Why Trans Candidate J. Aaron 'Lola' Bailey Isn't Waiting for 'Someone Else' to Fix Her City

The Mount Pleasant City Commission candidate on why she's running, how she deals with online trolls and why we need more queer candidates everywhere

J Aaron Lola Bailey 2 — J Aaron Lola Bailey. Courtesy photo

Published: July 24, 2026 | Last Updated: July 24, 2026

News Politics Michigan Election 2026 Election Issues Trans Topics Sarah McBride Central Michigan University

Mount Pleasant gets forgotten about. That's what J. Aaron "Lola" Bailey says when asked about her city, and she's right. A mid-Michigan city of about 21,000 built around Central Michigan University in Isabella County, Mount Pleasant doesn't often make state or national news. But for Bailey, a trans, bisexual member of the Democratic Socialists of America, that's precisely why she's running for city commission in the August primary.

Bailey walks everywhere in Mount Pleasant because she doesn't have a car. That means she sees the city up close: the service industry jobs that don't pay enough, the wages stuck at the bottom, the sidewalks that are rough and dark in places, the lack of real public transportation. She's a renter who has been fighting for a tenants rights committee. She's a trans woman in what she describes as "a pretty blue, pretty liberal city" where people have surprised her by caring more about her policies than her identity once they meet her in person. She understands Mount Pleasant's struggles because she lives them. And she loves this city so much she wants to devote her energy to making it better, even in the face of online harassment and an explicitly anti-trans political climate.

The city leans Democratic, though Trump won the county in 2024. But Mount Pleasant has also long been a battleground for LGBTQ+ civil rights. The city passed protections in 2012, becoming the last major college town in Michigan to pass an anti-discrimination ordinance based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Now Bailey is running to bring change from the inside. Her priorities include diversifying the city's service-heavy economy, establishing a dedicated public transportation system with eventual transition to electric buses, expanding and improving sidewalks for safety and disability accessibility, strengthening renters' rights and annexing land from surrounding Union Township to enable growth. When she talks about inspiring other queer people to run for office, her eyes fill with tears.

Bailey spoke with Pride Source about running in the community she knows, navigating online harassment while building real community connections, and why she believes other queer people need to step into local politics.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by TeamBaileyHQ (@bailey4mi)

What made you decide to run for city commission?

First, I love this city and I want to make it better. But in Mount Pleasant, there's not a lot of representation, especially in our local city commission. I'm a renter, I'm trans, I'm bisexual — so I'm all the queer things — and I want to bring that to the forefront of issues. I want to focus on some more niche issues like trans issues and just overall make people's quality of life better and make people feel more represented.

Why is representation in government so important?

Our voices don't get heard. For trans people especially, the reason we're so discriminated against is because we have no real representation. Yeah, we have U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride, the first trans member of the House, but she's the only one up there and we don't have really any cisgendered allies who are fighting for us as boldly as we would like. So we kind of have to do it ourselves.

Part of that is getting into positions of power to show that we can also fight and be hopefully that inspiration for others. My ultimate goal is to inspire others to run. I have a friend who is considering getting into politics and I really hope he does because he would be one of the first trans men in politics.

How do you navigate being visibly trans while building community support in Mount Pleasant?

When people meet me, they immediately assume I'm a cis man. However, as we start talking, they realize pretty quickly that I'm not, and then I watch as people's reality starts changing. They think, "Oh my gosh, my perspective is so much different than what I was told by somebody that's very hateful."

People don't worry about my identity in real conversations — they care about my policies and what I want to do. Online, it's the other way around. People are very focused on my identity and that's the first thing they'll target. But most of those people online aren't even voting or voting for me.

My reality on the ground is a lot different than what happens online, and I think that's partly because we're a pretty blue city, a pretty liberal city.

How do you handle the online trolls?

It depends on what they're saying. If they're genuinely asking questions in between their bigotry, I try to answer as genuinely as possible. If they're just laying into me about my identity, I just ignore it. I went to Pride here and the mayor was there and he came up to me and asked, "How can you handle all that stuff online?" To me, it's just that you ignore it. That's the best way to put it — you kind of just ignore it and it just doesn't exist.

What are your main policy priorities for the city?

Diversifying the economy is the biggest one. We're heavily service industry right now, which means wages are really low and there's a huge wealth gap. A dedicated public transportation system is key to that — we don't actually have real bus lines, just a call-the-bus service. I want to establish actual routes that eventually transition to electric vehicles.

Sidewalks are huge because I walk everywhere. They're rough and dark in a lot of areas, and they're not accessible for people with disabilities. Those need to be expanded and lit better.

As a renter, I've also been fighting for a tenants rights committee. I'm hoping we can get that established before I get into office, but if we don't, it'll be at the top of my list. And finally, because we're enclosed by Union Township, we can't expand outward right now. Annexing some of that land would let us grow the economy, housing supply and tax revenue.

Your campaign focuses a lot on public projects like improving public transportation, things that impact the lives of people across many walks of life. How would life be better in Mount Pleasant with a stronger transportation system?

I think a lot of people see these ideas pop up in bigger cities like New York, but they're not inherently tied to city size. I went to Bowling Green in Ohio for college, a small college town about the same size as Mount Pleasant, and they had a beautiful public transportation system. I've been to New York and DC and some other big cities, and their transportation wasn't that much better than what Bowling Green has set up.

When we establish systems like a proper public transportation system, we get more people to work. We can continue to expand wages and grow the economy. More businesses will want to do business here because we have a more reliable transportation system. We can move away from vehicles and stop the environmental destruction that cars cause.

What else would you like to tell our readers?

I'd like to encourage any queer individual to look into running for local office. Take the risk, take the leap, do it. You can’t wait for someone else to fix your city. If you're going to do it, reach out to me and I will provide as much information and support as I can on your journey.

J. Aaron "Lola" Bailey is running for Mount Pleasant City Commission in the August 4 primary. The ballot lists her name as J. Aaron. Learn more about Bailey’s campaign at the BaileyForMountPleasant page on Facebook. Find your sample ballot and polling place at vote411.org.