Tagged: primary 2012

With more than half of the precincts reporting, incumbent congressman John Conyers (D-Detroit) has defeated four candidates to win the Democratic primary.

Reports show Conyers winning by a sizeable margin, with almost 60 percent of the votes counted in his favor. State senator Glenn Anderson finished a distant second, with 13 percent.

Kerry Bentivolio raced ahead of former Senator Nancy Cassis in the 11th U.S. House District Republican primary race.

Cassis, a Novi-native, trailed Bentivolio by 30 points, with 70 percent of the votes counted. Bentivolio is a teacher and reindeer farmer from Milford, and the only Republican candidate who actually appeared on the ballot. Cassis ran her campaign as a write-in, after declaring her candidacy following the resignation of incumbent Thaddeus McCotter.

On the Democratic side of the primary, physician Syed Taj led LaRouche Democrat William Roberts, 61-39.

Tim Walberg, the current U.S. Representative for Michigan's 7th congressional district, won the Republican nomination for reelection.

With a little more than half of the votes counted, Walberg led candidate Dan Davis by 52 points.

Walberg also served as Congressman for the district from 2007 to 2009.

Update 11:45 p.m.

With 81 percent of precincts reporting, Newport resident Kurt Haskell has defeated Jackson County Democratic Party Chairman Ruben Marquez to win the Democratic nomination, finishing 66-34.

He will face Rep. Walberg for the Michigan 7th District congressional seat up for grabs in November.

Check back in with Michigan Radio for more election updates.

-Elaine Ezekiel, Michigan Radio Newsroom

Incumbent congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) has won the GOP primary for the 6th U.S. House district against Republican candidate Jack Hoogendyk.

Representative Upton will face Democratic challenger Mike O'Brien (D-Douglas) for his current seat in the general election.

The latest numbers showed Upton leading Hoogendyk 66 percent to 34 percent, with more than half of the precincts reporting.

UPDATE:

Reports of voters being turned away because they declined to check a box asking them to verify U.S. citizenship have been coming in from several areas of the state.

Michigan Radio first became aware of the situation when talking to Michigan Campaign Finance Network's Rich Robinson who said he was refused a ballot because he would not check the box. He refused because it is not legally required.  Other media sources picked up on the story. (see Free Press)

Other political groups received calls from voters complaining they had been refused the right to vote after declining to check the citizenship box.

Chad Livengood with the Detroit News reported:

Mitt Romney pulled out a close victory over Rick Santorum in Michigan tonight. The win gives Romney momentum heading into his next challenge - "Super Tuesday" - when 10 states will hold primaries next Tuesday.

Update 11:49 p.m.

An analyst for the New York Times says Romney's "anti-bailout position" did not hurt him in this race:

Even Mr. Santorum's campaign made a last-minute push to get disgruntled union workers to vote against Mr. Romney for this reason. While primary voters were almost evenly divided on the issue, those who supported the bailout were no more likely to back Mr. Santorum over Mr. Romney.

11:25 p.m.

The Michigan Republican Party is tallying the results for Michigan's congressional districts. There are 30 delegates up for grabs in the state.

Even though Romney won the popular vote, Santorum can still pick up delegates by winning in a district. The delegate distribution will be determined after the Party crunches the numbers.

Tuesday’s election did not change the balance of power in the state house. 

Two vacant state house seats were up for grabs.

Voters in Genesee County filled a vacant state house seat on Tuesday.   The seat was made vacant last fall by a union-backed campaign that succeeded in recalling Republican Paul Scott.

Last night, Republican Joe Graves defeated Democrat Steve Losey to serve out the final year of Scott’s unfinished term.     

Graves says his message of jobs lead to the victory.