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Historic Win for
Granholm, GOP Gains Elsewhere
plus
Republicans Keep Senate, House; Land, Levin Win
plus Cox
Wins Squeaker for Attorney General
from Gongwer News Service
For more articles visit
www.bridges4kids.org.
Top races in Michigan
Governor: 5869 of 5869 precincts - 100 percent
Jennifer M. Granholm Dem 1,631,276 - 51 percent
Dick Posthumus GOP 1,504,755 - 47 percent
Douglas Campbell Grn 25,220 - 1 percent
Joseph M. Pilchak UST 12,414 - 0 percent
U.S. Senate: 5869 of 5869 precincts - 100 percent
Carl Levin (i) Dem 1,893,788 - 61 percent
Andrew Raczkowski GOP 1,184,548 - 38 percent
Eric Borregard Grn 23,940 - 1 percent
John S. Mangopoulos RP 12,825 - 0 percent
Doug Dern NLP 10,362 - 0 percent
Attorney General: 5869 of 5869 precincts - 100 percent
Mike Cox GOP 1,497,302 - 49 percent
Gary Peters Dem 1,492,387 - 49 percent
Jerry Jay Kaufman Grn 47,846 - 2 percent
Gerald Truman Van Sickle UST 27,115 - 1 percent
Secretary of State: 5869 of 5869 precincts - 100 percent
Terri Lynn Land GOP 1,701,083 - 55 percent
Melvin Butch Hollowell Dem 1,329,934 - 43 percent
Ray Ziarno Grn 41,121 - 1 percent
Charles F. Conces UST 26,237 - 1 percent
Almost anticlimactically,
Attorney General Jennifer Granholm marked her place in
Michigan history Tuesday, becoming the first woman elected
governor and drawing support across the state to cement a
victory polls had indicated would be hers for more than a
year. Democratic U.S. Sen. Carl Levin also scored a lopsided
victory but Michigan's ticket-splitting voters came back to
elect Republican Terri Lynn Land as Secretary of State and put
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Cox in a neck-and-neck
battle with Democratic state Sen. Gary Peters for attorney
general.
Although taking a big blow by losing the top job, Republicans
had much to celebrate, with indications that Ms. Granholm will
be dealing with a Legislature more heavily Republican than it
has been for decades, particularly in the House, in part due
to friendly redistricting. Redistricting also played a role in
the victories by Secretary of State Candice Miller in the 10th
U.S. House District and Sen. Thaddeus McCotter in the 11th
U.S. House District, giving the GOP a majority of the state's
Congressional delegation for the first time since electing an
11-8 majority in the pre-Watergate 1972 election.
With 92 percent of the vote tabulated, Ms. Granholm was
leading Republican Lt. Governor Dick Posthumus, 1,518,231 to
1,398,290, a 51-47 margin that essentially matched a 52-47
margin in an EPIC/MRA exit poll.
Ms. Granholm will succeed Republican Governor John Engler who
is leaving office due to term limits 12 years after his
come-from-behind victory driven by the property tax cut issue
and dampened Democratic enthusiasm.
The next steps for Ms. Granholm are to create a transition
team to assemble her cabinet and top staff and form a plan of
attack for when she takes office in 56 days. In the campaign,
Ms. Granholm had declared her first priority will be to
balance the budget, with a deficit she estimates will be up to
$1.5 billion, but for now she savored the victory and is
looking ahead to a family vacation next week in Mexico.
And the expected Republican leaders of the upcoming 92nd
Legislature both spoke with Ms. Granholm and said they were
committed to working together on state problems.
One major worry that Mr. Engler had targeted was wiped away
when voters soundly trounced Proposal 4, which would have
redirected some $300 million a year to health programs and
hospitals.
Ms. Granholm said the budget is still in Mr. Engler's hands
and she expects an executive order to balance the books. But
speaking to reporters after her victory speech, she said, "I
hope that there is a consensus revenue estimating conference
soon so that we know exactly what the numbers are. It is
somewhat like shifting sand, however, we know for sure that
there will be cuts needed and tomorrow morning we must begin
work on the transition."
She said her transition team would have "a very aggressive
budget component."
Thursday, she will announce the director of her transition
team. Former Rep. Lynn Jondahl, who was the House Democrats'
lead expert on tax policy and who played a central role in the
Proposal A debate, is at the center of speculation to take
that post.
Ms. Granholm will begin her first day as governor-elect
greeting voters at an International House of Pancakes
restaurant in Detroit.
At her Detroit election night rally, Ms. Granholm told
supporters, "This victory belongs to our Michigan. This
victory belongs to one Michigan. I am honored and humbled to
stand before you as the next governor of the state of
Michigan."
Mr. Posthumus, in his concession speech in Lansing, said he
was proud of what he had been able to accomplish in 20 years
in office, particularly in helping to approve the school
finance reform Proposal A in 1994, but said he wished Ms.
Granholm the best.
"Unfortunately, this leg of our journey ends tonight and a new
one begins," Mr. Posthumus said. "This state is more than one
person. It is all of us. No matter who is leading it, it's all
of us here who make a difference."
With the loss by Mr. Posthumus, Ms. Land becomes the state's
highest-elected Republican, a reversal from 1998 when Ms.
Granholm stood as the top elected Democrat. The party's new
leaders will include U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, Ms. Miller and
Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Grandville.
In a gubernatorial campaign with few driving issues, analysts
said Ms. Granholm's win represented a personal victory.
She was hoping to be part of the largest class of women
governors ever, boosting their number from the five women who
currently hold office. But returns were showing at least five
of the 10 women running this year had lost, Alaska was leaning
toward defeating the woman running there, and only one could
survive in Hawaii where the two leading candidates were women.
"Tonight the people have spoken and your vote reaffirms what I
have believed from the first day, that we in Michigan are a
community and we are duty bound to protect our families and
educate our children and today we won a victory not for one
candidate, not for one party but for the future of our state,"
Ms. Granholm said.
Ms. Granholm, who had strongly criticized Mr. Posthumus and
Republicans for divisive attacks based on a demanding memo by
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and her statement in support of
reparations, said she thanked the lieutenant governor "for his
dedication and hard work."
Craig Ruff, president of Public Sector Consultants in Lansing,
said the campaign came down to values and personality, not the
issues which Republicans had said all along would have to be
the battleground for Mr. Posthumus to have a chance of
winning. It would have been difficult, nonetheless, he said,
given that the attorney general is "the most charismatic
candidate we have seen in decades."
While Ms. Granholm did not run an overtly partisan race, Mr.
Ruff said the downside of the kind of campaign she ran is that
"it will be difficult for her to say she has a mandate to make
a policy change or to change course, be it education or health
care or anything else."
He said Mr. Posthumus failed to attack her on any issue, ran
on issues that were not priorities of voters and launched a
negative barrage "before he claimed himself for the public."
Besides the failure to define himself before going negative,
EPIC/MRA vice president Ed Sarpolus said a key factor was that
the Posthumus campaign was out of step with the mood of
voters. He was favored on only three of 13 issues his exit
sample put as top priorities, with his best showing being
support by 79 percent of those who rank abortion as the top
priority. Ms. Granholm was similarly favored by those who put
education, the economy and crime/drugs as top priorities.
"The issues were more conducive for his Democratic opponent
and he didn't focus on his issues," Mr. Sarpolus said.
Furthermore, his lack of focus on women hurt, he added.
EPIC/MRA's exit polling showed Mr. Posthumus recaptured his
GOP base (getting 93 percent compared to Ms. Granholm getting
91 percent of Democrats), but Mr. Sarpolus said the voter
sample is more moderate than in prior elections with fewer
voters self-identifying themselves as Republicans.
Ms. Granholm held a 53-46 lead among women voters and the two
candidates split the male vote, which gave her a slight edge
of 50-48.
The sample suggests that Mr. Posthumus won only 3 percent of
the black vote, down from the 8-10 percent that Mr. Engler had
been winning. The candidates also split the outstate vote and
Macomb County, with Mr. Posthumus winning 52-48 in Oakland and
Ms. Granholm 63-35 in Wayne.
Steve Mitchell of Mitchell Research said even though Ms.
Granholm's steady lead tightened at the end, it was "a
stunning victory. She did well in pockets all over the state.
Dick won in West Michigan, but not by the margin that he
needed. Women felt it was time to elect a woman governor and
she is a dynamic and charismatic campaigner."
He agreed that it would have been difficult for Mr. Posthumus
to win under any circumstance, but he needed to better define
himself and to "connect the dots" in the attacks against Ms.
Granholm.
"She was a very effective, charismatic, very Teflon
candidate," Mr. Mitchell said. "She's a very strong and good
candidate and that's what is so difficult for Dick."
Ms. Granholm, a British Columbia, Canada, native who grew up
in California, graduated from the University of California and
Harvard Law School, had campaigned not only on unity, but on
the theme that it was time for a change after 12 years of
Republicans in office and for a style change in a government
she said had become too insulated from voters.
"We have been given instructions from the people, instructions
for change, a change in politics, a change in the tone in
Lansing, a change in priorities, a change in the way your
government does business," Ms. Granholm said. "We will make it
happen."
Her victory comes just four years after she burst on the
political scene when she won her first election as attorney
general after Democrats plucked her from the ranks of Wayne
County government.
Mr. Posthumus and Republicans had attacked her as lacking
Michigan values, for representing Wayne County political
corruption and cronyism, for making extreme statements to
special interests only to backtrack when held to account, and
for being inexperienced.
"It was a hard-fought race, but no mandate," Mr. Sarpolus
said. "She takes office to make people feel better. They want
somebody to listen and to hear them out. They wanted something
new, a new vision, but she was never forced to speak about
specific issues or plans."
Mr. Ruff compared her victory in many ways to that of the last
Democratic governor, James Blanchard when he won in 1982 in
the midst of a bad economy and following long-running
Republican government at the top. The one difference is that
Ms. Granholm pulled it off without being the anointed
candidate of most big labor groups, which came aboard after
she toppled two veterans in Mr. Blanchard and U.S. Rep. David
Bonior in the primary.
THE CONCESSION: Conceding victory to Ms. Granholm, Mr.
Posthumus told his supporters as he told supporters all along
the campaign trail that "this campaign was not about Dick
Posthumus. It was not even about all of you. It was about
ideas. It was about freedom. It was about lower taxes."
And those ideas did not lose in this election, Mr. Posthumus
said. The public responded to those ideas, and with Republican
victories in the Legislature, the secretary of state's post
and the Supreme Court, and with even Ms. Granholm adopting
those ideas, Mr. Posthumus said those ideas would continue to
have influence in government.
"Celebrate those ideas," he shouted to the applauding crowd as
he left the podium in Lansing's Radisson Hotel.
Mr. Posthumus' concession came shortly after 11 p.m., capping
an edgy night for his supporters who had gathered in the
hotel, the same Lansing hotel where Governor John Engler
claimed his now legendary victory in 1990. While projections
showed Ms. Granholm winning, early in the evening supporters
said the real numbers continued to show Mr. Posthumus in the
hunt.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Brighton) exhorted the crowd to stay
optimistic. Referring to his own narrow victory of two years
ago, Mr. Rogers said he knew what it was to have someone
declare victory and not be the winner.
"This is not the end, this is the beginning," he shouted to
the crowd.
But shortly after 11 p.m., it was clear the end was at hand.
En masse, Mr. Posthumus' staff, dressed in their trademark
gray fleece jackets, came into the hotel ballroom, their eyes
all red. Standing before the podium, many of the staff members
hugged each other and wept. One young volunteer kept
whispering, "Don't concede, Dick, don't do it."
Mr. Posthumus' wife Pam stood by his side, and his family
stood behind him. As he spoke, his daughters began to weep and
his son, Brian, fought back tears.
Mr. Posthumus' own voice grew husky as he talked about his
staff and all they had done, and then about his family. To his
children, he said, "You've been patient in some tough times.
You've been great."
"You've been great," a supporter shouted back and the crowd
erupted in cheers.
He began his comments talking again about sitting down with
his wife in 1982 and deciding to run for the Senate and
beginning "this incredible journey."
Finishing his statement, Mr. Posthumus left the stage, going
out a service entrance, and not talking to reporters.
G.O.P. HAMMERS DEMS FOR 62-SEAT HOUSE MAJORITY
Republicans obliterated Democrats in retaining control of the
Michigan House of Representatives for the third consecutive
term, gaining at least four seats for a 62-48 majority-their
best showing in 50 years-and giving them a powerful hand
against Democratic Governor-elect Jennifer Granholm.
The news could get even better for Republicans depending on a
stunning undetermined race in the Upper Peninsula that was not
expected to be resolved until sunrise Wednesday. Republican
Tom Casperson, whose effort was lauded by Lansing Republicans
but was written off because he was facing Democrat Laurie
Stupak (wife of U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak), was ahead by about 900
votes at 3 a.m. with several precincts yet to report in the
108th District.
And in the 51st District, Republican Dave Robertson scored a
506-vote win over Democratic Rep. Pat Lockwood of Fenton,
making her the first incumbent to lose a general election
since 1996 and the first Democratic incumbent to lose since
1992.
With 62 or 63 seats (if the GOP wins the Casperson-Stupak
race), it will be the best Republican stranglehold on the
state House since a 66-44 majority in 1953-54. It's also their
third consecutive majority for the first time since a
10-election winning streak from 1938-56.
GOP candidates captured currently Democratic seats in Fenton,
St. Clair Shores and Battle Creek. They also won new seats in
northern Macomb County and Ottawa County that were moved out
of heavily Democratic Detroit in redistricting because of
population shifts. Republicans also picked up a seat in
Washtenaw County.
Democrats snared two Republican-held seats: one in
Warren/Sterling Heights and another in Farmington Hills.
Republicans rejoiced in a victory of historic proportions,
noting that they would enjoy their biggest majority since
Dwight D. Eisenhower was president and the Dodgers still
played in Brooklyn. Aghast Democrats, who in their worst-case
scenarios projected 50 seats, blamed negative campaigning by
the GOP, a huge Republican money edge and a total lack of
coattails from Ms. Granholm.
Democrats consistently pointed to Ms. Granholm and Democratic
Sen. Carl Levin as their trump card in taking back the House,
but in the end, there simply was zero evidence of coattails
from the top of the ticket for Democratic legislative
candidates.
House Speaker Rick Johnson (R-LeRoy), who will likely win
re-election as speaker in a coronation after the smashing GOP
victory, was ebullient with the results. He said the
Republican effort was so total that House GOP members not
returning to the Legislature next year were aiding the cause.
"We did a great job," he said. "It's just been a great work
ethic. We've proved now three elections in a row that if you
go out and work hard, you can win these House races."
Mr. Johnson noted that the GOP narrowly lost in four other
races. He said he spoke with Ms. Granholm early in the
evening, and they each congratulated each other.
"We'll get along just fine," he said. "She did a very good
job. I think you'll see a good work cooperation between both
of us."
House Minority Leader Buzz Thomas (D-Detroit), who won
election to the Senate, insisted that Democrats held their
own. Mr. Thomas said despite redistricting and a lopsided
money advantage for Republicans, Democrats had a shot this
year at a majority.
"A year ago, no one gave the House Democrats any chance," he
said. "And in the end, we were in the game."
Mr. Thomas said the 62-48 or 63-47 majority would be somewhat
misleading. "While the final tally will show a large
Republican majority, this is similar to 1998 in that it was
decided by a couple hundred votes (overall)," he said.
And Mr. Thomas vowed Democrats could rebound in 2004 in a
presidential year with Ms. Granholm aiding them despite the
now lopsided Republican advantage. Key to this year's loss: an
$850,000 loan taken out by the House Republican Campaign
Committee and a late infusion of cash from the Republican
Party, Mr. Thomas said.
"In the end, we were dramatically outspent," he said.
17th: Democrat Dan Paletko survived a barrage of negatives
from Republicans and fended off GOP candidate Miles Handy,
14,772-14,191. Mr. Paletko keeps the seat now essentially held
by Rep. Bob Brown (D-Dearborn Heights) in the Democratic
column.
21st: Republican Phil LaJoy easily defeated Democrat Mark
Slavens in a race Democrats hoped would get some traction from
Granholm coattails in western Wayne County. But Mr. LaJoy,
retaining for Republicans the seat held by Rep. Bruce
Patterson (R-Canton), won by 15,591-12,769 or 54-44 percent.
23rd: Democrat Kathleen Law narrowly kept the Democrats'
stranglehold on this Downriver district alive with a
13,264-13,036 victory over Republican Doug Jones. Ms. Law
keeps the seat now held by Rep. George Mans (D-Trenton) in the
Democratic column.
Ms. Law's campaign manager said Ms. Law hit the vote total she
set as a goal, but Mr. Jones' generated a big turnout in his
homebase of Grosse Ile, and that led to the tight result.
24th: Republicans scored a big pick-up here as Jack
Brandenburg defeated Democrat Frank Benson to become the first
GOP candidate to win the St. Clair Shores House district. Mr.
Brandenburg overcame an onslaught of negative advertising from
Democrats for a 4,000-vote win.
"I started walking door-to-door March 20. I never really
stopped until last night," Mr. Brandenburg said. "And I talked
about issues-almost to the very end. They did come guns a
blazing and we did fend it off. We never changed our gameplan.
We just kept walking and doing positive mail pieces."
25th: After two tough defeats, Democrat Steve Bieda finally
broke through by capturing this House seat in Warren and
Sterling Heights over Republican Keith Sadowski. Results were
not yet final, but Mr. Bieda looked like he would score a
decisive victory in the seat now held by Republican Rep.
Jennifer Faunce of Warren.
"This has been a long time coming," Mr. Bieda said. "It's just
been a very gratifying experience. To be honest, it feels very
nice."
32nd: Republican Dan Acciavatti may not have had the
gold-plated name of his opponent, Democrat John J. Hertel, but
he had the better campaign and that enabled him to defeat
convincingly the son of John C. Hertel, the chair of the
Macomb County Board of Commissioners.
Make no mistake: Republicans absolutely stole this one from
Democrats. With Mr. Hertel's name advantage, Republicans were
pessimistic about the race until about two weeks before
Election Day. By then, Mr. Acciavatti was campaigning strong
and Mr. Hertel's campaign-or lack thereof-was perplexing
Democrats.
Mr. Acciavatti was prevailing by an 11,870-8,948 margin. "I
was able to do it by hard work and sacrifice," he said of how
he overcame Mr. Hertel's built-in name recognition.
37th: Democrats scored a pick-up behind Aldo Vagnozzi in this
Oakland County seat. The popular former Farmington Hills mayor
won by a 17,976 to 16,290 margin over Republican Valerie Knol.
The win was one of the few bright spots for Democrats as Mr.
Vagnozzi snared the seat now held by Republican Rep. Andrew
Raczkowski.
43rd: Republican Fran Amos defeated Betty Fortino as expected,
keeping a seat in GOP hands.
51st: Democratic Rep. Pat Lockwood of Fenton became the first
incumbent in six years to lose a general election, losing to
Republican Dave Robertson 16,675-16,169. Mr. Robertson, who
served one term in the House from 1991-92, capitalized on
redistricting, which cut out half of Ms. Lockwood's district.
A Green Party candidate also won 540 votes-more than Mr.
Robertson's 506-vote margin.
52nd: Republican Rep. Gene DeRossett of Manchester held on
despite a strong campaign from Democrat Pam Byrnes. Mr.
DeRossett's win actually picks up a seat for the GOP.
Redistricting moved him into the seat now held by Rep. John
Hansen (D-Dexter), who vacated his seat to run for the Senate.
Mr. DeRossett said his record and hard work enabled him to win
despite losing 73.1 percent of his district to redistricting.
55th: Republican Matt Milosch with a surgical campaign effort
soundly defeated Democrat Gail Hauser-Hurley by a 53 percent
to 47 percent margin. Mr. Milosch won despite Ms.
Hauser-Hurley having been a popular Monroe County
commissioner.
His win keeps a GOP seat in Republican hands-one that
Democrats had high hopes for. It essentially was Mr.
DeRossett's old seat.
Mr. Milosch said polling showed a large percentage of voters
had actually met him through his door-to-door work.
62nd: One of the night's bigger surprises as Republican Mike
Nofs soundly beat Democrat Ted Dearing, grabbing the seat now
held by Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer.
Mr. Dearing had a big name recognition advantage in the race
and the benefit of Mr. Schauer running for the Senate. But Mr.
Nofs, chair of the Calhoun County Board of Commissioners,
worked relentlessly and defeated Mr. Dearing, the former
Battle Creek mayor by a 53-47 percent margin.
71st: Democrats made some noise about challenging Rep. Susan
Tabor (R-Delta Township) behind Democrat Sherry Freeman, a
Delta Township trustee. But Ms. Tabor fended off the
challenge, 13,247-9,893.
75th: Democrats thought they had a shot at beating Rep. Jerry
Kooiman (R-Grand Rapids), but he beat Democrat Peter Vander
Meulen by a larger margin than his 2000 victory despite a
greater Democratic commitment to the race. Mr. Kooiman won
with a 54-45 percent margin, or 15,340-12,737.
84th: A solid Democratic candidate proved no match for Rep.
Tom Meyer (R-Bad Axe) in a GOP-leaning district. Mr. Meyer
beat Tuscola County Sheriff Tom Kern 16,905-13,784 or 54-44
percent.
91st: A late Republican infusion of cash and redistricting
appeared to make the difference as first-time office-seeker
David Farhat stunned Democrats by defeated Nancy Frye, a
Muskegon County commissioner. Mr. Farhat claimed 14,802 votes
to Ms. Frye's 14,450, or 51-49 percent.
"It was a big group of local people and people in Lansing" who
made the difference, Mr. Farhat said.
94th: Democrats once thought they would defeat Rep. Jim Howell
(R-St. Charles) behind the party-switching Saginaw Township
Clerk Tim Braun, but Mr. Howell once again easily won,
20,757-15,020.
97th: Republicans went heavily negative on Democrat Jennifer
Elkins, but Ms. Elkins held on for a narrow victory in a new
district stretching from Clare to Bay counties. The margin of
her victory over Republican David Coker was unclear, but both
parties projected her the victor.
With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Ms. Elkins had
14,480 to 14,137 for Mr. Coker.
106th: Democrat Matt Gillard also overcame an onslaught of
negatives from Republicans to score a somewhat surprising
victory over Republican Dave Wyman in this Northeast Michigan
seat. Final results were not yet available, but both parties
projected Mr. Gillard winning. He kept the seat now held by
Rep. Andy Neumann (D-Alpena) in Democratic hands.
108th: The absolute shocker of the night as 43-year-old
Republican Tom Casperson, a self-employed trucker, was poised
to stun Democrat Laurie Stupak, the Menominee mayor and wife
of popular U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak. Mr. Casperson had about a
900-vote lead with vote totals incomplete.
Democrats and Republicans alike were dumbfounded by the
closeness of the race in this district, which is in the south
central Upper Peninsula.
SENATE STAYS IN G.O.P. HANDS, BUT DEMOCRATS GAIN
A wave of tight races across the state kept Senate Democrats
and Republicans on the edge of their seats through the night,
but, as midnight passed, Republicans were triumphing and
Democrats conceding that it appeared the partisan makeup in
the 92nd Legislature would be 22 GOP seats to 16 Democratic
seats.
That represents a pickup of one Democratic seat from the
current 23-15 makeup, an improvement, but far short of what
Democrats had hoped for in this election.
And compared to the pasting that Democrats were suffering in
the House side, Democrats were at least cheered they upped the
tally a bit.
"We're certainly happy we picked up one seat. We wished we had
picked up more," said Sen. Bob Emerson (D-Flint), who chaired
the Democratic campaign. "We did everything we wanted to do,
we had the money we needed, we were in a whole bunch of races,
and it easily could have swung the other way. But close
doesn't count."
Sen. Ken Sikkema (R-Grandville), chair of the GOP campaign and
now likely to be the new majority leader, called the
Republican results remarkable given the factors Republicans
faced in the election. "Having 22 seats is nothing short of
miraculous," he said.
Democrats did make it close in a series of races and at
several points they thought they had won some west side seats.
But they failed to win the regions they did win by large
enough margins to assure overall victory.
Past 1 a.m., Democrats still led in two seats-Bob Shrauger was
leading Rep. Jerry Van Woerkom in the 34th District, and
former Rep. Ed LaForge over Rep. Tom George in the 20th
District-but Mr. Emerson conceded, "They're moving the wrong
way."
Mr. Sikkema said with Ms. Granholm winning the gubernatorial
election and Republicans winning such a major legislative
victory that the public showed in terms of policy and
direction, it still wanted Republican leadership.
Mr. Sikkema said Republicans faced huge hurdles in holding
onto the Senate: it lost all its incumbents to term limits in
marginal and swing seats, the state's economic condition is
weaker, redistricting gave Democrats a real boost, and
Democrats turned all their attention to winning Senate races.
With results still being counted in many areas, the races fell
this way:
Republicans had hoped to win in the 10th District in Macomb
County, but Rep. Mickey Switalski (D-Roseville) held off
Republican Steve Rice.
In the 19th District, Rep. Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek) won
the Calhoun County section of the race handily, and kept it
close in the Jackson County area, notching a convincing win
over Rep. Mickey Mortimer (R-Horton). It was a race both
parties expected Mr. Schauer to win.
In the 20th District, Mr. LaForge failed to win by a big
enough margin in Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo Township to hold off
Mr. George. Mr. George was holding onto about a 400-vote lead
with much of his hometown of Portage left to be counted.
Republicans were particularly gleeful at this win, still
furious at a controversial ad that had run over the weekend
that said Mr. George had forced a family into bankruptcy. Mr.
George sued Mr. LaForge, state Democrats and several
television stations for slander because of the ad.
Democrats won in the 23rd District with Rep. Virg Bernero
(D-Lansing) defeating Rep. Paul DeWeese (R-Williamston). An
early lead for Mr. DeWeese in some of the out-county areas of
Ingham County vanished as votes from Lansing and East Lansing
were counted.
The 29th District proved to be one of the most bizarre races
of the evening, with Democrat Rep. Steve Pestka ahead most the
evening, conceding, then withdrawing his concession as final
votes from Kentwood, the home of winner Bill Hardiman needed
to be hand-counted. Once again, the Democrat failed to hold a
large enough lead out of his strong area, Grand Rapids, to
offset Mr. Hardiman in the rest of the county. Mr. Hardiman
now becomes the first black Republican in the Legislature in
some 70 years.
Democrats are probably most disappointed about the 34th
District, where Democrat Bob Shrauger came tantalizingly close
to defeating Rep. Jerry Van Woerkom (R-Norton Shores). Again,
though, his lead in his strongest region, Muskegon County, was
not large enough to offset Republican gains in the other parts
of the district. With a few precincts in Newaygo and Oceana
counties left to count, Mr. Van Woerkom was holding onto a
lead of just a few hundred votes.
In the 36th District, Rep. Andy Neumann (D-Alpena) conceded
after midnight to Rep. Tony Stamas (R-Midland). Here the
dynamics were somewhat reversed, with Mr. Neumann doing better
in Midland County than expected, giving Democrats hope as the
counting went into his strong areas. But Mr. Stamas did
surprisingly well in the Gaylord area, offsetting a huge lead
Mr. Neumann had in the Alpena area.
Mr. Sikkema said Republican success was a tribute to the
campaigns and candidates. "I am incredibly gratified with 22
seats. That is amazing. That is a much larger statement than
electing a Democratic governor," he said.
But he had already spoken with Ms. Granholm and said he had
told her that he was committed to moving the state forward and
was committed to working together to achieve those results.
Ms. Granholm agreed with him, Mr. Sikkema said.
Ms. Granholm had also spoken with Mr. Emerson and expressed
her disappointment at the results, he said.
Her winning is a positive step for Democrats, he said, and
should help move Democratic ideas forward on policy. "She's a
very persuasive person," he said.
And Mr. Emerson said there was nothing he could think of at
that moment that would have made the results different.
"All of these races have been very, very close," he said. When
the cumulative totals are added up, he said he wouldn't be
surprised if Democrats actually tallied more votes than
Republicans.
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