McMorrow, with new book out Tuesday, says Democrats need to ‘learn how to fight differently’

State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) has gone from an against-the-odds winner of a seat in the Michigan Senate in 2018 to a national political figure, featured prominently at the Democratic National Convention last year. More recently, McMorrow, 38, has been mentioned as a potential candidate to run for U.S. Sen. Gary Peters’ (D-Bloomfield Township) seat when he steps down in 2027. So the release Tuesday of her book “Hate Won’t Win: Find Your Power and Leave This Place Better Than We Found It,” comes at a propitious time.

Michigan Advance had an opportunity to speak with McMorrow about the book and the state of the Democratic Party in a second Trump administration. What follows is a conversation that has been edited for length and clarity. Advance questions are in bold, and McMorrow’s responses are in regular type.

Let’s start with the title. You wrote this before the election, but how do you think this will resonate with people, including here in Michigan, who feel like hate has won? 

Hate has certainly won the battle, but I still fundamentally believe it’s not going to win the war. I think for me, the title is a call to action. That’s why it’s intentionally much longer. It’s not just “Hate Won’t Win”, it’s “Hate Won’t Win: Find Your Power and Leave This Place Better Than We Found It,” because that vision, that hate won’t win, depends on us participating and I think that that is true in the long run. This may be a setback, but we’re not done.

Has there been retrenchment on the part of Democrats? So many people were inspired by the viral video moment you had in the Michigan Senate back in 2022, speaking against comments made by your Republican colleague, state Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton Township), who called you a groomer for supporting the trans community, and yet we saw earlier this month eight Democrats join with all Republicans in the Michigan House to approve a resolution seeking to ban transgender girls from competing in female sports. People are asking if the Democrats are up for the challenge? 

I think that’s a big question. I am certainly frustrated with the Democratic Party. I think part of the reason that my speech resonated in the way that it did was, there’s a mother of a trans daughter in my district in Birmingham, who I’ve worked a lot with on these issues, and I could’ve gotten up and told her story, but I didn’t. What I did was talk about myself and that I was raised Catholic and that we believed in service, and then I pivoted at the end to say people who are different are not the reason why your health care costs are too high or why the roads are in disrepair, why teachers are leaving the profession. I think that this is one of my strengths, being able to communicate and message and frankly cut through bullshit attacks on marginalized groups of people in a way that reframes and anchors the message. But that is why I wrote this book, that is why I am looking at what my future looks like right now, because we need to do a better job. We need to recognize that this is a very, very different moment with a very different Republican Party, and we have to learn how to fight differently than what I think our party has done in the past. 

I want to give you a moment now to go ahead and give Michigan Advance the scoop of what you plan to announce your future endeavor will be. 

(Laughing) Not quite ready yet. I haven’t been shy about the fact that I’m looking at the Senate seat, but also not a decision I take lightly. I think that more than anything, it’s important that Democrats hold onto the seat. So I’m taking my time to really think about, “Can I do this? How will we do this? What does it mean for my family?” So, more to come, but not quite yet. 

Your book is interesting in that it’s part memoir, but it’s also a DIY manual, and it concludes with a workbook. 

Yeah, you didn’t know you were going to get homework (laughing). When I had the viral speech moment, I was approached in 2022 by multiple publishers who offered me the chance to write a book, which is something I always had dreamed of. But I didn’t know what I wanted to write in that moment, so I turned down the offers but throughout the course of 2022, I met with thousands of people, not only in Michigan but all across the country, as I was fundraising for my PAC and I was doing media events and so many people said a version of the same thing which was, “I’m so overwhelmed. I know I have to do something and I have no idea where to start.” So my purpose in the front half is to tell my story, hopefully in a way that shows people I had no unique background at all. I’d not planned to run for office. I Googled it and I figured it out as I went and stumbled my way into it and then I thought, “OK, I’ve won the seat. Now I have the power to make the change I want to make” and found out very quickly that wasn’t true either. And the second half is to answer that question that the people had asked me, which is, “What do I do?” I’ve seen either individuals or groups effectively advocate to me as a legislator to promote change and I wanted to break it down so that everybody could do this, so that you don’t get so overwhelmed by all the bad news that you do what most people do, just check out or think, “Well I voted, and that’s enough,” because it’s not enough. So, it’s very different than most political books. 

In the book you talked about being a designer at Mattel, so here comes the ubiquitous Hot Wheels question. Do you have a favorite Hot Wheels model and is it still in the box? 

Great question. Before I left [Mattel], one of my colleagues put my name on a Hot Wheels car, so there is a car called the Maximum Leeway that’s a Hot Wheels original, and it had a little fake racing graphic on the side that said Mallory. So, that’s my favorite. I have a bunch of them. I’ve taken out a couple and a couple are in boxes. I have to keep them away from my daughter who wants to open all of them.