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Top 12 Closest House Races And Other Statistics To Chew On

November 26, 2024

Here is a look at the results of the state House election before numbers were certified by the Board of State Canvassers.

This is what we found, as shown on a spreadsheet of the numbers compiled by MIRS

The closest general election race ended up being Republican Steve Frisbie defeating Rep. Jim Haadsma (D-Battle Creek) (pending possible recount) by 61 votes in the Calhoun County-based District 44. From there, only two other races were within 1,000 votes – Rep. Reggie Miller (D-Belleville)’s 696-vote win over Dale Biniecki in the 31st District made up of Van Buren Township and northern Monroe County. And coming in third was Rep. Denise Mentzer (D-Mount Clemens)’s 721-vote win over Robert Wojtowicz in the Clinton Township/Mt. Clemens-based District 61.

In all, 12 House races had a final margin of 5 percentage points or lower. They are, in order:

  1. Frisbie-Haadsma, HD-44 (.14% difference)
  2. Miller-Biniecki, HD-31 (1.28% difference)
  3. Mentzer-Wojtowicz, HD-61 (1.44% difference)
  4. Karl Bohnak-Rep. Jenn Hill (D-Marquette), HD-109 (3.22% difference)
  5. Rep. Kathy Schmaltz (R-Jackson)-Daniel Mahoney, HD-46 (4.14% difference)
  6. Rep. Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City)-Lisa Trombley, HD-103 (4.18% difference)
  7. Rep. Angela Witwer (D-Lansing)-Andy Shaver, HD-76 (4.20% difference)
  8. Rylee Linting-Rep. Jaime Churches (D-Wyandotte), HD-27 (4.32% difference)
  9. Rep. Jennifer Conlin (D-Ann Arbor)-Brian Ignatowski, HD-48 (4.43% difference)
  10. Rep. Mai Xiong (D-Warren)-Ronald Singer, HD-13 (4.56% difference)
  11. Rep. Donni Steele (R-Lake Orion)-Shadia Martini, HD-54 (4.82% difference)
  12. Rep. Matt Koleszar (D-Plymouth)-Adam Stathakis, HD-22 (5% difference)

The Republicans who won by the largest margin were Rep. Jaime Greene (R-Richmond) in District 65, which is northern Macomb County and parts of St. Clair and Lapeer County. She won by 26,762 votes (48.54% difference). Rep.-Elect Jennifer Wortz won by 21,870 votes (48.14% difference) in the Hillsdale County/Branch County 35th House District. Rep. Gregory Alexander (R-Carsonville) won in his Thumb-based district by 48.04 percentage points (24,693 votes).

Outside of Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit), who won unanimously, House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) had the biggest blow out with 93% support and a percentage margin of 81.14 percentage points in his downtown Detroit-based 9th District. Rep. Regina Weiss (D-Oak Park) was next with 90.57 percent support and 78.32 percentage points separating her from her challenger in the Oak Park/Northern Detroit 5th District. Next door was Rep. Helena Scott (D-Detroit) in HD-8, who had 87.53% support in a district that runs through Ferndale and the Palmer Park area of Detroit.

Three House candidates received more than 41,000 votes and they were all Democrats. They were Rep. Jason Hoskins (D-Southfield) (41,742), Rep.-Elect Morgan Foreman (41,511) and Weiss (41,136).

Three Republican candidates received more than 40,000 votes – Greene (40,952), Rep.-Elect Jason Woolford (40,119) and Rep. Ken Borton (R-Gaylord) (40,043).

The most votes cast in a state House election in 2024 was in the Coffia-Trombley race in the Traverse City-based 103rd with 64,622. That’s followed by the Conlin-Ignatowski race in the 48th, made up of pieces of Washtenaw, Livingston and Jackson counties with 60,487 votes. No. 3 was Rep. Natalie Price (D-Berkley) defeating Brent Lamkin in the 6th District, where 60,181 votes were cast in a district that has parts of Royal Oak/Berkely and Birmingham, among others.

The third-party candidate to receive the highest number of votes was independent candidate Cathy Albro in HD-104. The former Democratic congressional candidate got 3,800 votes (6.5%).

The lowest vote total was in HD-1, where 22,960 voters participated in the race that saw Rep. Tyrone Carter (D-Detroit) win re-election. The Dearborn-based HD-3 was the second lowest with 25,438 voters participating in Rep. Alabas A. Farhat (D-Dearborn)’s re-election in mostly Dearborn. The only other district with under 30,000 voters was in District 7, where Rep.-Elect Tonya Myers Phillips won. The district has Hamtramck, Highland Park and parts of Detroit.

Article courtesy MIRS News for SBAM’s Lansing Watchdog newsletter

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