Carmella Sabaugh (née Visconti) is an American politician. She served as

County Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

Register of Deeds Recorder of deeds or deeds registry is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real property, real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with re ...

for

Macomb County Macomb County ( ) is a county located in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Michigan, bordering Lake St. Clair, and is part of northern Metro Detroit. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 881,217, making it the third-most populous co ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

from 1993 to 2017. Sabaugh was the 2006

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

candidate for

Michigan Secretary of State The Michigan Department of State is administered by the Secretary of State, who is elected on a partisan ballot for a term of four years in gubernatorial elections. The Secretary of State is the third-highest official in the State of Michigan. A ...

Early life

She was born of

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan area ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

parents as Carmella Visconti in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. She was orphaned at age eight and raised by an aunt and uncle. She graduated in 1956 from

Denby High School The Edwin C. Denby High School is a public secondary education school located at 12800 Kelly Road in northeastern Detroit, Michigan. Denby High opened in 1930, and the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. I ...

, and attended

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

and

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the tr ...

. She lives in

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

and has five grown children. Sabaugh served on the Warren city council in 1975-79. She was elected Warren city clerk in 1979 and served 11 years. In 1992, she was elected Macomb County Clerk, and was re-elected in 1996, 2000, and 2004, 2008 and 2012.

2006 Secretary of State Election

Sabaugh secured the Democratic nomination for

on August 27, 2006, defeating state Rep. Mary Waters at the Michigan Democratic Party convention. Sabaugh was easily defeated by Republican incumbent

Terri Lynn Land Terri Lynn Land (born June 30, 1958) is an American politician who served as the 41st Michigan Secretary of State from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Land was elected to the Republican National Committee in 2012. She was the Rep ...

, losing by a margin of 56 percent to 42 percent.

2016 Macomb County Clerk Election

In March 2016, Sabaugh filed to seek a seventh term as County Clerk. Speculation began to arise that Sabaugh may drop out of the race after Macomb County Commissioner and former state Rep. Fred Miller announced on April 15 that he would challenge Sabaugh for the Democratic nomination for County Clerk. On April 19, the filing deadline to qualify for Michigan's August primary ballot, Sabaugh called speculation that she would drop out of the race "wishful thinking," while Miller officially filed for the Clerk's race just minutes before the 4 p.m. deadline. On April 22, just 15 minutes before Michigan's 4 p.m. deadline to withdraw from the ballot, Sabaugh announced she would not seek re-election and immediately endorsed Miller, citing a desire to spend more time with her family. On May 2, 2016, Mt. Clemens political activist Greg Murray filed ethics complaints with the Macomb County Ethics Board against Miller and Sabaugh, saying the pair colluded with former

Michigan Democratic Party The Michigan Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in the state of Michigan. It is based in Lansing, Michigan, Lansing. Lavora Barnes is the party's current chair. She was previously the part ...

Chairman Mark Brewer, who filed to run for Miller's seat on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners, saying that Miller personally filed Brewer's paperwork just minutes before the April 19th 4 p.m. filing deadline, an accusation that Miller refused to deny directly. County Executive

Mark Hackel Mark Allen Hackel (born May 15, 1962) is an American politician serving as the County Executive of Macomb County, Michigan since the position was established in 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, Hackel previously served as the Macomb Coun ...

said the accusations were "extremely questionable” and that the situation "...doesn’t come across well for voters." The "plan" backfired for Sabaugh, Miller and Brewer on all fronts. First, Brewer was defeated in the August 2016 primary for the Democratic nomination for Miller's old seat om the Macomb County Board of Commissioners by Elizabeth Lucido. Miller was upset by political novice Karen Spranger, by a margin of 635 votes out of the approximately 376,000 cast. Miller's stunning loss was attributed to the political coattails of Republican Presidential nominee

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...

. Trump garnered 54 percent of the vote in Macomb County, which also saw Republicans

Candice Miller Candice Sue Miller (née McDonald; born May 7, 1954) is an American politician serving as the Public Works Commissioner of Macomb County, Michigan since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Miller previously served as the U.S. representative ...

(no relation to Fred) and Larry Rocca win countywide races as Public Works Commissioner and County Treasurer respectively and Trump became the first Republican to carry Michigan in a presidential election since 1988.

Electoral history

Macomb County Clerk

Michigan Secretary of State

References

External links

Macomb County Clerk-Register official site

Detroit News profile

WOOD-TV poll including Sabaugh question

Michigan Liberal's Secretary of State section
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabaugh, Carmella County officials in Michigan American politicians of Italian descent People from Macomb County, Michigan Politicians from Detroit Living people Wayne State University alumni Western Michigan University alumni People from Warren, Michigan Women city councillors in Michigan Year of birth missing (living people) Denby High School alumni 21st-century American women