Michigan GOP nominee Mark Foster on his win and a 2018 bar death

In a one of his first interviews since the primary, Michigan Republican statehouse candidate Mark Foster spoke with Heartland Signal about his narrow primary win, his plan to put cameras in classrooms and a 2018 bar fight he was involved in.

Michigan Republicans selected Foster as their nominee for the 13th District state House seat earlier this month, setting up a general election contest against incumbent state Rep. Mai Xiong (D-Warren). Foster faced a fractured Republican primary field this cycle. He secured the nomination with a narrow plurality of 36.4% of the vote, receiving 2,229 votes. Foster edged out runner-up Julie Leonardi by just 55 ballots.

In an interview with Heartland Signal on August 17, Foster acknowledged that he did not do much campaigning. He attributed the narrow victory to the connections he’s made in the area after a 38-year career as a real estate broker.

The 2018 St. Clair Shores bar fight

Foster’s nomination has brought renewed attention to his involvement in a bar fight that ended in the death of a man named Eric Hysell. Foster was involved in a May 2018 dispute outside Kapones Sports Tavern in St. Clair Shores.

According to reporting from the time, Hysell, 56, arrived at the tavern on Harper Avenue on May 30, 2018, to meet friends on the patio. Foster, a regular at the bar, confronted him. The two men fought. A third man, Andrew Werling, then 33, stepped in and punched Hysell in the head. Hysell struck the metal frame of the bar’s rear door, never regained consciousness and died of head trauma. Foster was charged with assault and battery and released on a $1,000 bond.

In his interview with Heartland Signal, Foster claimed that the altercation started because Hysell was threatening him and his wife. Foster acknowledged shoving Hysell, but said he never hit him. When asked why Hysell was threatening Foster and his family, Foster claimed Hysell had a history of drug use.

“He had a long history of stealing from people. His MO was to steal, then move down to Florida for 6 months and steal from people down there, and there was a lot of people that knew that he was just on meth, crack, cocaine, drinking all the time, stuff like that,” Foster said. “Once again, nobody deserves to die, but I never hit the guy.”

Investigators determined that while Foster was involved in the altercation, he did not strike the fatal blow. Another man, Andrew Werling, was tried for involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault for the fatal punch that killed Hysell. A jury eventually acquitted Werling in 2022.

Foster vs. Xiong in the 13th District

This is Foster’s third time running for the Michigan House of Representatives after unsuccessful bids in 2022 and 2024.

The general election will pit Foster against Xiong, a former Macomb County Commissioner. Xiong, 41, initially won an April 2024 special election for the 13th District before winning a full term that November. Xiong’s office did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

Foster said he’s running because he thinks the things the Democratic Party “is doing to the country is disgusting.” When asked specifically what he finds disgusting, Foster could not provide examples aside from “what they’re [Democrats] trying to do to the Constitution.”

Foster’s platform: guns, property taxes and classroom cameras

Policies that Foster would advocate for include protecting Second Amendment rights, exempting people over 62 years old from property taxes and putting cameras inside of classrooms.

“When COVID hit for the four years of this disaster, the biggest thing that the parents found out is how the kids were being manipulated and gaslighted and everything else,” Foster said. “And so, I’d like to work on getting streamlined videos that the parents can monitor the curriculum of the daily curriculum of the schools so they know what their kids are being taught.”

The 13th District, which covers portions of St. Clair Shores, Roseville and Warren, remains a critical seat for both parties as they compete for control of the Michigan House of Representatives. Xiong won the battleground district by 4.5 percentage points (2,238 votes) in 2024, while the district narrowly supported President Donald Trump over Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election (49.86% – 47.95%).

Foster said that he is taking the general election seriously by hiring a campaign manager and setting up a campaign website.