pigeonholed by labels. What I stand for is workers rights and consumers rights and the right for everybody in our community to be able to drink clean water and breathe fresh air and be safe in their communities and have the right to speak freely and the right, to bodily autonomy and the freedom to live a life in which they can thrive. And As it pertains to the attorney general's role, that means taking on sometimes very powerful interests, including interests like currently the president of the United States, including interests, like corporate polluters, including bosses who are stealing from their workers, including corporate scammers, right? But I don't think there's anything particularly left or radical about that. You know, I go and I talk to Republicans and Republicans are concerned about their Drinking water supply and republicans want to ensure that our great lakes remain clean and Accessible for future generations and everybody is concerned about the cost of living right now And I never make any promises that I can't keep and look the attorney general of a state cannot bring wages up or prices down by themselves. But what we can do is make sure that your boss isn't stealing from your paycheck and you're getting even less money than you should. And we can make sure that a predatory corporation isn't price gouging you at the other end. If you want to try to pigeonhole that into left leaning progressive views, I guess be my guest, but I really think that these are issues that every single Michigander cares about. These are issues that I've fought for throughout my career. And that's what I'm bringing to this election.
Caroline MacGregor: Next question, and a little controversial, Nimish Ganatra, she was the chief of the criminal division at the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office. She filed a federal lawsuit in September of last year alleging retaliation, racial discrimination and First Amendment violations after you were alleged to have reported a colleague's alleged misconduct to the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission. These are, of course, allegations. How do you think this discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against you may impact your campaign and chances of winning?
Eli Savit: Well, you know, I'm not going to talk about pending litigation, but the allegations have no merit, you'll play out in court. But that's all I'm going to say about that given pending litigation at this time.
Caroline MacGregor: Okay, we recently talked about the attack on Temple Israel, which, obviously, and you stated this too during our interview, this elevated feelings of great unease, which was understandable among the Jewish community. At the time, you came out with a message that where there is respect and a desire to understand, our common bond of humanity can forge ties more powerful than the forces that seek to divide us. Given heated disagreement over pro-Palestinian protests in Ann Arbor and the fact that your office announced felony charges against some individuals for allegedly assaulting police officers in 2024 during a sit-in at the University of Michigan, these charges were later dismissed, I believe, by Attorney General Dana Nessel. And this still lingers with some people who are pro-Palestinians. How do you see building bridges in this regard here?
Eli Savit: Well, I want to actually correct the record on this. We did charge four people. They were not dismissed by the Attorney General. We handled those cases. And we ultimately gave every person that was involved in those cases opportunities for diversion programs. They had to do some community service. And they were able to earn a clear criminal record. And the cases were dismissed as a result of that agreement with our office. We have also declined to charge, I believe it's 64 cases stemming from protests on campus, some because there was simply a lack of evidence, some because in my discretion, I did not think that, for example, doing a sit-in in the president's office warranted criminal charges, trespassing might've been brought, illegal entry might have been brought but I just didn't think it was something for the criminal legal system. That's a line that I've always drawn. You know, I do not think that we should be charging young people criminally for things like sit-ins on campus. And that is true irrespective of what they are protesting. I also think that there is always going to be a line that can be drawn and must be drawn when you are protesting, protesting does not give you the right to assault other people. It does not give you the right to destroy property. It does give you right to harm others. So, I'm a big proponent of the First Amendment, but the four cases that we charged fit in that category. And that is why we charge them. That's the straight forward line that I've always drawn, irrespective of the content of a protest. And that's what I'm going to stick to because that's what I believe. And look, what I bring to the table is I say the same thing in different rooms. I don't pretend as though I have different opinions when I'm talking to different audiences. I've explained our reasoning to members of our Jewish community, members of our Arab/Muslim community. And I think what people ultimately want in an attorney general and a prosecuting authority is somebody that has the integrity to stick to what they believe. And that's how we've handled those protest cases. And that I'll continue to think about stuff as they do.
Caroline MacGregor: Lastly, is anything else that you would like to state with regards to why you're the man for the job?
Eli Savit: You know, again, I think it's the breadth of my experience that makes me the right fit for this position at this time. We are really at a crossroads in our state, in our country right now, not just because of everything that is coming out of Washington, D.C., but because, for example, of the looming threats posed by misuse of artificial intelligence, the choices that we make in this next election are going to impact both. Potentially, the security of our elections and our right to vote in the 2028 presidential elections. It's going to shape how we address job loss from artificial intelligence and deceptive marketing practices using AI. This is work that I've done throughout my career, again, with voting rights, with consumer protection, with worker protection. And the choice we make this November really is going to be impactful, both for the future of the state and, indeed, the nation. So I hope the voters will take a chance to look up my background, look at the work that I've done, look what I've stood for throughout my career, because I think at the end of the day, that is what sets me apart in this race and what I hope to bring the Attorney General's office.
Caroline MacGregor: Okay, thank you so much! I've been speaking with Washtenaw County Prosecutor, Eli Savit, and he is the Democratic nomination for Attorney General. Thank you so for joining me today!
Eli Savit: Thank you so much for having me!
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