Democratic State Senate candidate Abbie Groff-Blaszak condemned an “attack ad” against her produced by a Michigan non-profit with ties to a donor of state Rep. Phil Skaggs, D-District 80.
Groff-Blaszak is running for Michigan’s 29th Senate District, which encompasses portions of Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids and Wyoming. Also angling for a Democratic nomination in that district are Skaggs and former Kent County Commissioner Ivan Diaz.
In a post shared across her social media accounts, Groff-Blaszak condemned a mass mailing campaign which accuses her of accepting DeVos family money while working for the West Michigan Leadership Academy. The ad juxtaposes her face alongside President Donald Trump and former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
“We can’t trust people who take DeVos money,” the ad reads. “We can’t trust Abbie Groff-Blaszak.”
IRS filings from 2022 for Michigan Deserves Better lists DiSano as the group’s president. State campaign finance records list DiSano as having donated at least $500 to an entity named Friends of Phil Skaggs in 2025. In 2022, he donated at least $750 to that group across multiple transactions.
Groff-Blaszak in her post accused DiSano of a “blatant fishing attempt” by seeking records from her time with the city of East Grand Rapids and the Michigan Department of Education via Freedom of Information Act request. Her post included a copy of one request submitted by DiSano to East Grand Rapids.
“I see this as what it is: standard practice for a career politician who will do anything to hold on to power through intimidation, manipulation and closed-door machinations,” Groff-Blaszak wrote. “It’s exactly the behavior that people tell me, over and over again, they’re tired of. Politics as usual is not working for us and our communities. We deserve better.”
DiSano declined comment about Groff-Blazsak’s post when reached via email.
Groff-Blaszak declined comment when reached by The Herald via phone. Skaggs did not respond to a request for comment sent via email.
Diaz, who is also jockeying for a Democratic nomination to the 29th Senate district, condemned the ad in a statement to The Herald and said his campaign is bracing for a “hit piece” from political operatives aligned with Skaggs.
“This is just another example of why we need campaign finance reform and to move to 100% publicly financed elections,” Diaz wrote via text message. “Skaggs failed to accomplish it during his years in Lansing, but we won’t.”
Groff-Blaszak in April shared a public Facebook post calling out Skaggs for allegedly pressuring her against continuing to seek office. She also alluded to the fact that she was offered a political price in exchange for her decision to bow out of the race.
Diaz has also claimed he was subject to similar threats and intimidation from Skaggs’s office after launching his Senate campaign in 2023.
“It’s very clear that the entire community knows the antics that Skaggs uses corruptly by using his power in the state legislature to get everything he wants,” Diaz said. “It’s this culture of intimidation and culture of corruption that people are sick of.”
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