State Senate Redistricting - District 29 (SD-29)

State Senate - District 29
Current Rep – Dave Hildenbrand (R-Grand Rapids)

2010 Results - Old District (29th)
Dave Hildenbrand - 41,042
David LaGrand - 36,830

This district was a big defense for us in 2010. It was the third major tough election here in a row. The new district picks up competitive East Grand Rapids and solidly GOP Ada Twp, Bowne Twp, Caledonia Twp, and Grand Rapids Twp. It drops competitive Kentwood (Bush and Obama voting) to the 26th district, and small solid GOP areas like Grattan Twp and Vergennes Twp to the 28th district.

The old district was about 50/50,going for Bush by less than 1% point. This district is slightly better, but still very difficult. Obama had almost a 20,000 vote spread, and Bush had a 6400 vote spread. Part of that swing is McCain bombing in West Michigan compared to Bush. The other part is Grand Rapids itself - 2/3 of the district - is becoming more and more minority (20% black and 15.5% Mexican). This is still a swing district much like the old one, and I expect Dave Hildenbrand to have a tough re-election campaign in 2014. That said, Bill Hardiman won this district twice and Hildenbrand won it once, so it is better for the GOP downticket than it is at the top of the ticket.

	McCain	Obama	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Kent County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Ada Twp	4668	2965	7633	1703	61.16%	38.84%	22.31%
Bowne Twp	1257	476	1733	781	72.53%	27.47%	45.07%
Caledonia Twp	4492	2259	6751	2233	66.54%	33.46%	33.08%
Cascade Twp	6610	4176	10786	2434	61.28%	38.72%	22.57%
East Grand Rapids	3155	3753	6908	-598	45.67%	54.33%	-8.66%
Grand Rapids	28372	56146	84518	-27774	33.57%	66.43%	-32.86%
Grand Rapids Twp	5716	4185	9901	1531	57.73%	42.27%	15.46%
Lowell	921	915	1836	6	50.16%	49.84%	0.33%
Lowell Twp	1734	1244	2978	490	58.23%	41.77%	16.45%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	56925	76119	133044	-19194	42.79%	57.21%	-14.43%
	Bush	Kerry	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Kent County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Ada Twp	4933	2157	7090	2776	69.58%	30.42%	39.15%
Bowne Twp	1327	387	1714	940	77.42%	22.58%	54.84%
Caledonia Twp	4662	1570	6232	3092	74.81%	25.19%	49.61%
Cascade Twp	7254	3160	10414	4094	69.66%	30.34%	39.31%
East Grand Rapids	3807	3107	6914	700	55.06%	44.94%	10.12%
Grand Rapids	36115	45794	81909	-9679	44.09%	55.91%	-11.82%
Grand Rapids Twp	6349	3077	9426	3272	67.36%	32.64%	34.71%
Lowell	1072	701	1773	371	60.46%	39.54%	20.92%
Lowell Twp	1885	1047	2932	838	64.29%	35.71%	28.58%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	67404	61000	128404	6404	52.49%	47.51%	4.99%
Last St Senate	GOP	DEM	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Kent County			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Ada Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Bowne Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Caledonia Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Cascade Twp	5941	2185	8126	3756	73.11%	26.89%	46.22%
East Grand Rapids	1	1	2	0	50.00%	50.00%	0.00%
Grand Rapids	21957	27357	49314	-5400	44.52%	55.48%	-10.95%
Grand Rapids Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Lowell	791	350	1141	441	69.33%	30.67%	38.65%
Lowell Twp	1578	539	2117	1039	74.54%	25.46%	49.08%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	30268	30432	60700	-164	49.86%	50.14%	-0.27%

State Senate Redistricting - District 28 (SD-28)

State Senate - District 28
Current Rep – Open

2010 Results - Old District (28th)
Mark Jansen - 74,529
Robin Golden - 26,276

This district had some minor changes to it. Mark Jansen is termed out and he lives in Gaines Township, which was moved to the 26th district (Schuitmaker's current home). This is an open seat because of that. Like the old district, the new district covers most of the rural and suburban portions of Kent County. It drops Ada Twp, Caledonia Twp, East Grand Rapids, Gaines Twp, and Grand Rapids Twp. It picks up Grandville and Sparta Twp from the 30th, and Vergennes and Grattan Twp from the 29th.

This is about as safe as Republican district as there is. Alpine Twp (19% minority) and Wyoming (25% minority) both barely went for Obama. Obama did extremely well in West Michigan for a democrat, but the rest of the district more than outvoted those two areas with a 17,000+ vote spread for McCain. Those two areas are places to watch however in different elections. Bush won both of those areas easily and got an almost 40,000 vote spread here. While the areas that flipped had sizable minority populations (compared to most suburban areas in West Michigan), Obama won a lot more white votes than Kerry or Gore did. McCain was a bad candidate in Michigan, but bleeding needs to be stopped in West Michigan.

I expect a major primary for this district. The farm club for the GOP here is vast.

	McCain	Obama	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Kent County:			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Algona Twp	3197	2110	5307	1087	60.24%	39.76%	20.48%
Alpine Twp	3110	3229	6339	-119	49.06%	50.94%	-1.88%
Byron Twp	8055	3195	11250	4860	71.60%	28.40%	43.20%
Cannon Twp	5163	2893	8056	2270	64.09%	35.91%	28.18%
Cedar Springs	647	601	1248	46	51.84%	48.16%	3.69%
Courtland Twp	2656	1555	4211	1101	63.07%	36.93%	26.15%
Grandville	5555	3209	8764	2346	63.38%	36.62%	26.77%
Grattan Twp	1233	913	2146	320	57.46%	42.54%	14.91%
Nelson Twp	1216	970	2186	246	55.63%	44.37%	11.25%
Oakfield Twp	1591	1364	2955	227	53.84%	46.16%	7.68%
Plainfield Twp	10053	7959	18012	2094	55.81%	44.19%	11.63%
Rockford	1615	1346	2961	269	54.54%	45.46%	9.08%
Solon Twp	1615	1233	2848	382	56.71%	43.29%	13.41%
Sparta Twp	2277	1814	4091	463	55.66%	44.34%	11.32%
Spencer Twp	953	893	1846	60	51.63%	48.37%	3.25%
Tyrone Twp	1206	903	2109	303	57.18%	42.82%	14.37%
Vergennes Twp	1550	898	2448	652	63.32%	36.68%	26.63%
Walker	6499	5648	12147	851	53.50%	46.50%	7.01%
Wyoming	15402	15682	31084	-280	49.55%	50.45%	-0.90%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	73593	56415	130008	17178	56.61%	43.39%	13.21%
	Bush	Kerry	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Kent County:			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Algona Twp	3455	1577	5032	1878	68.66%	31.34%	37.32%
Alpine Twp	3722	2658	6380	1064	58.34%	41.66%	16.68%
Byron Twp	8084	2264	10348	5820	78.12%	21.88%	56.24%
Cannon Twp	5572	2222	7794	3350	71.49%	28.51%	42.98%
Cedar Springs	764	446	1210	318	63.14%	36.86%	26.28%
Courtland Twp	2667	1132	3799	1535	70.20%	29.80%	40.41%
Grandville	6567	2397	8964	4170	73.26%	26.74%	46.52%
Grattan Twp	1367	756	2123	611	64.39%	35.61%	28.78%
Nelson Twp	1370	797	2167	573	63.22%	36.78%	26.44%
Oakfield Twp	1763	1060	2823	703	62.45%	37.55%	24.90%
Plainfield Twp	11130	6265	17395	4865	63.98%	36.02%	27.97%
Rockford	1708	1002	2710	706	63.03%	36.97%	26.05%
Solon Twp	1703	937	2640	766	64.51%	35.49%	29.02%
Sparta Twp	2686	1488	4174	1198	64.35%	35.65%	28.70%
Spencer Twp	1039	803	1842	236	56.41%	43.59%	12.81%
Tyrone Twp	1384	654	2038	730	67.91%	32.09%	35.82%
Vergennes Twp	1640	672	2312	968	70.93%	29.07%	41.87%
Walker	7528	4472	12000	3056	62.73%	37.27%	25.47%
Wyoming	18524	11979	30503	6545	60.73%	39.27%	21.46%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	82673	43581	126254	39092	65.48%	34.52%	30.96%
Last St Senate	GOP	DEM	Total	Diff	GOP	DEM	Diff
Kent County:			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Algona Twp	2575	784	3359	1791	76.66%	23.34%	53.32%
Alpine Twp	2398	1149	3547	1249	67.61%	32.39%	35.21%
Byron Twp	6784	1134	7918	5650	85.68%	14.32%	71.36%
Cannon Twp	4461	1171	5632	3290	79.21%	20.79%	58.42%
Cedar Springs	440	195	635	245	69.29%	30.71%	38.58%
Courtland Twp	2174	605	2779	1569	78.23%	21.77%	56.46%
Grandville			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Grattan Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Nelson Twp	948	405	1353	543	70.07%	29.93%	40.13%
Oakfield Twp	1273	536	1809	737	70.37%	29.63%	40.74%
Plainfield Twp	8406	3280	11686	5126	71.93%	28.07%	43.86%
Rockford	1356	526	1882	830	72.05%	27.95%	44.10%
Solon Twp	1277	417	1694	860	75.38%	24.62%	50.77%
Sparta Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Spencer Twp	754	402	1156	352	65.22%	34.78%	30.45%
Tyrone Twp	956	318	1274	638	75.04%	24.96%	50.08%
Vergennes Twp			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Walker	5395	2139	7534	3256	71.61%	28.39%	43.22%
Wyoming	11535	5555	17090	5980	67.50%	32.50%	34.99%
			0	0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!
Total	50732	18616	69348	32116	73.16%	26.84%	46.31%