MICHIGAN — Michigan’s November ballot is set after a yesterday’s primary. Voters across the state got to choose Republican and Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate, Congress, State House and other local races.
At the top of the ticket, Democrats nominated U.S. Representative Elissa Slotkin to face the Republican nominee, Mike Rogers – a retired member of Congress who opposes abortion rights. Slotkin brings her years as a CIA analyst to the race while Rogers is a former FBI agent and sometimes radio host.
In Congressional races, there were no surprises and not many competitive primaries. In the 8th Congressional district, a seat being vacated by retiring Congressman Dan Kildee will be see a face off between State Senator Kristen MacDonald Rivet and lawyer Paul Junge. While in the 10th district, Carl Marlinga won his primary for his rematch with freshman Congressman John James.
The only Congressional race where an incumbent faced headwinds was the 13th where Shri Thanedar doggedly beat back a challenge from former City Council member Mary Waters.
All 110 of the Michigan State House races were on the ballot yesterday. Usually, incumbent representatives win easily but yesterday had its share of surprises and some races didn’t live up to the hype as competitive despite the predictions of Lansing pundits:
- District 13: Democratic Representative Mai Xiong easily defeated former Representative Richard Steenland.
- District 14: After years of scandal and controversy, former Warren Mayor Jim Fouts was handily defeated by Representative Mike McFall.
- District 25: Representative Peter Herzberg easily bested a Rashida Tlaib backed candidate.
- District 42: Republican leader Matt Hall beat off a challenge from an ultraconservative.
- District 50: Incumbent Robert Bezotte was defeated by a candidate endorsed earlier in the year by Robert Bezotte himself.
- District 107: As previously reported, Representative Neil Friske lost a rematch to Parker Fairbairn. Fairbairn had waged a relentless campaign since losing in 2022, meaning no one can say that Friske did not see it coming.
All winning candidates in Tuesday’s primary will move onto November where they will compete in the general election.
