Tuesday Primaries

I don’t have time for a super detailed post right now. That will likely happen this weekend.

First off, turnout was poor. 17.32% of the voters decided elections in Livingston County. Compare that to 70-some% in 2004.

Some primary results:

State rep wasn’t that close. Bill Rogers and Cindy Denby won easily for the Republicans. Donna Anderson won easily for the dems. Somehow Tom Crawford got 33% for the dems by putting his name on the ballot. Somehow Josiah Goyt got 33% of the vote in one of the GOP County Commissioner primaries despite dropping out due to a new job and telling the papers that he dropped.

Hamburg – Incumbents got sent home. It did not matter which faction a candidate was identified with. We have a new township supervisor, clerk, and treasurer in Hamburg. Only one incumbent survived, Chuck Menzies, a trustee. The voters had enough of the situation. While the candidates seemed to run on a slate or a quasi-slate, the voters do not choose candidates based on the slates. They don’t care about that stuff.

Unadilla Township will also have a new supervisor. I didn’t follow what happened out there, but Linda Walker ran a respectable judicial campaign a couple of years back. She’s now their new supervisor.

Brighton Township – The treasurer got sent home. Lana Theis, a strong fiscal conservative defeated the incumbent and will be the new Brighton Township treasurer. Tom Murphy won the supervisor’s spot. Good results for the most part there, although I was hoping Chuck Moran would win too.

Genoa Township – In normally quiet Genoa Township, Tom Rafferty ran respectable in his supervisor race against Gary McCririe. That one caught me a bit by surprise.

County Commissioner – Ronald Van Houten survived a strong challenge out of Fowlerville. He defeated Doug Helzerman by 63 votes.

4th Appeals judge was a name recognition race. Michael Kelly and Paula Manderfield win it. Both were democrats, although this race wasn’t “democrat vs republican” Neither were my top two choices. I’m undecided in that race now between one of them or leaving it blank. Sorry Mike, I don’t vote just based on you having an Irish last name.

In the 13th, Kwame’s mom leads, but Mary Waters does not concede. This one is closer than I thought, and I’d love to see the vote breakdowns based on Detroit neighborhoods, Grosse Pointe, and especially the democrat Downriver area. Carolyn Kilpatrick only had 39% of the vote. Mary Waters 36%. 39% wins are weak for incumbents.