Right to Life of Michigan, a pro-life advocacy group, endorsed both candidates running for Hillsdale County district judge.
This endorsement signals to voters that the candidates, Hillsdale district attorney Neal Brady and Jonesville attorney Sara Lisznyai, both support pro-life principles.
To receive Right to Life’s endorsement, candidates completed a questionnaire and are interviewed by a member of the Right to Life committee. The state’s Political Action Committee board then reviews each candidate’s responses and votes on endorsement.
Endorsing multiple candidates in a race happens often. In the spring, all seven candidates running in the primary election for the House of Representative seat in Michigan’s 58th district, which encompasses Hillsdale, were endorsed by Right to Life. The organization will, however, choose only one candidate to endorse if a race includes a competitive pro-choice candidate.
“In that situation, we will review and choose the most electable pro-life candidate to increase the chances of a pro-life candidate winning,” PAC director David Malone said.
The organization will also limit their endorsement to an incumbent if the officeholder has “consistently stood up for the unborn despite possible retribution,” said the Right to Life website.
Candidates can display the endorsement on their campaign literature and are given use of the Right to Life’s mailing list to contact pro-life voters, Malone said.
Brady has taken advantage of both privileges.
Brady’s campaign mailer boasts: “NEAL BRADY, Proudly Pro-life.” Right to Life’s endorsement is stamped under a picture of him giving his child a piggyback ride saying: “Endorsed by Right to Life of Michigan PAC.”
“[Brady] has been involved with Right to Life his entire adult life,” said Lois Brady, Neal Brady’s wife.
When the Bradys first moved to Hillsdale county in 1994, Lois Brady became a board member of the county’s Right to Life chapter and Neal Brady began volunteering to raise funds for the organization’s Red Rose campaign. Neal Brady said he’s also made financial contributions annually.
“Abortion should be illegal without any exceptions, it’s very simple,” Brady said.
Brady is also an auxiliary board member of the Alpha Omega Health Center, a companion organization of the Right to Life, and he was the keynote speaker at the organization’s annual banquet last year in St. Ignace.
According to Brady, activism is a “family activity.”
“All of us are involved,” he said of his wife and six children. “Two of our daughters were part of the students for life at Hillsdale College, going on marches, protests, and prayer sessions.”
For Lisznyai, the endorsement “is the written confirmation of my religious beliefs. I am absolutely pro-life,” she said.
Liszynai’s pro-life activism has been done through her church, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hillsdale, where she has been a member for the past 18 years.
As a district judge, Liszynai said abortion would not be an issue she would see and that her beliefs have always been private, but she filled out the questionnaire and sought endorsement because “it is fair for people to know about my views now that I am running for office.”
“I believe that life starts at conception,” Lisznyai said, “and that’s consistent with my religious beliefs.”
