Laurie Pohutsky (née Tennant; born April 28, 1988) is an American politician from

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Pohutsky is the Democratic member of the

Michigan House of Representatives The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2020 ...

from the 17th district.

Early life and education

Pohutsky was born Laurie Tennant in

Livonia, Michigan Livonia ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Livonia is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 95,535. Originally organized as ...

. She grew up in

Redford, Michigan Redford Township (commonly known simply as Redford) is a charter township in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Redford borders Detroit to the east, roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2 ...

. Between 2006 and 2010 she attended

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

Microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

. Pohutsky then worked as a

laboratory technician A laboratory technician or (informally) lab tech is a person who works in a laboratory performing analytical or experimental procedures, maintaining laboratory equipment. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first use of the term labo ...

for several companies in fields involving food safety, toxicology and health care.

Political career

In 2018, Pohutsky successfully ran as a

Democrat 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 (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

for the

for District 19, narrowly defeating Republican candidate Brian Meakin. In the 2020 election Pohutsky was reelected, once again by a narrow margin. During the

2020 Democratic presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention to determine the party's nominee for president in the 2020 election. The primaries and caucuses took p ...

, she endorsed

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...

for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

. During the

2022 Michigan House of Representatives election An election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect all 110 members to Michigan's Michigan House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The election coincided with 2022 Michigan elections, elections for other offices, including 2022 Mich ...

, Pohutsky ran to represent District 17, defeating opponent Penny Crider in a landslide. She was subsequently appointed speaker pro tempore of the Michigan House. Pohutsky was reelected to the 17th district in 2024.

Personal life

Pohutsky is openly

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

. In February 2025, she revealed she had undergone sterilization in the prior month, saying "I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value in my ability to procreate". Pohutsky was a sponsor of the legislation passed in April 2023 that repealed the 1931 criminalization of abortion in Michigan.

References

External links

Laurie Pohutsky at housedems.com

Laurie Pohutsky at ballotpedia.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pohutsky, Laurie 1988 births 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century members of the Michigan Legislature Activists from Michigan American abortion-rights activists American bisexual politicians American bisexual women Bisexual women politicians Democratic Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives LGBTQ state legislators in Michigan Living people Michigan State University alumni People from Redford, Michigan Women state legislators in Michigan