By J. PATRICK PEPPER
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — City Councilwoman Suzanne Sareini confirmed last week that she will make a run this fall for the open 15th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Sareini said she has not yet filed campaign paperwork with the Wayne County Clerk’s Office, but would make an official announcement in the coming weeks. State Rep. Gino Polidori (D-Dearborn) currently holds the seat, but is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. The filing deadline for candidates is May 11.
“I still have my regular job (on the council) to worry about with the budget process right now,” she said, “so I have just spent the last few weeks talking to people, consulting with family and friends.
“But yes, I have decided to run.”
Sareini, who was elected to a sixth four-year term on the council last November and serves as its president pro tempore, said she will run as a Republican. Although she has been active in the party for years, including volunteering for presidential campaigns and donating to other Republican candidates, it will mark her first time on the ballot in a partisan race. City Council members run as independents.
Sareini becomes the first Republican candidate to confirm publicly their intention to seek the position. Also said to be considering a run on the GOP slate are former 19th District Court Judge Bill Runco and party activist Scott Saionz.
If either candidate joins Sareini in the race, they would face off in an early August primary.
Already running as Democrats are George Darany, who was elected to his first full term on the council last fall, and Linda Tafelski, a former Dearborn Public Schools teacher and mother of City Council President Thomas Tafelski.
Since at least the late 1980s, a Democrat has represented the 15th District, which comprises the entire city of Dearborn