Statewide election roundup. How successful were SBAM-endorsed candidates?
November 3, 2010
SBAM-endorsed candidate Rick Snyder easily won the Governor’s race last night. Across the nation and here in Michigan it was a big night for Republicans.
Rick Snyder captured 58 percent of the vote for Governor, defeating Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero who lagged behind with 39 percent.
In what many considered would be the state’s most contentious statewide race, Republican Ruth Johnson defeated Democratic nominee Jocelyn Benson. Predictions were right, as the 6 percent margin of victory here was the narrowest of all statewide races.
SBAM-endorsed Bill Schuette will be the state’s next Attorney General. Schuette won by a 10 percent margin over his opponent David Leyton.
In the State Supreme Court Race, Justice Robert Young will return to the high court and will be joined by Judge Mary Beth Kelly. Both were endorsed by SBAM. While not as much of a shocker as last year, when Justice Cliff Taylor was defeated, this marks the second election in a row that an incumbent Supreme Court Justice was knocked off the bench. Justice Alton Davis, who went down to defeat, was only appointed to the bench a couple of months ago.
In the races for board membership at Michigan State University, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University, and for the State Board of Education, Republican candidates captured all eight available seats.
Michiganders also determined that now is not the time to rewrite the state’s constitution and overwhelmingly rejected Proposal 1. “No” voters outnumbered the “yes” votes by a 2:1 margin.
When the 112th Congress convenes next year, control of the Senate will remain with the Democrats who were able to hold off the wave and will keep at least 51 seats (including the two independents that caucus with the Democrats). But Republicans will have the majority in the House of Representatives. The balance of power in the House looks to be 240-184 in favor of the Republicans, with 11 races yet to be decided.
In Michigan, Democrats currently have an 8-7 edge in Michigan’s delegation, but after wins in the 1st and 7th Districts, Republicans now have a 9-6 advantage.
Key Congressional races in Michigan:
Michigan 1st Congressional District
Republican Dan Benishek won the race to replace retiring Congressman Bart Stupak. Benishek, who very narrowly captured his party’s nomination, defeated Democratic candidate State Representative Gary McDowell by an 11 percent margin of victory. The 1st District covers the Upper Peninsula and much of Northern Lower Michigan.
Michigan 7th Congressional District
Republican Tim Walberg, who was ousted by Democrat Mark Schauer in 2008, retook his seat in a fiercely contested race in south central Michigan. Both parties identified this as a battleground seat and spent a lot of time and money on the race. Going into Election Day it was anybody’s guess who’d come out on top; Walberg won by just 5 percent.
Michigan 9th Congressional District
One-term incumbent Democrat, Gary Peters was able to hold off Republican Andrew “Rocky” Raczkowski. In a race much like that in the 7th District, both parties put a lot of focus on this election. It went down to the wire with Peters eking out the win by just 3 percent of the voters in the District that covers much of Oakland County.
Other Michigan Congressional Races
As Election Day neared, polls indicated that the Michigan 5th and 15th Congressional Districts would be races to watch, but despite the Republican wave, Democrats retained both seats. In the 5th, Dale Kildee managed a 9 percent margin of victory. And in the 15th, the “Dean of the House”, John Dingell, easily held on to his seat by, winning by a margin of 17 of the vote.
In the State House, Republicans were able to flip 20 seats and recapture the majority. The balance of power in the next legislature will be 63-47. After the 2008 election, the Democrats held a 67-43 majority.
Republicans also added four seats in the Senate and increased their lead in that chamber to 26-12. Currently, in the Senate, the Republican majority is 22-16.
In this year’s General Election, SBAM endorsed 97 candidates for the state legislature; 70 candidates for the House and 27 for the Senate. In the House, all but seven of our endorsed candidates were victorious. Just one SBAM-endorsed candidate lost his race for State Senate. That’s an overall success rate of over 91 percent.