Jim Ananich

James Ananich ( ; born September 20, 1975) is an American politician from Michigan. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the 27th district in the Michigan Senate from 2013 to 2023. He was the minority leader from 2015 to 2023.

Early life James "Jim" Ananich was born to James and Susan Ananich as their only child. They raised him in Flint. His father was Flint City Ombudsman. His mother died in 1986. The following year his father resigned as city ombudsman to teach policy science at University of Michigan-Flint. Ananich attended Flint Central High School where he played basketball and tennis.

Ananich graduated in 1998 from Michigan State University with a bachelor's degree in political science and economics and a secondary teaching certificate in social studies. He later received a master's degree in Public Administration-Educational Administration from the University of Michigan-Flint.

At Michigan State he joined the College Democrats. In 1998, he interned with the Michigan Democratic Party then went to work for Senate Minority Leader John D. Cherry Jr.. Until 2000, Ananich worked in Kildee's Washington, DC office. In 2000, his father died and he returned to Flint and worked out of Kildee's district office. After his 2004 primary loss, he worked for Bob Emerson. The next year, he was elected to Flint City Council and serve until 2009. On November 10, 2008, Ananich was selected by the council to be their president replacing Carolyn Sims. Ananich was succeeded as Council President by Delrico Loyd and as Member from the 7th ward by Dale Weighill. He then ran for Michigan's 49th House of Representatives district in 2010 winning against Allan Pool 67% to 33%, succeeding Gonzales.

Ananich was unopposed in the Democratic primary on August 7, 2012, in his run for reelection, which he won on November 6 with nearly 74 percent of the votes. He introduced a bill on February 5, 2013, to correct a law regarding the abuse of vulnerable adults changing how prosecuting attorneys prove their case and was signed into law on June 4, 2013. He introduced on October 23 a drive-by shooting incidents law that increased penalties which was passed and signed into law July 16, 2014. His scrap metal bill was signed into law on December 31. Ananich faced no opposition in the Democratic primary election on August 5, 2014. Ananich also criticized the role emergency managers played in the crisis and said that the law allowing the position of emergency manager should be reviewed and repealed. On January 20, 2016, Ananich introduced Senate Resolution 0133 (2016) that would grant state lawmakers probing the Flint water crisis subpoena power over the governor's office, which is immune to the state Freedom of Information Act.

On February 23, 2016, the Michigan state legislature started a committee to investigate the crisis. Ananich was named co-vice-chair along with Representative Ed McBroom.

Ananich is a supporter of bitcoin and stated that he wanted to make Michigan the most pro-bitcoin state in the country in 2022. He has said he is against lawmakers buying and trading stocks while in office.

Elections