Doug Spade

Spade hosted the WLEN Radio talk show Party Line for 25 years.^[1][2] On November 3, 1998, Spade became the second blind person to be elected to the Michigan House of Representatives, where he represented the 57th district.^[2][3] He served in this position from January 13, 1999, to 2004.^[1] Spade was succeeded by his brother, Dudley.^[1] In 2010, Spade was the Democratic nominee for the Michigan Senate's 17th district, but was defeated by his Republican opponent. Spade was nominated by the Democratic Party in 2014 for the Michigan Senate's 16th district, but was again defeated.^[4]

Spade is married to JoAnn.^[1] Spade has had multiple Leader Dogs. During his time in the legislature, Spade's Leader Dog was named Toby. Toby was the first seeing eye dog used by a member of the Michigan Legislature. Spade's most recent Leader Dog is Lucky.^[2]