State Senate Redistricting - District 17 (SD-17)

State Senate - District 17
Current Rep – Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) Termed out

2010 Results - Old District (17th)
Randy Richardville -51,657
John Spencer -32,980

This district is a swing district. It's changed a bit to something similar to what it was in the 90's, but the numbers don't change that much. The Washtenaw County and Jackson County portions of the district went to the 16th, 18th, and 22nd districts. This district is now just Lenawee and Monroe Counties.

People rag on Richardville for being pro-union, but look at his district. Monroe County is a populist county. It'll elect people from both parties, but tends to favor Dingell democrats, 2010 notwithstanding. John Kerry types tend to lose here. Going back to 2000, Gore won Monroe and Bush won Lenawee. Clinton won both. The GOP had both state rep seats in Monroe in 2002 and lost them in 04 through 2010. The Dems had Lenawee state rep seat in 02 through 2010. In gubernatorial races, Posthumus won both counties, so did Granholm in 06. By every account except the Center For Michigan, this is a swing district.

I think this district may be our 2nd toughest defense. The reason being are the Spades (Doug and Dudley). They are now in this district, and I can see them selling in Monroe County. There's also no shortage of a farm club for dems in Monroe County. The GOP has three state reps now in this state senate district, so they have a farm club here as well. Expect a major battle for this seat.

	McCain	Obama	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Lenawee County	22225	24640	46865	-2415	47.42%	52.58%	-5.15%
Monroe County	35858	39180	75038	-3322	47.79%	52.21%	-4.43%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	58083	63820	121903	-5737	47.65%	52.35%	-4.71%
	Bush	Kerry	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Lenawee County	25675	20787	46462	4888	55.26%	44.74%	10.52%
Monroe County	37470	36089	73559	1381	50.94%	49.06%	1.88%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	63145	56876	120021	6269	52.61%	47.39%	5.22%
Last St Senate	GOP	Dem	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Lenawee County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Monroe County	29380	16762	46142	12618	63.67%	36.33%	27.35%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	29380	16762	46142	12618	63.67%	36.33%	27.35%