Lansing City Council hopeful campaigns for office while expecting child

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 19 — Her second campaign for Lansing City Council was in full bloom when candidate Yanice Jackson-Long learned a new family member would be along for the ride.  

Jackson-Long is pregnant with a baby due in December. 

“I didn’t find out I was expecting till March 2019. It’s not something I planned, especially in the campaign,” Jackson-Long said. “It’s a surprise — a good surprise — but definitely a surprise.” 

Jackson-Long, 41, and the baby’s father, Jo Long, were married two years ago. She has another child, Jillian, from her first marriage, who is entering the first grade. 

 She’s a candidate for an at-large Council seat in a race that includes President Carol Wood and incumbent Patricia Spitzley. In 2017, she came sixth in then Council primary. This year, she finished third with 17 percent of the vote, allowing her to compete in the nonpartisan Nov. 5 election in the four-person race for two seats. 

The pregnancy isn’t holding her back as she hits the sidewalks in comfortable shoes, getting her message across to voters. “I do get tired, working full-time on a campaign,” but said her 2017 campaign also required a lot of tiring work. “My staff rally behind me.” 

Jackson-Long grew up in Lansing, moved away for college and had a career with AT&T in Atlanta. Family ties brought her home, as she worked to take the reins of her family’s African-American newspaper, The Chronicle News, from her aging parents. 

She said she noticed a big decline in the standard of living from what she remembered as a child in the 1990s. The roads are in terrible shape, poverty appeared on the rise and Lansing youth have fewer outlets for healthy fun. “A lot of our youth are getting into riffraff because we don’t have the community activities we had before,” she said. 

She’s worked in county government since April 2018, most recently for the Ingham County Treasurer, Eric Schertzing.  

Schertzing donated to her campaign and said her knowledge of county government would help her at the city of Lansing and could bridge the divide between the two local governments. “I’m surprised how little I hear from the council,” Schertzing said.  

He said he liked that Jackson-Long was willing to volunteer in a tough race and showcase her ideas. “Win or lose, it will shape the debate in the city and make it a better place.”