Two embattled Republican House members who each found themselves in the news for separate unflattering reasons lost their primaries Tuesday, accounting for the only incumbents to lose in Tuesday’s election.
Rep. Neil Friske (R-Charlevoix) – arrested in June after chasing an adult dancer from his Lansing condo in the middle of the night while possessing a gun – fell to Parker Fairbairn, a 25-year-old in the automobile industry and fifth-generation Northern Michigander.
In the end, it wasn’t all that close, Fairbairn beat the incumbent 63.05% to 36.95% in a rematch between the two candidates.
Friske has yet to be charged with a crime, but in the meantime, stories of other questionable interactions with women have haunted the freshman House member and Freedom Caucus member.
Meanwhile, in the 50th House district primary, Jason Woolford, the president of Mission Cry/Christian Resources International and a U.S. Marine, has unseated Rep. Robert Bezotte (R-Howell), 33.63% to 30.24. A third candidate, Dominic Restuccia, had 22.32 percent and Kristina Lyke had 13.81%.
Woolford had received Bezotte’s endorsement early in the race until days before the filing deadline, when Bezotte got back in. Unfortunately for the incumbent, he had filmed an endorsement video for Woolford, which the challenger aired days before the election.
The election results punctuate a difficult year for the former Livingston County sheriff, who started the year with his wife of more than 50 years serving him with divorce papers and then claiming the reason was because of “mental, emotional and physical abuse.”
In all, 35 House members faced primary challenges, some more serious than others.
- – Rep. Mai Xiong (D-Warren), endorsed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s PAC, defeated former Rep. Richard Steenland in HD-13 by capturing a 55% majority vote in Steenland’s hometown of Fraser and 71.32% overall. Steenland received just 19% of the Democratic primary vote, while a third candidate, Patricia Johnson Singleton, received 9.5%.
Xiong cruised to victory despite news over the weekend about her Warren home allegedly being purchased with investor funds transferred as part of a Ponzi scheme run by her sister, Kay Yang.
Xiong, who won a seat in the state House earlier this year, didn’t lose a single precinct in her victory.
– One of the more serious challengers was in the 5th District, where Rep. Regina Weiss (D-Oak Park) survived a competitive Democratic primary challenge from Crystal Bailey 50.5% to 37.6%.
Weiss was running in a new district due to the Detroit portion of the House map being redrawn by court order. With former Sen. Virgil Smith Jr. guiding her, Bailey made in-roads in the Detroit portion of the district as Weiss was introducing herself to the area.
Weiss won the Detroit portion of the district by 362 votes (2,591 to 2,229) while cleaning up the Oak Park and Royal Oak portion of the district by more than 1,000 votes. Kevin Keys III won 6.1% of the vote and Eric Love, Sr., picked up another 5.6%.
– Rep. Mike McFall (D-Hazel Park) turned what looked on paper like a competitive race with former Warren Mayor Jim Fouts into a 71%-to-29% route. Fouts, the mayor of Michigan’s third-largest city for 16 years, only managed to win three precincts in his home city, while the freshman House member took Hazel Park and Madison Heights with as much as 91% of the vote.
– In the 109th House district primary, Rep. Jenn Hill (D-Marquette) easily won her primary over two Democratic opponents, 80.17% to 15.71% for Marquette County Road Commissioner Randy Girard. Margaret Brumm won the final 4.12%
She will face Karl Bohnak in the general election. Bohnak, the chief meteorologist at WLUC Marquette from 1988 until 2021, won in a landslide of his own, with 74.72%. But in good news for Democrats, Hill received 9,639 votes in the politically competitive district to Bohnak’s 6,849.
Overall, 2,858 more voters participated in the Democratic primary in the 109th than the Republican primary.
– Friske’s fellow Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford), was victorious in defeating his primary opponent, Kevin Ziegler, 59% to 41% in the 51st House district Republican primary. Ziegler attempted to make things interesting by making issues of Maddock’s public missteps, but Maddock’s MAGA-brand of popular conservative politics was successful again in this northern Oakland County district.
Ziegler won three precincts in his hometown of Milford, but that would be it.
– Elsewhere, Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) won his Republican primary against Randy LeVasseur, 65 to 35 percent in the 66th House district. LeVasseur had hoped to make an issue of Schriver’s controversial social media posts, which promoted the “Great Replacement” theory.
– Rep. Alabas A. Farhat (D-Dearborn) survived his Democratic primary against Ziad Abdulmalik in HD-3. Abdulmalik scored endorsements from the American Arab & Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC), the Yemeni American Political Club, Vote for Peace USA and Michigan Community Conversation. The well-financed Farhat was supported by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and had received numerous endorsements.
– Rep. Peter Herzberg (D-Westland) defeated Layla Taha, who was favored by U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), and three other Democrats in the Westland-based 25th House district with around 54% of the vote in a five-candidate field. Herzberg won the seat earlier this year with the backing of Mayor and former Rep. Kevin Coleman.
– Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) cruised to an easy re-nomination on the Republican side, defeating two challengers in HD-36 with 68.69% of the vote. Carra, a leader within the Michigan Freedom Caucus, recently authored a parody book on Whitmer.
– Another incumbent targeted by the far right, Rep. Cam Cavitt (R-Cheboygan), handily defeated Republican primary challenger Todd Smalenberg in the 106th House district, 58.5% to 40.48%.
Smalenberg ran as a grassroots Republican candidate who, earlier in Cavitt’s term, was prepared to run against him in a recall election. Organizers had objected to Cavitt supporting House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) in the vote to kick off the year, but were never able to get the signatures needed to put a recall question on the ballot. Cavitt won in all six of his counties.
– Both legislative leaders, Tate and House Minority Leader Matt Hall (R-Kalamazoo), won their respective primaries convincingly. Tate defeated his only serious opponent, Lory Renea Parks, 75% to 19%, in the new 9th state House district.
Hall won with 64.5% of the vote over Richard Cutshaw, who had the benefit of several door-to-door workers from the conservative “Make Liberty Win” PAC working on his behalf.
– Rep. Gina Johnsen (R-Lake Odessa) soundly defeated Republican challenger Jon Rocha in the 78th House district 72% to 28% in a race where Rocha unsuccessfully tried to run to Johnsen’s political right.
– Reps. Douglas C. Wozniak (R-Shelby Township), Natalie Price (D-Berkley), Helena Scott (D-Detroit), Veronica A. Paiz (D-Harper Woods), Tyrone Carter (D-Detroit), Cynthia Neeley (D-Flint), Brian BeGole (R-Perry) and Ken Borton (R-Gaylord) also all won without incident.
Article courtesy MIRS News for SBAM’s Lansing Watchdog newsletter
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