Mount Pleasant’s 92nd House District: Rep. Jerry Neyer runs on farm know-how and cutting red tape as Democrat Luke Del Castillo pushes health care

MOUNT PLEASANT — Voters in Isabella County and part of Gratiot County will pick their state representative on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in a 92nd House District race that pits two-term Republican Rep. Jerry Neyer of Shepherd against first-time Democratic candidate Luke Del Castillo.

Neyer won the seat in 2022 and kept it in 2024, beating Democrat Tim Odykirk 24,007 votes to 17,733, or 57.5% to 42.5%, according to Ballotpedia’s results. Michigan Legislative Consultants, a Lansing government-relations firm that tracks swing seats, wrote in September that the district is “competitive on paper” but “has been a consistent Republican seat,” and that Neyer “appears well positioned” against a political newcomer.

Neyer: farms, permits and spending

Neyer grew up on a dairy farm in Shepherd and spent more than 20 years on the county planning commission, he told Central Michigan Life, the CMU student newspaper. “It is important that someone from here (Isabella County) knows what farmers do,” he said.

His pitch for another term centers on state permits. Neyer said agricultural, commercial and manufacturing permits can take too long, and he wants state departments to publish guidebooks so applicants know the requirements up front. “My goal next year is work with these departments to get this red tape and other issues where they can be more of a service as opposed to a holdup to businesses,” he said. He said faster permits would make it easier to build housing and expand businesses in the county, and he wants to open more markets for local farmers.

On spending, Neyer said he has worked to keep the state budget under $80 billion and that the House found $2.5 billion in savings without cutting services, while still adding school funding. He backed House Bill 4961, which CM Life described as removing taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security while steering sales tax money to roads. His first bill to pass, the Rowan Act, updated Michigan’s Amber Alert system to get alerts out faster and onto platforms such as social media.

Del Castillo: health care and local food

Del Castillo, who launched his campaign in June, is the former president of the Royal Starr Arts Institute, a nonprofit that supports film and the arts in Michigan, and a former director of place-based businesses at the Middle Michigan Development Corp. He has campaigned through small gatherings he calls “Bonfire, Board Game, and Brew.” “I’m very non-politician-y,” he told CM Life. “I’m more of a community builder.”

He said affordable health care is the top issue and backs MiCare, a publicly funded health plan that state Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, reintroduced in April 2025. At an Oct. 9 rally for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at CMU’s Warriner Hall, he argued against relying on private health care. He also wants the district to lean on its farms to lower grocery costs. “For the 92nd (district) we have the farms,” he said.

How to vote

Polls in Michigan are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Voters can check their polling place and see their full ballot at Michigan.gov/Vote.

Sources:
Central Michigan Life, Grace Walker and Ethan Wallace, “Neyer vs. Del Castillo: Your guide to central Michigan’s state house candidates,” Oct. 27, 2026 (candidates’ backgrounds, positions and quotes), https://www.cm-life.com/article/2026/10/p-michigan92nddistrictcandidates-news-102326
Michigan Legislative Consultants, “General Election Overview: 92nd House District,” Sept. 29, 2026 (district makeup, race outlook, Del Castillo’s MMDC role), https://mlcmi.com/general-election-overview-92nd-house-district/
Ballotpedia, “Michigan House of Representatives District 92” (2024 general election results), https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_House_of_Representatives_District_92
Photo: Magicpiano, “MountPleasantMI HistoricDistrict5,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MountPleasantMI_HistoricDistrict5.jpg

Mount Pleasant · Election 2026 coverage

Tags: Election 2026 · 92nd House District · Jerry Neyer · Luke Del Castillo · Isabella County · Gratiot County · Michigan House