Karen Weiling was a Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 10 April 2023 to 29 January 2029 and Governor of Michigan from 29 January 2029 to 14 January 2030 (succeeding Ron Boers and preceding Noor Alfayyadh). Weiling was Michigan's youngest governor at the age of 26, having become well-known as an evangelical youth activist, but her tenure was marked by an economic downturn that resulted in the Dawah Party breaking through at the next election and ousting Weiling with Democratic support.
Biography[]
Karen Weiling was born in Greenville, Michigan in 2003, and she became involved in Christian youth evangelization efforts and pro-life movements before being elected to the state house at the young age of 20. Weiling was seen as a rising star within her party due to her youthful charisma and her advocacy of Christian right causes, and she was chosen as her party's gubernatorial nominee in 2029. Taking advantage of the Dawah Party's disruption of the traditional Democratic coalition, she defeated Democratic nominee Mike Allert by a margin of 63.3% to 36.7%, winning the governorship.
Tenure[]
Weiling inherited a state budget of $152 million with a weekly decline of $3 million, mostly caused by her predecessor Ron Boers' spending cuts. The state legislature voted 50-2 for a scholarship program, 48-4 to decrease the number of seats in the state house from 60 to 48, 23-22 for media censorship (with 10 abstentions, failing to hit the threshold for adoption), 28-24 against environmental education, 26-16 for an airport tax, 32-14 to keep smart cities, 22-19 to abolish the school bus tax, 29-15 to abolish gender quotas, 33-12 to abolish driver's licenses, 28-25 against environmental education, 52-2 to create a customs duty, 27-15 to abolish fossil fuel subsidies, 25-18 to abolish food control, 40-13 to make the governorship a position chosen by the state legislature, 49-4 to abolish the scholarship, 21-17 to abolish the Olympics, and 38-17 for a child benefit.
On 1 January 2030, new elections were held. The Republicans won 42.77% of the vote and 21/48 seats in the state legislature, followed by Dawah with 27.06% and 13/48 seats, the Democrats with 25.16% and 12/48 seats, and the Libertarians with 5.02% and 2/48 seats. This election saw the Republicans become the biggest losers, shedding around 8% of their previous vote tally, mostly to the benefit of Dawah, which eclipsed the Democrats as the main opposition party in Michigan. Through utilizing Michigan's demographic trends (as Muslim and other non-white immigration benefited the Islamist and pro-immigrant Dawah Party) and rising anti-Zionist sentiment among the youths, Dawah was able to forge a stronger coalition than the declining Democrats, who could only count on moderate suburbanites and urban Black and Hispanic voters for their support. In the ensuing election, the Dawah Party made history by winning the support of 24 state representatives to Weiling's 22; Republicans David Buld and Denis Doolan voted for Noor Alfayyadh, while Ameera Abu Ghali of Dawah voted for Weiling. The Democratic Party largely endorsed Alfayyadh, apart from Don Holt, who voted Republican. Weiling's defeat was an epoch-making moment in US history, as it was the first time that an Islamic-oriented party won a gubernatorial election, and both the Democratic and Republican parties were ousted from their monopoly on political power in Michigan.