Well, we hit a temporary setback. But I didn’t hear no bell.

My bill to limit cellphones in school was defeated on the House floor 53-45, with 12 legislators not voting. (There are 110 lawmakers in the House; 56 votes are needed for passage.)

Zero Democrat lawmakers voted in favor of it, even though it was one of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s priorities from her 2025 State of the State address.

The defeat had nothing to do with the merits of the bill.

So what happened?

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan made an Instagram video in which he said the Democrats voted against the cellphones-in-school bill because of politics. He also said that “no” vote is an example of why he left the Democrat party.

I’ll let him explain:

“You want to know why I left the Democratic Party?

“One million Michigan school children are about to return to school in classrooms where their cellphones will continue to be a constant distraction.

“With their student performance now among the worst in America, Governor Whitmer urged the Legislature to ban cellphones during class time, but the bill just failed in the Michigan House by three voted because all 52 Democrats opposed it.

“It was a good bill. It let you stay in touch with your children between classes, or at lunch and recess. The phones would be turned off only during the actual instruction time.

“But it got stopped dead in its tracks by House Democratic leaders. And the reason was the bill sponsor – this man, Representative Mark Tisdel. And what’s so terrible about Mark Tisdel? He’s a Republican. Worse, he’s a Republican from Rochester Hills, a swing district.

“You see, Republicans currently have control of the House 58-52, and Lansing Democratic leaders are so obsessed with retaking the majority, they weren’t going to let Tisdel get any credit for improving schools.

“But the Democratic leaders had a problem. Several House Democrats had already publicly supported the bill. And some had even praised Representative Tisdel for his work. Now, you might think when you elect a representative to Lansing, they work for you.

“You would be wrong.

“To whip all 52 Democrats into line, their leaders declared the bill a caucus vote, and that meant that any Democratic representative who voted for the Tisdel bill could face the immediate cutoff of Democratic fundraising, voter lists, even their legislative staff.”

Well said.

Mayor Duggan was also quoted in The Detroit News saying that the Democrat decision to vote against the bill to limit cellphones in school is “everything that’s wrong in Lansing” and that “there wasn’t a thing wrong with the bill. They were angry that a Republican state Representative from Rochester is sponsoring it. It’s a swing district and Democrats voted against it so he wouldn’t get the credit.”

The fight isn’t over. A June survey by Pew Research found that 74% of adults support a ban on cellphones in middle and high school class, up from 68% last fall. Only 19% oppose a ban, and 7% are unsure. So I’m going to keep working on this issue.

Everyone parent knows these are addictive devices. And once you think of it in that framing, why would we let students carry these into the classroom and use them when they are supposed to be focused on learning? We’ve got to get the phones out of the classroom so that students can be kids again.

The addiction to phones is strong. The addiction to playing politics, for some, is even stronger.