Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Leonard speaks to a crowd of GOP party fixtures at a dinner honoring the late state Sen. George McManus at Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, Mich. Aug. 8, 2025 (Photo by Ben Solis/Michigan Advance)

ESCANABA — Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Leonard announced that, when elected governor, he will appoint an “ambassador” to the Upper Peninsula and establish a dedicated executive office presence in the U.P. to ensure residents have a direct line to the Governor’s Office.

Leonard said the proposal was shaped by what he is hearing at stop after stop during his current listening tour across the Upper Peninsula.

“In community after community, the overwhelming message people are sharing with me is that they feel Lansing has forgotten them,” Leonard said. “For too long, the Upper Peninsula has been treated as an afterthought. That ends when I’m governor.”

On this current listening tour, residents have raised concerns about rising energy costs, limited access to primary care and OB/GYN services, overworked sheriffs, lost mining revenue, and the lack of real mental health options.

Leonard said creating an ambassador to the Upper Peninsula is one practical way to ensure those concerns are directly represented inside the Governor’s Office.

“The people of the U.P. aren’t asking for favors, they’re simply asking to be listened to,” Leonard said. “We are going to do more than listen. We’re going to give them a permanent seat at the table.”

Leonard said the Ambassador would be a resident of the Upper Peninsula, would report directly to the governor, and would work directly with local leaders and stakeholders to ensure U.P. priorities are reflected in state policy and that concerns do not get lost in the bureaucracy.

“Listening is important,” Leonard added. “But being willing to publicly commit to bold solutions is the kind of leadership needed to create a real path forward for the Upper Peninsula and every community across our state.”

Leonard lives in DeWitt, Mich. with his wife and three young children. His career has taken him from a clerk’s desk in Genessee County to an assistant prosecutor role; he was later elected as a State Representative and then Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives.

Leonard’s priorities include tax reform, worker empowerment, and government accountability.