East Lansing Native Joshua Ramirez-Roberts Announces Bid for City Council

The field of candidates competing for three open seats on the East Lansing City Council continues to grow, with Joshua Ramirez-Roberts announcing he intends to run.

Ramirez-Roberts has lived in East Lansing his entire life and recently graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Social Relations and Policy and a minor in Political Economy. Next year, he will be student teaching at East Lansing High School as he looks to earn a certification in secondary social studies education.

Ramirez-Roberts has been active in local and state politics. He told ELi via email that he spent two years working in the Michigan House of Representatives, served two terms on East Lansing’s University Student Commission, one term on East Lansing’s Community Development Advisory Committee and is a board member for the Bailey Community Association.

Ramirez-Roberts previously applied for one of two seats that opened up on Council in July 2020 after Mark Meadows and then-Mayor Ruth Beier resigned during a meeting. Dana Watson and Ron Bacon were appointed to fill those seats.

Ramirez-Roberts joins Rebecca Kasen, Councilmember Noel Garcia, former Mayor Mark Meadows and Planning Commission Vice Chair Dan Bollman on a growing list of candidates for Council.

Now-Mayor Bacon and Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg have not yet announced if they intend to run for reelection. (Their terms and Garcia’s are up in November.)

The candidates elected in November will join Watson and George Brookover on Council. The filing deadline to run for Council this election cycle is 4 p.m. on Tuesday, July 25.

Learn more about the election and how candidates can file to have their names on the ballot by clicking here. The guidelines from the City Clerk’s Office are available here.

Correction, 8 p.m. (July 12, 2023): When originally published, this report said the candidate was running under the name Ramirez, because that is the name used on his candidacy webpage. He has since let us know he is running under the name Ramirez-Roberts. The article was consequently corrected.