Michigan Senate District 4 · Downriver & Western Wayne
Since 2023, DTE’s chief legal officer has given his committees $32,450. Utility PACs added $13,500. Your bill went up anyway, and the power still failed. Then there is HYPE Athletics: $42,450 from the CEO, and a $10 million taxpayer ask for that CEO’s Brownstown project.
From Ali Sayed, CEO of HYPE Athletics, into three Camilleri committees since 2023.
What Camilleri then asked taxpayers to put into a HYPE center in Brownstown.
From JoAnn Chávez, DTE’s SVP and chief legal officer, since January 2023.
From DTE PAC and the CMS/Consumers Energy employee PAC, same window.
The appropriation file
State contribution records from January 2023 through August 24, 2026 show Ali Sayed — employer listed as HYPE Athletics, occupation CEO or business owner — giving $42,450 across three separate Camilleri committees. Then Camilleri sponsored a legislatively directed spending request for that organization.
| Dec. 13, 2023 · Senate committee | $1,500 |
| March 27, 2024 · Senate committee | $950 |
| Sept. 3, 2024 · Camilleri for Michigan | $10,000 |
| Feb. 4, 2025 · Camilleri for Michigan | $10,000 |
| July 18, 2025 · Camilleri for Michigan | $10,000 |
| May 10, 2026 · Team Camilleri PAC | $10,000 |
| Total, three committees | $42,450 |
$32,450 landed before the appropriation request. $10,000 landed after, into a different committee.
On February 11, 2026 — posted February 19 — Sen. Camilleri requested $10,000,000 for acquisition, construction, and development of a HYPE Athletics community and wellness center in Brownstown Township. The official form names Ali Sayed as CEO.
The request says the center would bring youth and family services to Downriver. Camilleri certified that he, his family, and his staff have no pecuniary interest. A request is not proof the money was appropriated or paid out. It is proof he asked.
Fair question for voters: how was this project selected, and why this donor’s organization?
Sources: Michigan SOS contribution exports, 2023–2026 · Senate appropriations request page · Official request PDF
The utility file
These are documented contributions from a senior DTE executive and from utility PACs — relevant to the man who votes on energy mandates, siting, and data-center tax breaks. They do not prove DTE bought a vote, or that ratepayer money funded the checks.
State records list JoAnn Chávez, employer DTE, for $32,450 since January 2023. DTE identifies her as senior vice president and chief legal officer. These are her personal contributions, not DTE’s corporate treasury.
| Nov. 20, 2023 · Senate committee | $2,450 |
| Oct. 18, 2024 · Camilleri for Michigan | $15,000 |
| Oct. 6, 2025 · Camilleri for Michigan | $15,000 |
| Total | $32,450 |
Same window, recipient records: $7,500 from DTE PAC and $6,000 from the CMS/Consumers Energy employee PAC — $13,500 combined.
| Senate committee · DTE / CMS | $3,000 / $4,500 |
| Camilleri for Michigan | $2,000 / $500 |
| Team Camilleri PAC | $2,500 / $1,000 |
DTE’s own 2025 PAC report also lists $1,000 to the Senate committee (April 23), $1,000 to Team Camilleri PAC (Nov. 4), and $500 to Team Camilleri PAC (Dec. 23).
He voted yes on the 2023 clean-energy mandate, yes on letting Lansing override local siting, and yes on data-center tax exemptions through 2050. DTE is putting a battery project on the old Trenton Channel plant in his district. Taking a legal PAC check is not a crime. Voting like the utility while families sit in the dark is the record.
Sources: Michigan SOS contribution exports · DTE, Chávez appointment · DTE Michigan PAC 2025 PDF · Detroit News, March hike · MLive, $474M request · Planet Detroit, July outages · WXYZ, Downriver outages · AG Nessel, Sept. 2026
One more check
On February 3, 2026, recipient records show THE PAC FOR AMERICAS FUTURE MI giving $100,000 to Camilleri for Michigan and $24,500 to Darrin Camilleri for State Senate. Combined: $124,500. The $100,000 is not a direct donation to the Senate campaign. It is still a concentrated pile of political money, on one date, into his operation.
Sources: Michigan SOS contribution exports · ProPublica 527 explorer, PAC disclosure
The pattern
This is not a data-center-only story. It is a cost-of-living record: what he voted to give away, what he voted to take, and what he voted to cut.
| The vote | Camilleri | What it hits |
|---|---|---|
| Cut the state income-tax rate for everyone | Voted no | Your paycheck |
| A new 24% wholesale marijuana tax | Voted yes | A new tax |
| Data-center tax exemptions through 2050 / 2065 | Voted yes | Your tax base |
| 100% clean-energy mandate by 2040 | Voted yes | Your power bill |
| Let Lansing override local energy siting | Voted yes | Your hometown |
| Budget that cut school safety grants 92% | Voted yes | Your kids’ schools |
| $846 million into the SOAR corporate fund | Voted yes | Corporate incentives |
| $630 million for one Marshall development site | Voted yes | Corporate incentives |
The record
Every item below is a recorded roll call from the Michigan House or Senate, paired with the enrolled law or the state’s own fiscal analysis. Jump to the issue that hits your household first.
On December 12, 2024, Camilleri voted yes on two bills that extend tax breaks for data-center equipment and create new sales-and-use tax exemptions for large “enterprise” data centers. Qualifying facilities get the break through 2050. Some brownfield or former power-plant sites get it through 2065.
To qualify, a project needs at least $250 million in capital investment and only 30 qualifying new jobs, plus wage and maintenance rules. That is a lot of tax preference for a small permanent-job floor.
What it means for you. This is not a $90 million check that families “pay off” like a loan. It is decades of industry-specific tax exemptions. Money the state will not collect from companies that can afford to pay — while Downriver households keep paying theirs.
Sources: Senate journal, roll calls 572 & 576 · Enrolled HB 4906 · Senate Fiscal Agency analysis · Michigan data-center program
On February 23, 2017, House Bill 4001 would have lowered Michigan’s 4.25% income-tax rate to 4.15% in 2018 and 4.05% in 2019, with further cuts toward 3.9% if the rainy-day fund stayed healthy. The bill failed 52–55. Camilleri voted no.
In his written explanation he said the cut would endanger services and help higher earners, and that he preferred other tax relief. That is his argument. The recorded fact is that when the vote was a broad rate cut for everyone, he was a no.
What it means for you. A no vote on a tax cut is not the same as passing a new tax. It is a choice. He chose not to lower the rate that comes out of a Downriver paycheck.
Sources: House journal, including his explanation · House Fiscal Agency analysis
On October 3, 2025, Camilleri voted yes on House Bill 4951. Public Act 23 of 2025 puts a 24% excise tax on specified wholesale marijuana transactions starting January 1, 2026. After administration costs, the money is sent to the Neighborhood Road Fund.
The Senate Fiscal Agency’s 2026 enacted-law analysis estimated about $420.7 million a year. A 24% wholesale tax is not a 24-point jump at every register. It is still a new tax on the legal market, and those costs get passed along.
What it means for you. He voted no on cutting the income tax. He voted yes on a new tax. Roads need money. So do households. This is which side of that trade he took.
Sources: Senate journal, roll call 264 · Senate Fiscal Agency summary as enacted
On November 8, 2023, Camilleri voted yes to concur in Senate Bill 271. Public Act 235 requires 80% clean energy by 2035 and 100% by 2040, plus renewable targets of 50% by 2030 and 60% by 2035.
The law allows nuclear generation and some natural gas with carbon capture, and it has extension valves. It does not, by itself, prove any one household’s bill will rise by a specific dollar amount. It does lock utilities into a fast build-out of generation and transmission. Those costs show up in rates.
What it means for you. Your utility’s long-term plan is now a statute. DTE uses grid-upgrade and clean-energy buildout to justify rate cases — including the $474 million request now in front of the MPSC. He took the utility money. He voted for the mandate. You get the bill, and the outage.
Sources: Senate journal, roll call 674 · Enrolled SB 271 · MPSC clean-energy standard
The same day, Camilleri voted yes on House Bill 5120. Public Act 233 creates a state siting path for large solar (50 MW), wind (100 MW), and energy-storage projects. If a local government denies a project that meets state standards, the developer can take it to the Michigan Public Service Commission. State rules can beat a more restrictive local ordinance.
Towns still get a seat at the table through compatible ordinances. They no longer always get the last word.
What it means for you. If a large project is proposed in Brownstown, Huron, Sumpter, Van Buren, or anywhere else in the district, your township board may not be able to make a denial stick.
Sources: Senate journal, roll call 669 · MPSC siting FAQ
On June 27, 2024, Camilleri voted yes on the House Bill 5507 conference report, and he signed it as a Senate conferee. That first FY 2024–25 budget dropped Section 31aa per-pupil mental-health and school-safety grants from $328 million to $26.5 million — a $301.5 million, 91.9% cut. A separate school mental-health appropriation of about $107.8 million remained.
On September 25, 2024, he voted yes to restore $125 million. Final Section 31aa funding: $151.5 million. That is still $176.5 million, or about 54%, below the prior $328 million.
What it means for you. This did not wipe out every dollar of school mental-health funding. It did yank a dedicated safety-and-support grant down to a fraction of what districts had, then put only part of it back. Schools had to plan in that uncertainty.
Sources: June Senate journal, roll call 331 · Senate Fiscal Agency initial analysis · September restore, roll call 354 · MDE on the restoration
On September 28, 2022, while still in the House, Camilleri voted yes on the Senate Bill 844 conference report. Public Act 194 of 2022 included an $846.1 million General Fund deposit into the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve — SOAR. The broader supplemental also funded other programs, including health and human services.
A fund deposit is not proof that the entire pile went to one company, or that it was stolen. It is a large amount of public money set aside for business-attraction deals instead of a broad tax cut or other household relief.
What it means for you. Incentive funds are a bet that subsidized projects will pay off. Voters get to decide whether that bet was worth it while grocery, insurance, and energy bills were climbing.
Sources: House journal, roll call 455 · Senate Fiscal Agency summary as enacted
On February 28, 2023, Camilleri voted yes on House Bill 4016. The enacted bill put $299.7 million toward land acquisition and site preparation involving the Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance, and $330 million toward related transportation and infrastructure — $629.7 million combined. It also deposited another $170.3 million into SOAR and funded unrelated programs.
That is not an unrestricted cash payment to one automaker. It is still hundreds of millions of public dollars committed to a particular development site.
What it means for you. Opportunity cost is the whole argument. That money could have gone to roads in Wayne County, school support, or leaving more in taxpayers’ pockets. He voted to put it into one site.
Sources: Senate journal, roll call 28 · Senate Fiscal Agency summary as enacted
The brand vs. the votes
Camilleri is endorsed by The Political Revolution, the Bernie Sanders network. He has posed with national politicians. That is the image. The roll calls are the job: decades of data-center exemptions, SOAR deposits, and a Marshall site package — while school safety grants were cut and a new tax was added.
Who this is for
The district covers Downriver and Western Wayne County — including Trenton, Riverview, Southgate, Woodhaven, Flat Rock, Brownstown, Gibraltar, Grosse Ile, Romulus, Belleville, Huron Township, Sumpter Township, Van Buren Township, and neighboring communities.
Camilleri is a former teacher who talks like a neighbor. The question on November 3 is whether the votes match the talk: tax breaks that run into the 2050s for data centers, incentive money for big projects, energy rules that can override local boards, a new tax, and a school-grant cut that was only partly walked back.
November 3, 2026
A donor’s $10 million ask. Utility money while the lights go out. Data-center tax breaks through 2050. Energy rules that override your town. A new tax. A school-grant cut. That is the record. District 4 gets the last word.
Go back to the votesHow this was built
This page is a focused review of eight recorded votes from Camilleri’s House and Senate service. It is not an exhaustive ledger of every roll call, and it does not add mutually exclusive amendments into a giant dollar total.
Bill numbers are reused every two-year session, so each citation includes the year. Fiscal estimates are the state’s, not a measured cash loss. A yes vote on a budget or incentive bill is not, by itself, proof of corruption.
