Vicki Barnett


Vicki Barnett is a former House Minority Whip of the Michigan State House of Representatives, and former mayor of Farmington Hills, located in Oakland County. In 2012 and 2010, she was re-elected as a Democrat to represent the 37th State House District, located in Oakland County and covering the cities of Farmington and Farmington Hills. In 2008, Barnett was elected to the seat, opened when Aldo Vagnozzi retired due to term limits.

Biography

Vicki Barnett was born on July 8, 1954 to a Jewish family in Detroit, Michigan. She received a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1983, and later received her Master's Degree in Business Administration in 1991, also from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She has worked as an investment consultant at LPL Financial in Farmington Hills since 1999, and is a licensed accident, life, and health insurance agent. Barnett married her husband, attorney Mark Steckloff, in 1981, and together they have two children, Samantha and Jordan. She belongs to the Roosevelt Group of the Greater Detroit Chapter of Hadassah, an American Jewish volunteer women's organization.

Political career

Barnett was elected to Farmington Hills City Council in 1995. She served in this position until 2003, when she was elected Mayor, serving until 2007.
In 2008, she announced her intention to run for the 37th State House seat, which was left open by the retirement of longtime Democratic legislator Aldo Vagnozzi, who could not run for re-election due to term limits. Barnett was unopposed in the Democratic primary and faced Republican Paul Welday in the General Election. Barnett's popularity as Mayor led to a 60%-40% victory over Welday.
In 2010, Barnett retained her seat with an even stronger showing against Republican Chris Atallah, garnering 61% of the vote. Barnett was thereafter named House Minority Whip.
Barnett won her third and final term on November 6, 2012 by her largest margin, over Republican Bruce Lilley. Barnett received almost 62% of votes cast in Farmington and Farmington Hills. Facing term limits, Barnett announced in late 2013 she was running for the Michigan State Senate's 14th District, but never qualified for the primary election.
She was the Democratic candidate in 2016 for the race of Oakland County Executive against Republican L. Brooks Patterson.

Electoral history