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go “DEFCON 3” on Jewish 
people, a military term hav-
ing to do with preparing for 
nuclear war. While many 
denounced that, still, “Kanye 
doubled his followers after 
that tweet. He has twice as 
many (31.7 million) as there 
are Jews in the entire world,” 
she said, with a wry shake of 
her head.
Yes, she gets swastikas 
in the mail and phone calls 
threatening to kill her. (“They 
are going after me?, I thought? 
A lowly state legislator?”)
What especially bothered 
her was when a Detroit News 
column called West “a victim 
of cancel culture.” She pro-
tested and the reference was 
removed, and Steckloff devel-
oped what she feels is a pos-
itive relationship with Gary 
Miles, the newspaper’s editor.
She came to believe that 
education is the antidote to a 
lot of this. Most Americans, 
she learned to her surprise, 
don’t know anything about 
Jews. “I can’t tell you how 

many times I’m in the legis-
lature and people tell me I’m 
the first Jewish person they 
ever met,” she said, laughing.
Laughter comes easily to 
Samantha Steckloff, who, peo-
ple on both sides of the aisle 
will tell you, is one of their 
most likable colleagues, if not 
one of the easiest people to 
like they’ve ever met. 
State Rep. Angela Witwer, 
(D-Lansing) said, “Sam can 
have fun while doing the hard 
work. She reaches across the 
aisle and develops relation-
ships and then includes them 
[Republicans] in committee 
meetings.
“Her best quality is that she 
is real.”
State Rep. Graham Filler, a 
Republican from a rural dis-
trict north of Lansing, agreed. 
“I want to say that I can go 
to her and say, ‘I love you, I 
disagree about the issue’ and 
yet that’s OK; we are able to 
be colleagues and get along, 
and that’s what I think people 
want to see.”

CANCER SURVIVOR
Though fighting antisemitism 
has become what she’s known 
for, Steckloff says that was 
never her intention. 
 “I didn’t run on being 
Jewish,” she said. She ran 
partly because she found as a 
young city council member 
that she loved making govern-
ment work, but also because 
she wanted to make a differ-
ence for another group for 
whom the system has failed: 
Those fighting cancer.
Steckloff had proven her 
courage long before she ever 
faced virulent antisemitism or 
dreamed of running for pub-
lic office.
On May 11, two months 
after she spoke to a national 
audience on CNN, she spoke 
to a very different one, the 
Health Policy Committee of 
the State House, recounting 
her ordeal fighting cancer. 
This time she was crying.
Many of the other 
members, including some 
Republicans, were deeply 

“I DID NOT SURVIVE BREAST CANCER IN ORDER 

TO BE KILLED FOR BEING JEWISH.”

— STATE REP. SAMANTHA STECKLOFF

Mental Health 
Advocate
Samantha Steckloff is 
mostly known for having 
courageously battled to 
survive cancer and for 
standing up to life-threatening 
antisemitic threats. But there 
was a time when she, too, 
battled depression and suicidal 
urges.
“Yes, I did,” she said when 
asked if she ever thought 
seriously about killing herself. 
But that wasn’t when she was 
fighting cancer, but before. 
“I didn’t know what was 
wrong with me. I didn’t apprec-
iate my life; I couldn’t figure it 
out, and the best I thought I 
could do was help others with 
their lives,” she said.
But once she was diagnosed 
with cancer, “it completely 
changed my outlook on life. I 
wanted to be here!” she said. 
Her struggles, as well as 
those of others fighting suicidal 
depression, were the subject 
of a 2016 Emmy-nominated 
documentary by Keith Famie, 
Death Is Not the Answer.
“Cancer is the best thing 
that ever happened to me,” 
she said. “My goal is that 
nobody should ever have to 
go through what I did.”

— Jack Lessenberry 

PHOTOS BY JEREMY HERLICZEK

Rep. Samantha Steckloff is well-liked by 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

SEPTEMBER 28 • 2023 | 15
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